ERA Committee Update
ERA Secretariat
9 February 2010
EU Affairs
The EU Affairs Committee monitors EU issues of interest to rental. It has developed a series of factsheets on these issues, which can be obtained upon demand from the ERA Secretariat. The list of factsheets available can be viewed here.
The European Commission has published a guidance document on the Machinery Directive now available in its final form. The Guidance Document covers the preamble of the Directive and articles 1 to 29. As the text of the Directive already implied, the guidance document indicates that the Machinery Directive applies to rental companies when purchasing equipment outside of the EU (in which case they are considered as placing the equipment on the European Community market) and provides for the detail of their obligations in that respect. It generally lists all obligations of equipment manufacturers under the Directive. A copy of the guidance document can be obtained upon request from the ERA Secretariat.
The EU Affairs Committee has drafted a note to national rental associations on the issue of semi-automatic quick hitches in the UK. Semi-automatic quick hitches allow for powered engagement of the attachment from the cab, but require operators to manually insert a safety pin to secure the hitch in case of hydraulic system failure. There have been a number of deaths and serious injuries related to such quick hitches on construction sites in the UK since December 2006. This has led the UK regulator to prevent the supply of new semi-automatic quick hitches in the UK, and has forced the industry to review its working practices. As a result, the Strategic Forum Plant Safety Group – a cross sector alliance led by the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) – has been working on guidance to the industry to reduce hazards when using all types of hitches, which will be released on 4 February at the occasion of the Executive Hire Show. The note send to national rental associations and more information on this matter can be obtained from the ERA Secretariat.
The ERA has approached the European Commission to raise its attention on issues faced by rental companies when operating across national borders, and at this stage mainly the cross-border transportation of plant. A first meeting has taken place on 11 January 2010. The EU Affairs Committee will continue such meetings and will provide the European Commission with all the information it may request in order to encourage this institution to take action.
Equipment Theft
In the short term (in time for the ERA Convention 2010), the Committee on Equipment Theft will seek to propose guidance documents on preferred and on existing anti-theft measures covering the whole of Europe. The guidance will be based on documents already available in the UK and other countries and will be offered for use to national rental associations and to rental companies.
The registration of construction equipment remains one of the long-term objective of the Committee. Discussions are currently taking place with other European trade federations in the construction sector on this issue and on how to best draw the attention of EU-decision makers to equipment theft.
The Committee is also working at better assessing the different (voluntary) equipment registration schemes and stolen equipment registers existing in Europe and at evaluating the feasibility of creating a “viewer” that would allow to interrogate different stolen equipment registers in different countries at once.
Statistics
The Committee on Statistics has contracted IHI Global Insight for the 2009 and second edition of the Equipment Rental Industry Report, as it is believed that statistics on Europe’s rental industry should be collected annually. This 2009 Report – to be published ahead of the 2010 Convention - will be a slightly lighter version than the 2008 report as it will focus on rental without operators only.
For memory, some of the key findings of the 2008 reports are that:
- In 2008, the total size of the European equipment rental market was €33.6 billion, including €24.4 billion without operators and €9.2 billion with operators.
- The total turnover decreased 2.8% from 2007 to 2008 as an average in Europe.
- In 2006, there were 36,400 companies active in rental, of which less than 15,000 were rental companies without operators.
- Rental companies without operators represent some 22,400 rental depots.
- The equipment rental industry employed in 2006 more than 177,500 persons, including 117,700 in rental without operators and 59,800 in rental with operators.
- Average fleet age in 2008 was 3.8 years, ranging from 2.9 years for the lowest country to 5.7 years for the highest.
In parallel to the annual statistics report, the Statistics Committee has also launched in June 2009 a quarterly Rental Confidence Tracker aimed at revealing trends in Europe’s rental industry. The results of the surveys for the second and third quarter of 2009 are available here. ERA Members are invited to respond to the survey corresponding to the 4th quarter available here, the results of which will be published in February.
General Rental Conditions
The Committee on General Rental Conditions is currently working with the European Committee for Standardization to create a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) on General Rental Conditions to Consumers. CWAs are CEN publications aimed at satisfying market demand more flexibly and rapidly than a traditional European Standard, but bearing a weight similar to the one of a standard. An agreement is being finalized between ERA and CEN on the conditions under which to perform the work and an invitation will be sent soon to national rental associations and rental companies to participate in the project. AFNOR, the French standard organization could be involved as the secretariat of the process, which is scheduled over 15 months.
Sustainability
The Sustainability Committee decided to produce three closely interlinked deliverables for the Convention 2010, namely:
- A “Framework for Good Practices relating to Sustainability in the Rental Industry”, the introduction of which will aim at explaining the concept of sustainability applied to the rental industry. The framework will also contain a table providing members with a list of economic, environmental and social issues they can integrate when drafting their own CSR policies, with indicators on how to measure their performance and with the potential benefit they could retrieve from taking action on one or the other area.
- A checklist based on the framework to allow rental companies to easily assess in how far they are already taking measures on the main issues mentioned in the framework.
- Factsheets which will illustrate some issues mentioned in the framework with concrete examples of achievements / actions taken by rental companies in the considered field and the benefits delivered.
Promotion
The Promotion Committee has started the initial preparations for the 2010 ERA Convention in Prague, including promotion of the event in Eastern Europe, and is coordinating the participation of the association to BAUMA 2010. In the run-up to the convention, it will work at a new guide to be called “Discover Rental” and which will be offered to ERA Members and to stakeholders from emerging markets as a tool for educating potential clients on the advantages of rental and issues to consider when making a choice for a rental company. This guide will be an ideal complement to the “Rent vs Buy” calculator available on the ERA’s website, and which several major rental companies are now also using on their own websites.
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