The Concrete Pumping Association of Australia plays an important role in representing the concrete pumping industry to Australian governments and other stakeholders to ensure the best outcomes for members in terms of the sustainability of the industry and safety of employees. One very important role is representation to Australian Standards for AS 2550.15 - Concrete placing equipment.
Over the past 5 months the Association has been extremely active reviewing, undertaking consultation and drafting industry responses to ME005-15 (sub-committee for AS 2550.15). Anthony Mattar (nominated representative) and Craig Heidrich have met with Standards Australia on a number of occasions, culminating in an industry submission in late December 2014 to the current working draft.
Summary of drafting amendments submitted Standards Australia as follow:
- General — Document wide consistency check for terminology use. e.g. 'concrete placing equipment’ used in preference to other terms
- Definitions — Types of pumps and local terms incorporated for the first time. E.g. line pump, boom pump, separate placing boom, etc. This clearly separates the respective requirements
- Definitions — Amendments to competent person and types of maintenance inspections
- Section 7 — Alignment with international and major manufacturer requirements with regard to inspection and maintenance of the concrete placing equipment
- Section 7 — Requirements for Australian based competent person to undertake inspection of second-hand or unknown design of imported concrete pumping equipment
- Section 7 — Defining clearly types of inspections
Following the Association submission, we have been actively engaging and consulting with key influencers such as state authorities responsible work place regulation and other stakeholders involved in the work of the committee. The purpose being to inform each of the Association’s industry-wide consultation and the proposed draft makes significant headway towards a safer, acceptable standard that does not constitute a technical barrier to trade, as with the previous drafted version.
Standards Australia has released the draft for confidential consideration during March 2015 for endorsement and approval before submitting to the main committee, prior to public distribution. Watch this space.
