Justin Boehm, Lifting Equipment Engineers Association’s (LEEA) Regional Manager, Australia and New Zealand introduces LEEA’s Safe User grade of membership.
For a long time, we have operated on simple assumptions – if standards exist, if guidance is available, and if training pathways are in place, industry will adopt them.
As a rule of thumb, most operators are doing their best to comply with industry norms and buying into quality. Yet we still see, thanks to low barriers to entry in a market like the lifting equipment industry, cowboys ruining the reputation for our high quality members.
That is why LEEA has made a deliberate change in Australia and New Zealand.
The recent establishment of a dedicated business development function in the ANZ region is not an administrative shift. It represents a fundamental change in how we engage with industry.
Rather than waiting for organisations to come to us, we are now actively working across the sector to engage directly with organisations to help them identify capability gaps, and supporting the practical application of industry best practice.
LEEA’s Safe User grade of membership, combined with the establishment of a dedicated business development function in the ANZ region, will work hand in glove to deliver practical, real-world outcomes for the end users in our industry. The Safe User grade provides a structured entry point for organisations that rely on lifting operations and who know the importance of their equipment, but cannot access consistent unbiased information.
It gives them access to guidance, training pathways, and a clearer understanding of what good looks like in practice, with LEEA engaging directly with major contractors, helping them apply standards in their operating environments, and bridging the gap between awareness and action. This does not mean users can or should inspect their own equipment. This is not about redistributing work within the industry; it is about raising the overall level of capability. As more organisations adopt LEEA’s structured approach to lifting safety, confidence increases, outcomes improve, and the size of the opportunity grows for everyone involved.
At the same time, we have been consistently seeking feedback from our members and the broader industry on issues such as product documentation, markings, and the clarity of standards in real-world use. That feedback is critical. It ensures that the guidance we develop is not theoretical, but grounded in the environments where lifting equipment testing and inspections actually takes place.
We’re doing this because the lifting industry has a standards access problem. It does not have a guidance problem, and it certainly does not have a shortage of documentation.
What it has is a capability problem. The gap is not in available knowledge – it’s in consistent application and that gap is where risk hides.
In an industry where the consequences of failure can be immediate and severe, increased activity without increased capability does not create opportunity – it widens the gap to increased risk. Across Australia and New Zealand, skills shortages continue to impact technical industries. While unemployment remains relatively low, the availability of experienced, technically capable workers has not kept pace with demand and the lifting sector feels this directly.
LEEA is focused on building capability where it matters to our membership and our portion of the industry – lifting equipment inspections. Our roles require judgement, particularly inspection, but these roles are becoming harder to fill. Decisions are only as good as the capability behind them. While standards exist, procedures are documented, and inspection intervals are defined, the consistent interpretation and application of these requirements still vary across organisations, sites, and individuals. That’s where being backed with a LEEA membership is so incredibly important. The variability between a member company and a non-member is not always visible, but it is always present.
In lifting operations, small differences in competence can have significant consequences, as recent incidents across our region continue to reinforce. There are numerous examples, many of them shared quietly within the industry circles, of loads being dropped or have come dangerously close to causing serious harm. In one recent case, a suspended load of scaffolding weighing over a tonne was dropped from a crane in Sydney, narrowly missing workers below – that was overtime and captured on a phone, but so many aren’t reported.
Whether it’s configuration, load control, communication, or exclusion zones, these events rarely come down to a single failure point. They are typically the result of small gaps, a missed check, an incorrect assumption, or a decision made under pressure that compounded at the point of execution.
In lifting, the margin for error is rarely where the problem begins. It’s where it ends.
For LEEA, the shift in approach is about addressing that directly.
By engaging more actively with industry, we are able to support organisations in translating the importance of lifting equipment from hearsay into knowledge. Moving from awareness to application.
This includes working with members to identify areas where guidance can be strengthened. Feedback on documentation, product markings, and the usability of standards is already informing the development of industry good practice guides. Dedicated resources designed to reflect real-world conditions and reduce ambiguity at the point of use. We want to put knowledge on railway tracks, so that we reduce interpretation and thus reduce variability.
Reducing that variability is critical and that is where structured competency frameworks play a central role.
By defining what competence looks like, from Tier 1 contractors right through to inspection, how it is developed, and how it is assessed, these frameworks provide a consistent foundation for capability across the sector.
The industry does not need more information. It needs better translation of that information into practice. That is the opportunity in front of us.
The lifting industry has always adapted to change. Advances in equipment, evolving standards, and new technologies have all contributed to improved safety and performance.
The question is whether capability will keep pace with that evolution. In lifting, increased activity without increased competence does not improve outcomes. It increases exposure.
The tools to address this challenge already exist. Training programs are available, standards are established and frameworks are in place.
The focus now must be on ensuring they are consistently applied.
The industry does not need to redefine what good looks like. It needs to deliver it, as it will not happen by accident.
It will happen through deliberate action.
Author Justin Boehm is the Regional Manager ANZ at LEEA.
