Hiab cranes help RNLI
A new truck-mounted Hiab crane in service with the RNLI is playing a key role in helping the organisation maintain its vigilance over Britain’s beaches and coasts each summer.
The Hiab XS477 E-6 HiDuo crane is being used to deliver lifeguard look-out units to over 200 beach and promenade locations around mainland UK and in Northern Ireland. Last year lifeguards trained by the RNLI in lifesaving and casualty care and operating from these units assisted 16,418 people in difficulties and saved 115 lives.
The Hiab crane is mounted on a Mercedes-Benz Actros 6x2 articulated tractor and two of the look-out units are normally carried on its trailer. From March to June both truck and crane are busy delivering them to locations at which local engineers have prepared the bases. At the end of the summer season the truck makes its rounds again to collect the lifeguard units and return them to regional storage points.
Positioning the look-out units is work for which the Hiab XS 477 is well-suited. It has an outreach of over 16.5 metres at which its capacity is just over 2.0 tonnes.
This long outreach enables the truck to remain on hard standing and place a lifeguard look-out unit onto its pre-prepared base on the beach or to a point at which an all-terrain vehicle can complete the move. To enhance lifting performance the crane is equipped with a powerful E-link system allowing it to retain maximum lifting capacity when working with a straight boom or when handling loads close to the column.
The HiDuo control system comes with SPACE 4000 electronic intelligence, which monitors and controls all the functions of the crane to ensure optimum efficiency and safety. It also supports the use of the XSDrive remote control unit, which allows the operator to choose the best vantage point from which to operate the crane so that he can both position the load precisely and ensure his own safety and that of others in the vicinity.
When not being used on lifeguard look-out unit delivery duties, the XS477 E-6 will perform a wide range of other tasks supporting the vital life-saving role performed by the RNLI. This can include the delivery of inshore lifeboats, five tonne fuel storage tanks, mooring buoys, and launch and recovery equipment.
The RNLI uses a number of Hiab products, amongst them a 200C-3 model, which it has recently had fitted to a new Mercedes-Benz Axor two-axle 18 tonne rigid truck. The combination of this smaller truck and a crane that has a maximum outreach of 10.5 metres at which it can lift almost 1.4 tonnes, is proving very useful in situations where access is restricted and the larger articulated unit may not be able to go.
Paul O’Brien, transport co-ordinator at the RNLI’s headquarters at Poole in Dorset, says: “Our new Hiab XS 477 crane and the 200C are both great pieces of kit that are proving invaluable in helping us to carry out a wide variety of lifting jobs. The XS 477 is particularly impressive in its role of placing the lifeguard units, which it does with great precision, safety and efficiency.
“All of our Hiab cranes are robust and reliable and able to withstand the rigours of working in often harsh or difficult environments. And we get great support from Ferndown Commercials Limited, who are the Hiab authorised service centre and located at Wimborne, quite close to our operating base.”