Club Boatyard Gantry

[Stingray49]

At our boat club we have a gantry for launching and recovery of boats towed by a tractor, it needs a lot major repairs and maintenance which in the past club members carried out ,but now its all talk and no action. My question is are the committee responsible for the health and safety of the members whilst they use the gantry.
The committee are at present getting quotes for the repair of the gantry as the members are all talk and no action.

 

[prv]

Would be worth looking into the recent case where someone helping at a club liftout had a finger lopped off (even without, as far as I know, any gear failure). That turned rather nasty and the club ended up banning DIY lifting, resulting in huge costs for members having to hire professionals. A sad state of affairs.

(Worth noting that the liftout ban wasn't an inevitable result - the story is that cruisers were a minority at the club and the dinghy-focused committee just wanted to wash its hands of the whole issue.)

Pete

 

[Stingray49]

It was the article that started the ball rolling,have been onto the RYA website as we are affiliated members also have emailed the RYA legal dept.
Ron

 

[Nigel_Ward]

I would have thought this gantry would be subject to regular testing to satisfy insurers. Don't know if LOLER applies but would not be surprised

 

[Stingray49]

What is LOLER ?
Ron

 

[Stork_III]

What is LOLER ?
Ron

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&scli...16,d.d2k&fp=10ac739a998d8c24&biw=1112&bih=558

 

[earlybird]

What is LOLER ?
Ron

Lifting ops and equipment regs. for industrial/business operations.
Strictly speaking, they probably do not apply to a sailing club, but the club's insurers will almost certainly require any lifting equipment and operations to be controlled in a manner consistent with them.
EG; regular equipment inspection, appointment of competent supervisor, proper planning of ops., training of assistants etc.

 

[stownsend]

yes it would, possibly through examination 12 monthly but may be 6 monthly if persons are lifted, apart from that it would need regular inspection under PUWER as I would assume it was considered work equipment. are members trained to use it ?

Cheers

Stu

 

[Stingray49]

We have organised a full examination on Tuesday so will post results when available

Ron

 

[oldharry]

I would have thought that the Club has an over riding legal 'duty of care' to ensure that lifting gear is in safe working order, and to ensure that people using it know how to do so safely. If an accident resulted from failure of the equipment provided by the club, they would find it extremely difficult to avoid at least some liability. As suggested above, the Clubs Insurers will be a great deal less than happy if the equipment is not in good working order and would in all probability refuse any claim resulting from its use.