IN FOCUS / UAA AND CAPITAL CRANES
CAPITAL CRANES MITIGATING RISK WITH UAA Digger Misner, managing director for Capital Cranes, has used Underwriting Agencies of Australia (UAA) insurance for many years. He explains why he has remained loyal to the UAA brand.
“OBVIOUSLY, WE HAD TO HAVE INSURANCE right from the beginning otherwise we would not have been able access finance for the cranes. Finance and insurance are indelibly connected,” said Misner. “When I started Capital Cranes, I was introduced to Mike Bramble, a broker at Sanderson Insurance Brokers, by another crane company. Sanderson was
Digger Misner with the new Liebherr LTM1250. Misner has been loyal to UAA for years. 84 / CAL March/April 2022
started in 1972 as an insurance brokerage and, subsequently, the management at the time saw a gap in the mobile plant and machinery market. There wasn’t a combined single policy for a business to go to; they had to buy separate coverages. As a result, the management developed a product and formed Underwriting Agencies of Australia (UAA) in 1988 as a stand-alone underwriting agency. “As an industry, we should be grateful UAA is still backing us with their policies. Who else would insure a high risk industry with the potential for there being very large pay outs if there is an incident of any kind? When you look at the industry this way, there won’t be too many insurance companies keen to insure plant. There are not many with specific knowledge of plant and they don’t have the expertise,” said Misner. Misner went on to talk about his philosophy around risk and how insurance is only part of the answer to mitigating risk in his business. “Insurance is there to mitigate the human errors that occur in any industry. You can have the safest crane in the world with the world’s most experienced operator, but things can still go wrong. How do you account for human error? You can’t. When you have humans operating machines or interacting with large pieces of equipment, incidents will happen. All you can do is mitigate against the risks. You can invest in the best lift planning tools, you can ensure the cranes are serviced and fit for purpose, but you still have an operator interacting with the machine and there is always the potential for human error. For this reason, I have taken my business down the path of certification,” said Misner. Capital Cranes is Australian and Internationally certified and accredited to safety, management, and environmental systems, including AS/NZS 4801, ISO 9001, and ISO 14001. Misner got fed up with the extensive www.cranesandlifting.com.au
