CPA – Maintenance, Inspection & Thorough Examination of Mobile Cranes
This Guide provides industry-recognised best practice for the maintenance, inspection and thorough examination of mobile cranes — essential procedures to guarantee safety, reliability and compliance in mobile-crane operations.
Mobile cranes play a central role in lifting operations across many sectors. Failures due to poor maintenance or inspection can lead to serious accidents, structural collapse or load loss. That is why Cranes for You includes this CPA-Guide in the Knowledge Centre: it helps owners, operators and users implement systematic maintenance and inspection routines to minimise risk and ensure long-term safe operation.
Summary of the Guide
Key elements from the CPA Best Practice Guide:
- Separation of Maintenance vs. Thorough Examination: The guide clarifies that regular maintenance (routine checks, lubrication, servicing) and thorough examination (detailed inspection, non-destructive testing, structural checks) are two separate — but complementary — processes.
- Legal obligations and industry standards: For mobile cranes, maintenance and inspection obligations typically fall under work-equipment regulation frameworks; users remain responsible for ensuring maintenance and examination are carried out.
- Planned Preventive Maintenance (PPM): The guide recommends a preventive maintenance regime over a “breakdown-only” approach — mobile cranes must be maintained proactively and according to manufacturer specifications.
- Defined inspection intervals & records: Daily / pre-use checks, weekly inspections, periodic maintenance and periodic thorough examinations must be scheduled, documented, and retained for the lifetime of the crane.
- Competent personnel requirements: Only competent and trained personnel — familiar with the specific crane types and maintenance procedures — should perform inspections, maintenance, and thorough examinations.
- Clear scope for thorough examinations: A “defined scope” document should be produced per crane, considering its history, configuration, intended use, and known stress-critical components. This ensures that periodic examinations focus on relevant wear, safety critical parts and structural integrity.
- Documentation, management review & traceability: Maintenance records, inspection logs, repairs, component replacements, defect reports — and their resolution — must be documented and subject to regular management review to track crane health over time.
- Special attention after rigging / assembly on site: If a mobile crane is assembled or rigged on site, a thorough examination (or at least a documented inspection) is required before use, due to potential risks linked to reassembly or transport.
Practical Relevance for Crane Owners & Users
Implementing this guide’s recommendations helps you:
- Maintain a consistently high safety level, reducing risk of mechanical failure, load incidents or crane collapse.
- Demonstrate due diligence and compliance — valuable for audits, inspections, hire-contracts or liability cases.
- Extend equipment life through preventive maintenance, reducing cost of major repairs or downtime.
- Ensure that every crane in your fleet is inspected, documented and maintained — enabling better fleet management and reliability.
- Provide transparency towards clients and subcontractors: maintenance history, inspection records and safety logs increase trust and accountability.
- Manage risk proactively — scheduled maintenance and inspections ensure that defects are detected early, before they evolve into dangerous failures.
Official Source
The guide is published by CPA under reference CIG 1001 – Maintenance, Inspection and Thorough Examination of Mobile Cranes.
It is applicable to all mobile cranes — wheeled, crawler, mini-cranes, heavy-lift cranes, etc. — across all industry sectors.
Related Knowledge Articles
- Hoisting and Rigging Safety Manual
- Safe Use of Mobile Cranes alongside Railways
- CPA / ALLMI Best Practice Guide – Safe Use of Lorry Loaders
- Guidance on Lifting Operations Using Excavators
Ready to Improve Safety and Compliance?
Regular maintenance and thorough examination of mobile cranes should not be optional — they are fundamental to safe lifting operations.
Download the CPA Best Practice Guide from this page and integrate its principles into your maintenance schedule, inspection procedures and lift-planning workflows to ensure safe, reliable crane operation.
