With a new premises, significant investment in heavy lifting equipment and a strong focus on the team, leading lifting equipment and hire specialist Queensland Rigging Hire is on the move.
Queensland Rigging Hire stocks the highest quality lifting and rigging equipment, fully tested and certified to ensure it meets customer needs and the relevant Australian Standards. Managing director Ben Fitzgerald takes up the story.
“For the past year or so, we’ve been focused on building our fleet, increasing the numbers in our team, upskilling our team and improving our new premises to accommodate the growth we have been experiencing,” Ben said.
“Like all rigging hire businesses, we are seeing a dramatic change in the way projects are handled. Cranes are getting bigger, lifts are getting heavier and we need to invest in the right equipment to meet the demands of the industry. Larger equipment requires more space so we are now in the hunt to purchase a second premises to house our larger equipment.
“The new premises is in Archerfield, where we have been based for the past 18 months. We basically gutted the place and rebuilt it to accommodate our specific requirements. We have new offices, new reception area, new bathrooms, we’ve even built in a studio apartment for when we work late hours.
“We also installed a mezzanine and below this we have both fabrication and mechanical workshops. This dedicated area is designed to service and repair in house, and have full control over the process throughout the job, this makes our turnaround times much faster” he said.
Bringing youngsters into the business is a major focus for Ben and his wife Jess.
“We all know our industry is faced with the challenges of an ageing demographic. Jess and I have always wanted to invest in today’s youth, show them what our business and industry has to offer and hopefully that will have a knock-on effect in their circle of friends for example.
“We went through a pretty lengthy interviewing process, and we found a young fellow, Lachlan Leal. Lachie has left school early to compete a Traineeship in Supply Chain Operations at Queensland Rigging Hire and has a lot to offer, and has slotted in perfectly to our business. He’s been with us for six months and I don’t think he’s missed a day,” said Ben.
Ben highlights some of the products Queensland Rigging Hire has invested in.
“We recently took delivery of a Modulift MOD 400/600, it’s a 600t modular spreader bar and there are only a handful of them in the country. This particular spreader bar has a maximum capacity of 600 tonnes at 18 metres, scaling down to 300 tonnes at 24 metres. We’ve also invested in a large range of wide body shackles.
“It’s important that rigging is to code and the code states that you’ve got to have the correct D/d ratio. The D/d ratio ensures your slings are used correctly and not pinched around the shackles. These wide body shackles are designed to spread the load over your slings for a safer lift. Most of our wide body shackles are from Van Beest, which are forged in Holland. The best of European quality,” said Ben.
Ben and Jess visited ConExpo in Las Vegas earlier in the year and they were impressed with some of what they saw.
“We spoke to a number of suppliers during the show, and we came away with some great ideas. We have already brought some new products into Australia that we think the market will need”.
“The first is a Quick Release Hook and the benefits of this product are easy to demonstrate. Imagine you are working on a project in Far North Queensland. You’re working on a barge with big cages full of rocks which are being lifted into position to stop erosion in a riverbed. To unhook the cage, someone will need to get into crocodile infested river and unhook the rigging. With this system you can lift, put the cage into position and then pull a rope and it disconnects automatically. Much safer than dealing with crocs we reckon!,” said Ben.
“Like I said earlier, cranes will keep getting bigger and they need the right rigging and equipment to manage the heavier lifts. With a bigger crane, there’s lot less lifting of fewer but much heavier pieces. We want to be the hire industry leaders in Australia by investing in this larger equipment. It is a huge investment to procure heavy lift rigging in Australia, and a risk for us to invest in an area which we haven’t yet taken a market share in, but we are confident the market is there and that we will be ready when the calls come in.
Queensland Rigging Hire has the largest range of adjustable spreader bars in Queensland and one of the largest hire fleets in the country.
“We own one of the biggest range adjustable spreader bars nationally. They’re the most common spreader bar used, they are easy, they are quick, they are easy to mobilise, easy to adjust and easy to use.
“We’ve also invested in a range of oversized Load Transfer Triangles which assist in passing a load from crane to crane.
“A lot of the time you can’t get access to unload the trailer and position the load in the one pass. So quite often, they need to set up a crane to unload the equipment from the trailer and then pass it to another crane and then that crane will put it into position. These Load Transfer Triangles are designed to efficiently and effectively pass a load between two cranes,” said Ben.
Converting the range of electric and pneumatic hoists and winches to wireless remote is another significant investment.
“We’ve had to put in a full-time mechanic to take on this task and there’s very few people in the industry doing it. It’s our way of putting our mark in the market. We want to be the best with the products that we stock and by going wireless, it’s a significant safety improvement which keeps the operator in a safe place, away from the suspended load.
“The remotes have a 100-metre range on them and we’ve done a lot of work in power stations and mining where risk mitigation and safety are paramount. We’re getting regular repeat business because of the wireless remote controls.
“With a traditional powered hoist, you connect it to the load, and you lift with the pendant or rope control. You’re only a couple of meters away and right in the danger zone.
“The wireless remotes mean you don’t need to be unsafe anymore, you can overcome that with technology,” said Ben.
The growing team at Queensland Rigging Hire is also a significant focus for Ben and Jess, with the company now puttting staff through a series of courses.
“Jess and I recently completed a mental health first aid course, so we’re qualified mental health first aiders and we are putting the guys through their dogging and rigging tickets at the moment,” he said.
“We want our team to really understand the products that we work with. We don’t use them on the job, and we don’t physically do the rigging, but we do have to understand what rigging products we have, and how they are used in the real world so that they can better understand how to maintain it and warehouse it.
“We conduct on-hire inspections for every piece of equipment that goes out. We keep equipment registers and every piece of equipment that goes out has a fresh certification, which will last anywhere between three months and 12 months depending on the product. The team does exactly the same inspections when the equipment is returned.”
Sustainability is key for the future of the industry, says Ben.
“Sustainability is becoming more and more important in the world. Our type of equipment is involved in a lot of project work and at the end of the project, we know the gear is chopped up and sent to landfill.
“Because we rent this specialist equipment, it comes back to us and it gets a second, third life and fourth life. Environmentally, it is so much better to have equipment that’s reused, refurbished, recommissioned and recertified and extending the lifespan and minimising the amount of the same product that needs to be rebuilt or remade.
“Sustainability is an issue we’re really going to push in our marketing. We know this will resonate with Tier One Builders and Contractors, they are all looking to reduce carbon footprints and work towards a sustainable future,” said Ben.
READ MORE:
- Fresh site highlights the growth of Queensland Rigging Hire.
- CICA Member Profile: Queensland Rigging Hire.
Company culture is also a significant focus for Ben and Jess.
“Being a small family business we are focused on the wellbeing of our team, we like to share the wins and at every opportunity we want to reinforce to our team that this is a safe place to come and to enjoy the work. We celebrate milestones and birthdays and all of that.
“We go camping as a team. This started when Chris, our warehouse manager confessed he had all the gear, but he’d never been camping in his life. So, we got everyone together and their partners and spent the weekend camping. We had some beers and lit a big bonfire, it was really great and everyone had fun. We’re going to make this a regular outing for the team,” said Ben.