Risk Management

Plant Hire Faces New Threats

The Construction Equipment Association (CEA) is warning site managers that plant designed for use in Asia and not CE-marked for European use is turning up at auctions.

The imported plant is missing a number of features required for CE certification, ranging from hydraulic hose burst valves to English-language signs and instruction manuals, which the Construction Equipment Association believes, makes them a health and safety risk. They also break European emission and noise pollution regulations.

"At the recent Euro Auctions we found a number of plant imported from India, Japan and Thailand that had very similar CE marks, all in the same place. There is no doubt that they are false, which is fraud. If anyone is concerned that plant hired on their site is not compliant, they can phone the Construction Equipment Association on 01883 334 480 to check its status with the manufacturers."

"People are buying them because they can get a seriously cheap piece of plant. But it is cheap because no-one has paid to make the machine conform to European safety rules." - CEA Technical Spokesman, Tim, Faithfull

February 2008