Euro plans may cost plant hire firms £70m

Exclusive by Keren Sall and Fiona Kingston

Many plant hire companies are facing the prospect of going out of business after it emerged last week that new European legislation will demand the upgrading of thousands of machines at an estimated cost of some £70 million. They will have just four weeks to comply or face prosecution.

The impending regulations will mean that roll-over protection structures (ROPS) are fitted to all mobile plant hired, leased, or sold-on to a second owner. The new regulations are due to be published in November and enforcement will start on 5 December. The situation threatens to cause chaos on sites all over the country as companies scramble to carry out modifications during the four-week window.

However, contractors will not be expected to fit ROPS to their in-house fleets until 5 December 2002. Bizarrely, a Health and Safety Executive inspector from 5 December 1998 will be unable to stop a contractor's dumper working on a site without ROPS, but he will be required to stop a hired machine which lacks protection

The implications of Europe's Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 98 (PUWER 98), which are only now starting to filter out into the industry, following a recent announcement by the Construction Plant-hire Association, could be disastrous, particularly for hirers with ageing fleets.

Not only will the industry have to spend millions of pounds on installing ROPS on its fleets of dumpers, rollers, work platforms and all-terrain vehicles, but many machines may have to be scrapped altogether.

Any rollers that are over two years old and site dumpers that over are eight years old will become redundant as they cannot be adapted to meet the regulations. Not only will contractors find it difficult to find machines to complete jobs, but rates are likely to soar.

John Woodthorpe managing director of Ermin Plant, a hire company with a fleet of 63 dumpers is extremely angry and dismayed with the EC regulations Only 11 of its dumpers can be fitted with ROPS without modification. The remaining machines will have to be scrapped.

Conrad Wales, chairman of Cotswold Roller Hire said: "I am angry about this legislation. It is a load of European nonsense. I am going to write to local MPs about it. The first I knew anything about it was a month ago. Machines that were bought three years ago for anything from £25,000 to £65,000 will have to be scrapped. We buy them expecting a life expectancy of 15 years from them."

Peter Barfield, marketing manager of dumper manufacturer Benford told CJ: "Benford is part of the Site Dumper Association and nobody has mentioned it to us."

Manufacturer Thwaites, although geared up for fitting ROPS, estimates it will cost hirers in the region of £600 for a roll bar per machine and £1,000 for a ROPS canopy per machine.

The CPA and the HSE are due to meet at the end of this month to ask the Government for a period of grace for hirers. However, according to the HSE, this is unlikely because the regulations are due to be published this November.