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When it comes to learning the ‘crane game’, Liam Edwards has solved a problem that many in the industry face, bringing his diverse expertise to Crane Class.
Liam is the founder of Crane Class, a digital platform providing construction professionals with knowledge and expertise on cranes and heavy lifting.
Many forms of training and development across the building and engineering sector require students to attend in person, away from the workplace, taking valuable time away from projects – something that many companies cannot afford.
That isn’t the case with Crane Class, which is designed to give industry professionals crane and heavy lift knowledge through its online platform, without requiring them to leave the jobsite.
As the driving force behind Crane Class, Liam films and produces his own content, providing students with his knowledge from over 10 years in the game.
“I don’t want to be pulling people out of work, because neither crane companies nor tier one construction companies can afford for workers to disappear off-site and put strain on the industry,” said Liam.
“Essentially, this product is a culmination of my learnings and experiences as a heavy lift engineer, compiled into a structured, easy to digest format, to provide others with a pathway that was not there when I entered the industry.”
Specialist Training
Crane Class aims to take minimal time out of the week for its students, whilst instilling them with significant knowledge, previously unavailable in this format.
The main course on offer from Crane Class, the Lift Operation Specialist course, contains six weeks of content with 12-to-14 hours of learning, rounding out to 2-to-3 hours per week.
The course casts a wide net, bringing students up to speed on crane basics in the first week and guiding them through to interpreting and executing complex lift plans by the end of the course.
Students progress through the program in cohorts, tackling a new topic each week, with an optional weekly live Q & A session bringing the cohort together to answer any questions that have arisen.
The course is designed to train students with real-world skills and provide construction professionals with the expertise and knowledge they need to procure and execute heavy lifts of all sizes.
Crane Class’s Heavy Lift Designer course is for those working with cranes day in and day out who want the support of an experienced person to help them become an expert in the art of heavy lift design. It is due to be released as an add-on to the Lift Operations Specialist course in early 2025.
Ultimately, Liam says Crane Class is for any construction professional who wants to gain the confidence to safely and effectively deal with cranes in their role.
The beauty of Crane Class, he adds, is that it caters not only for those in the crane industry, but people who want to develop their learning and knowledge about cranes.
“We have people undertaking our course who were like me ten years ago, beginning their lift planning journey. In general, our participants are diverse – we have Site Supervisors, Temporary Works Engineers, Health and Safety Personnel, as well as some who work in the back end behind the scenes, such as in the Operations Team, Commercial and Finance Team,” Liam says.
“We also have some highly experienced operators and riggers in the current cohort and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve always had a great relationship with crews on the ground and helping them see it from the engineer’s perspective and understand the tools we have available when planning a job has been a real highlight so far.
“I really enjoy seeing people who are almost ancillary to the industry, who are not directly dealing with cranes every day, come out of this course having developed knowledge of what a crane is, what different cranes are and how we can best use them to achieve certain lifts.”
Beyond the Standards
Crane Class provides a deep understanding of Australian Standards, Codes of Practice and Guidelines, but also offers practical insights into crane operation and lift planning, gleaned by Liam’s extensive experience in the heavy lift industry.
Liam initially got a foot in the door of the industry at Advanced Cranes and Rigging, where an engineering office needed to be set up from scratch.
He then worked as a Site Engineer and Lift Operations Coordinator for CPB Contractors before he began his role as
a Lead Project Engineer for BMS Heavy Cranes APAC.
“I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work alongside some foremost experts in the crane industry in all my roles. Through Crane Class I can have a greater impact in extending the spread of this knowledge and experience to the greater industry.”
Crane Class is not just for individuals, but it is aimed toward teams developing and growing their crane knowledge together.
“Whilst our core program has been carefully curated with a broad spectrum of participants in mind, we are working with tier-one builders to customise bonus modules to fit the needs of their specific business and industry,” he said.
“Whether it is a comprehensive introduction to cranes on wind farms or a lesson on their internal policies with regard to cranes and heavy lifting, we do it all.”
Liam is grateful for the outcome of his hard work developing Crane Class.
“It has been 12-to-18 months of mapping it out and solid weekends and nights filming all the content.”
“I’ve had the pleasure of training up my first cohort of students. It feels nice that I have had an impact on a lot more people by putting all my knowledge into Crane Class courses,” Liam says.