The first trial of the new European Crane Operators Licence scheme has been successfully completed at Mammoet’s training centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Four crane operators were processed through the ECOL system which involved 240 hours of training split evenly between theory and practice.
So far, three have passed – one at the second attempt – and one failed, although he will have the chance to retake the test in the near future.
The operators themselves strongly backed the ECOL project, saying that they could see great value in being able to work throughout Europe without having to be retested by local regulators in every country.
The ECOL organisers now intend to run three more pilot projects, one more in the Netherlands plus one each in Denmark and Italy.