The UK’s foremost annual conference for the lifting industry got under way in Aberdeen yesterday in what is set to be a record-breaking year for the event.
Organisers from the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) expected to welcome more than 1,500 visitors and 100 trade exhibitors to the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre for the two-day showpiece.
That would top the attendance figure for any of the previous 11 LiftEx conferences.
A number of north-east firms, including First Integrated Solutions, EMM Corp and Trac Oil and Gas, were among the exhibitors and attendees.
Ian Simpson, a specialist inspector from the Health and Safety Executive, got the ball rolling with the keynote speech.
Mr Simpson gave a lecture on the common causes of accidents involving cranes and gave some harrowing examples of real life catastrophes that had occurred during his time as an inspector.
He said more accidents occurred involving overhead travelling cranes than with any other type of lifting equipment.
But he said that more often than not, human error was the primary cause of mishaps.
Kevan Stokes, technical director at Augmentias Maritime and Offshore Engineering, was scheduled to deliver a talk on a job that involved lifting a 52,000 tonne semi-submersible vessel using cofferdams and the safety issues associated with the task.