ESTA to pilot crane and transport incident reporting scheme

European crane and transport association ESTA is launching its incident sharing scheme to improve safety in the industry.

It begins the initial pilot phase in January 2027. The idea is for companies to learn from accidents, near-misses and other safety incidents by sharing their experience and information across the industry. In a bid to prevent incidents from happening again the scheme will identify common risks and add to a knowledge base of best practice.

ESTA is the European association of abnormal road transport and mobile cranes

More details of the entire initiative are being discussed at the ESTA 50th Anniversary Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on 23 October. The session title is Safety=Sharing: ESTA’s incident sharing initiative and learnings from aviation and other industries.

Strong support for the idea of an accident and near miss reporting scheme was recorded in an industry-wide safety survey published in February 2026. Also highlighted was the importance of human behaviour, leadership, communication and learning in improving safety performance.

In development

ESTA plans to make the scheme accessible widely in the industry, including to operating companies, clients and equipment manufacturers.

Responsible for the topic at the conference are the following: Iffet Türken, ESTA Section Transport president, chair of the ESTA HSE Commission and executive board member at trailer maker Kässbohrer; Blanca Claeyssens, ESTA board member and managing director at ASA France; and Sebastian Steul, technical and innovation advisor from VDMA Power Systems in Germany.

A core element is for information to “be shared responsibly and used to improve safety, rather than to apportion blame,” the association said. “By acting as an independent European organisation, ESTA hopes to encourage companies to share lessons that might otherwise remain within individual businesses.”

Similar schemes and principles are prevalent in the aviation industry where risks have been identified and safety practices improved.

In the ESTA survey, 90 per cent of respondents said they were confident ESTA was a reliable and neutral party to collect and share safety data. Nearly two-thirds said their organisations would be willing to share incident reports and details of technical issues.

Commenting on the survey Iffet Türken said, “These results show both ambition and realism. There is a clear willingness to collaborate, but there is an understandable sensitivity around the information companies are being asked to share.

“The survey also confirmed our sector already has a mature and strongly embedded safety culture. Therefore, this initiative is not about introducing more rules. It is about connecting the valuable experiences and learnings that already exist within individual organisations.

“Our responsibility is to translate this clear member mandate into a practical and trusted framework. Incidents that happen within one company can provide valuable lessons for the whole industry.”