TRAINING
A simulator room, with haptic controls, from CM Labs…
screens surrounding the student or on headsets that totally embrace their vision – not only the movements of overhead cranes but the movements of specific, individual overhead cranes in the exact applications and factory settings that the student will be using when qualified. All these approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, and course providers are recognising this. In consequence, training delivery in recent years has been moving away from single-method training – be it classroom- based, on-the-job or digital – and towards hybrid training methods that combine all three approaches. New and improved training methods are all very well; but as delivery formats multiply, buyers of training – both employers and students – need some assurance of the quality of that training. They need a way to distinguish a well-designed, perhaps blended course from a quick-and-dirty shallow one that has simply required students to tick boxes on paper or online. Recognised course accreditation is needed, and in the UK it is LEEA that provides it. Their Accredited Training Scheme, for courses delivered by LEEA members, audits course materials, trainers and facilities, and requires relevant qualifications and experience. It covers courses for overhead crane operator training, and also for riggers and slingers. There are many such courses. Some are delivered by crane user companies themselves to their new recruits; some are delivered by companies specialising in training for various industries, including lifting, particularly in construction but also manufacturing plant based operators; and some are delivered by the manufacturers of overhead lifting gear, who want their customers to use their products in the most efficient, safe and cost-effective manner possible – and in ways that will also reduce the need for repair or maintenance interventions. Many of these providers use simulators as at least part of the course – and those simulators can be extremely site or application specific. Thus, ITI is a global provider of training courses, in very many industries, lifting among them; they deliver training via instructor-led courses and also by online/on-demand programmes and through virtual reality simulators. For the latter they have more
32 | November/December 2026 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
than 1,000 training scenarios spread across 12 crane and equipment models, each of those models being built to OEM specifications to replicate exactly the handling characteristics of the crane. For example, among those VR offerings is a simulation of a 175t-capacity polar crane for servicing nuclear reactors in PWR nuclear power stations. Even within simulator training, ITI offer two variants: a desktop unit, which is completely portable – it can even be checked as standard baggage on passenger planes – and a fully immersive motion based platform. Such platforms today now routinely incorporate haptic features; so while haptic simulator controls are no video-game joysticks, they have the same friction and resistance to being moved as the real control lever of the real crane, and the haptic seat vibrates and tilts as seats in a real crane control cabin would. ITI sell their courses to crane-using companies but also
work through crane manufacturers. As equipment becomes less generic, and displays and interfaces more complex, manufacturers want end-users to be familiar with not only how best to operate their cranes but with how to navigate the on-screen commands. It makes sense, then, that Konecranes offer training worldwide. In the UK they have their own training centre at Banbury in Oxfordshire. There they have integrated ITI’s VR simulators into their courses; they combine simulator sessions with lessons from human instructors. One advantage of VR simulation, say Konecranes, is speed: the simulators mean that they can train twice as many future crane operators per session as they could before. “They allow us to deliver training in more environments, to more people,” says Darlene Crowder, director of Konecranes Training Institute. The simulators have other advantages: “They make it possible to train in ways that just aren’t realistic with live equipment,” says Amy Schroeder, director of training, Konecranes. “You can’t safely create high-risk scenarios like overloads, side pulls or equipment failures on real-life machines.” But on simulators you can confront students with dangerous scenarios and let them practice the proper reactions – and you can repeat the exact same scenarios, or those with unexpected variations, as often as required.
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