Australian Standards

AUSTRALIAN STANDARD (AS 2550.15: 2019) FOR CONCRETE PLACING EQUIPMENT -- PUBLISHED !

It's official.....the 25+ year old AS 2550.15:2019 has been published following an extensive review, updating and contemporising for today's modern concrete placing equipment.  

Craig Heidrich, CEO of the Concrete Pumping Association of Australia, said today, "this revised Standard represents a major significant change for our industry. On behalf of the Association membership I wish to thank the National Management Committee and acknowledge the efforts of our nominated representatives and reference group members; 

• Anthony Mattar - Super Rain Pty Ltd,
• David Bond - CPE Machinery, 
• Andrew Mitchell - Mitchcon and
• Greg Torzillo - Flowcrete

each of whom contributed significant time and technical expertise to the draft development process."

During the past 36 months, AS 2550.15:2019 was prepared by the Committee ME-091, Concrete Placing Equipment, to supersede AS 2550.15:1994 Cranes—Safe use, Part 15: Concrete placing equipment. The objective of this Standard is to specify the requirements that apply to concrete placing equipment, which are not cranes used for lifting, but share some common structural, mechanical and electrical elements of cranes. The objective of the AS 2550 series of Standards is to provide uniform requirements and guidance for the safe use of cranes, hoists and winches, some of which are relevant to concrete placing equipment. This revision of AS 2550.15 resulted in a comprehensive update of the standard requirements, including the addition of contemporary methods and techniques to ensure concrete placing equipment safe use. The major changes in this revision are as follows:

• General document-wide terminology use.
• Expanded definitions for types of pumps, e.g. line pump, boom pump, satellite placing boom.
• Amended definition for competent person(s).
• Alignment with international standards for inspection and maintenance requirements.
• Consequential amendments and alignment to AS 2550 series.

GET YOUR COPY AS 2550.15: 2019 NOW

Project background: 

Concrete Pumping Association of Australia, being the national body representing the interests of the concrete pumping industry through the National Management Committee (NMC), adopted a strategic industry plan in 2014.  Within this plan, the NMC acknowledged the urgent review of AS 2550.15:1994, being over 20 years old and requiring significant changes to bring into line with modern concrete placing equipment (CPE) and safe concrete pumping practices.

Project motivation: 

A review conducted by the CPAA in early 2014 determined the Standards Australia Committee (ME005-15) responsible for the review of AS 2550.15:1994 has stalled and reached a significant impasse in 2013 following more than 5 years of committee work on the draft.  Craig Heidrich, CEO for the CPAA, approached Standards Australia and outlined the finding of the Associations review and need to urgently recommence the work on AS 2550.15. For example, between 1999-2009 State and Territory Work Safe Authorities (SWS) and Industry related Non- Government Organisations (NGO’s) had published independently requirements or guidelines for the safe operation, cleaning and maintenance of CPE.  In part, each published document has led to increased confusion and conflict with AS 2550.15:1994, to only further fragment operating practices for CPE across Australia. Coupled with a number of tragic fatalities associated with operating CPE and coronial recommendations, for the Association there was considerable motivation to incorporate learnings into AS2550.15.   

Project scope: 

AS 2550.15 specifies requirements for the safe use of concrete placing equipment, including the planning, siting, erection and dismantling, maintenance, inspection, assessment, testing and associated specific requirements of concrete placing equipment. AS 2550.15 is complementary to AS 2550.1, but the requirements of AS 2550.15 shall take precedence over the corresponding requirements of AS 2550.1. It is anticipated that the review will consist of updates of the standard’s requirements and the inclusion of: 

• general document-wide consistency check for terminology use; 
• definitions for types of pumps, e.g. line pump, boom pump, separate placing boom;
• definition for “competent person”;
• where appropriate additional clauses relevant to the various types of pumps, e.g. line pump, boom pump, separate placing boom
• alignment of inspection and maintenance requirements with international manufacturer concrete placing equipment and international standards (e.g. ISO 12001);
• where appropriate, consequential amendments and alignment to AS 2550 series;  
• where appropriate, consequential amendments and alignment with various federal and state WHS legislation, codes of practice or guidelines; 
• where appropriate, alignment with international best practices that are adopted in codes.

Following deliberation(s) with Standards Australia and the Main Committee ME005 – Standards Australia proposed to collapse the old Sub-Committee ME005-15 and create a separate Technical Committee for this Project as the technical subject matter of AS2550.15 is materially different to the main committee work of ME005 being cranes.  Whilst concrete placing equipment share some common elements with cranes, it was unanimously agreed that concrete placing equipment are NOT cranes. 

Standards Australia hosted a forum on 4 August 2015 and invited ALL relevant Stakeholder Association(s).  Standards Australia outlined the reasons for collapsing the previous Sub-Committee (SC) and proposed a solution to form a new technical committee (TC) that will focus on Australian Standards for concrete placing equipment. The forum included a presentation by the Concrete Pumping Association of Australia. The open forum enabled other stakeholders to raise issues for discussion, and an opportunity to clarify the scope of the revised standard. Standards Australia created a new Technical Committee ME091 in 2016 following a proposal by the CPAA and is responsible for AS 2550.15 Cranes - Safe Use Part 15: Concrete Placing Equipment and referenced documents.

ME091 Technical Committee Membership:

• Australian Council of Trade Unions
• Australian Institute for Non-Destructive Testing
• Bureau of Steel Manufacturers of Australia
• Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia
• Concrete Institute of Australia
• Concrete Pumping Association of Australia x 2
• Crane Industry Council of Australia
• Engineers Australia
• Master Builders Australia
• SafeWork NSW
• WorkSafe Victoria

ME091 MEETING AND PUBLIC CONSULTATION

Published Standards in the series are:

AS
2550         Cranes, hoists and winches—Safe use
2550.1      Part 1:    General requirements
2550.3      Part 3:    Bridge, gantry, portal (including container cranes) and jib cranes
2550.4      Part 4:    Tower cranes
2550.5      Part 5:    Mobile cranes
2550.6      Part 6:    Guided storing and retrieving appliances
2550.7      Part 7:    Builders’ hoists and associated equipment
2550.10    Part 10:    Mobile elevating work platforms
2550.11    Part 11:    Vehicle-loading cranes
2550.13    Part 13:    Building maintenance units
2550.15    Part 15:    Concrete placing equipment (this Standard)
2550.16    Part 16:    Mast climbing work platforms
2550.19    Part 19:    Telescopic handlers
2550.20    Part 20:    Self-erecting tower cranes
AS/NZS
2550.9     Part 9:    Vehicle hoists

The terms ‘normative’ and ‘informative’ have been used in this Standard to define the application of the appendix to which they apply. A ‘normative’ appendix is an integral part of a Standard, whereas an ‘informative’ appendix is only for information and guidance.