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The UK’s leading lifting solutions company Ainscough Crane Hire has expanded its training offering with the opening of the new Lancaster Training Centre at the company’s Lancaster depot.
In response to growing demand from its customers and industry colleagues, and with input from key Ainscough Crane Hire personnel, plans to improve resources for more advanced training courses have been in place since last year.
This is Ainscough’s second centre dedicated to training following the opening of a new extension earlier this year at the Dundee depot. The move represents a significant investment from the company into more advanced, experience-led education for both employees and trainees, and will include support for apprenticeships.
The new space creates a 322 square foot combined training facility consisting of an outside training area capable of providing practical training for Crane Operators, Lifting Supervisors, and Slingers/Signallers. Inside the centre is a training room suitable for four to six persons to provide training for Appointed Persons and the theory training for the practical categories.
There is also a dedicated training crane located at the site – the Liebherr LTM-1030. Its compact size and all-terrain capability mean it is the ideal model for training, and allows the practice of all the elements required for crane operators, lift supervisors, and slingers/signallers to qualify.
The new centre is Ainscough’s latest investment in training having recently become accredited as the first UK company able to provide an online course for appointed persons.
Ainscough Crane Hire’s training portfolio includes being:
• Accredited by the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board to provide Client Contractor National Safety Group (CCNSG) Safety Passport. This training is a mandatory requirement for operations on petrochemical sites.
• Accredited by Global Wind Organisation (GWO) to provide Working at Height, Hub Rescue, First Aid, Manual Handling, Fire Awareness and Advanced Rescue Training. This training is a mandatory requirement for operations on Wind Energy/Wind Farm sites.
• Finally, we also recently received accreditation by the awarding body NOCN to provide the Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS)
Ainscough Crane Hire operates from its national network of 30 depots across the UK with further demand for us to look at additional training facilities. Future training locations for 2021 to include Stockton (North East), Coventry (Midlands/HS2 project), and finally a facility based in the South.
Jim Fleming, QHSE Training Manager, said: “We’ve had the idea for this project for over a year now, and it has been great seeing the new centre in Lancaster come to fruition, bringing our training operations and facilities together and making them available across the whole of the UK for the first time in our history.
“There have been so many people involved in making this great project happen but special thanks must go to our lead trainer here at Ainscough, Duncan Cunningham, who deserves particular recognition for being instrumental in turning plans into a reality.
“One of our more unique assets is practical skills and experience-based knowledge, which has helped to cement our reputation as a safe and expert lift solutions company. However, we are constantly looking towards improving and growing that resource to ensure the highest standard of practice for our customers and their evolving needs.”
