Exciting Times

I hope you all had a good break with family and friends and are ready to meet the new year with vigour. It has been an exciting year for us at the Association with the birth of the Crane Training online shop (http:shop.crane.org.nz) and the planning and integration of our existing database and website into a new and vibrant website that is socially aware and enables more interaction from the members. We are in the final stages of integrating the database and plan to launch the new website at the end of this month.

We have looked at marketing opportunities for our associate and full members and have now provided advertising slots on the website to promote their businesses. 

See http://craneassocnz.weebly.com/advertise.html

We will also be boosting our profile through social media and Google ads to attract more visits to the site and in particular the shop and the directory. 

Not withstanding the above the Council has been working hard on issues important to the members with changes in legislation for RUC, VDAM, Driver Licencing and BESS being negotiated with the regulatory authorities.

We also have a review of all Crane Qualifications coming up in February that will enable us to ensure that the training is meeting the requirements of today's industry. 

One of our main issues is that after completing an initial crane qualification there is no ongoing professional development for crane operators and so we are looking into the introduction of a Crane Competency Certificate. This will take the form of an assessment on a time frame yet to be determined with a ticket (licence) being issued showing qualifications, and competency for a type of crane(s). 

As all cranes work through the permitting system we are looking at reducing some of the compliance and enforcement requirements about mobile cranes on the road by reintroducing Mobile Crane Weight Certificates. 

Exciting times and we will keep you updated as we go.