[NEWS] Preston Hire’s Focus on CICA

Preston Hire recognises the responsibility of crane owners to make both worksites and equipment as safe as possible. 

“At Preston Hire, safety isn’t just a priority, it’s a core value of our business,” said Mike Thomas, General Manager. “We pride ourselves on presenting the highest quality products and services. Our longstanding involvement with the Crane Industry Council of Australia (CICA) helps us fulfill our commitment of maintaining the highest safety standards for our fleet.”

Preston Hire’s early interactions with CICA goes back to the introduction of CraneSafe, followed by the CrewSafe initiatives. Both programs are perfectly aligned with Preston Hire’s own focus of ensuring their cranes, and the jobsites they are working on, follow rigorous safety guidelines. Now, a decade on, Preston Hire is helping lead the charge when it comes to implementing exacting safety standards for cranes and decks, with experienced staff members being a part of CICA steering committees. 

“At Preston Hire we appreciate the important role CICA plays and are prepared to invest our time in this national peak industry body,” said Stephan Becherand, Head of Cranes. “In my position as Vice President of the CICA Technical Steering Committee for NSW, my focus is always to positively contribute to advancements in our industry. As one of the biggest crane companies in Australia, and the largest provider of mini crawler cranes, we recognise the importance of industry representation in working towards not only greater safety standards, but changes that will make crane owners and operator’s lives easier,” said Stephan.  

Preston Hire is participating in a steering committee that will decide on industry safety standards for loading platforms. 

“We take great pride in the position we have cemented in the industry with our SuperDeck retractable loading platform system and are confident that our Head of Decks, Anthony Walsh, will help drive positive change when it comes to safety standards for loading platforms,” said Mike.  

According to Preston Hire, the ability to assist in driving positive change in the industry is just one of the many benefits of CICA membership. Forming good relationships with like-minded individuals, OEMs, distributors and different agents is another advantage. Preston Hire recognises the important role CICA plays in liaising with federal and local government and regulatory bodies, to advocate on behalf of crane owners as this positively impacts day-to-day operations through improvements made to crane usage and efficiency as well as road access.   

When asked what the future looks like, Preston Hire said its focus will remain on finding solutions to meet customer needs. In response to the enduring call for more environmentally sustainable cranes, Preston Hire will continue to invest in emerging eco-friendly technologies, such as hybrid cranes, that will help make the vision of a more sustainable future possible. 

“We embrace the challenge of finding cranes that have small footprints,” said Stephan, “but large lifting capacities and power.”