Crane Major Inspections & Compliance

What a major inspection actually is

A major inspection is the point in a crane's life where it's assessed for continued safe use, beyond routine servicing. It looks at structure, mechanisms and safety-critical systems — fatigue, wear, cracking, load-bearing components, controls and limit devices — and produces the documentation a regulator, insurer or auditor will accept.

In Australia, major inspections sit under the AS 2550 series (safe use of cranes), read together with AS 1418 (design). The work has to be carried out or supervised by a competent person, and non-destructive testing is done by technicians qualified to AS 3998 or equivalent. Where a job calls for it, we engage independent structural engineers so the assessment and sign-off are objective and defensible.

When your crane is due (it isn't always "ten years")

The trigger for a major inspection is the crane's design working period and duty class — not a flat calendar number. Commonly that lands around 10 years for mechanisms and up to 25 years for structure, but a hard-worked machine in a high-duty environment reaches it sooner, and a lightly-used one later. Best-practice across the industry (including CICA's guidance) is moving toward condition monitoring rather than a fixed date.

Your crane is likely due if any of these are true:

• It's approaching or past its design working period, or the manufacturer's stated interval.
• It's been bought second-hand and you can't verify its inspection history.
• Duty has been heavy, or it's worked in a corrosive or high-cycle environment.
• A periodic inspection has flagged increasing wear, cracking or repeated defects.
• It's been modified, repurposed, or involved in an incident.

Not sure where yours sits? Send us the crane type, capacity, year of manufacture and duty, and we'll tell you where it stands. This work also connects to your Approved Inspection Station work and preventative maintenance programs.

The KDI process, step by step

When the scope expands — the fear, answered

The thing every fleet manager dreads is a routine inspection turning into a five-figure surprise, with a defect list and no one to action it. Here's how we handle it.

A Sunshine Coast tree-management business brought a Monitor EWP in for a scheduled quarterly inspection. The assessment uncovered a much larger job — an undercarriage overhaul with all bearings and tracks replaced, basket electrical faults causing recurring overload cut-outs, and a full engine service. Because every trade was handled under one roof, the entire project was completed within the original timeframe and budget, and the crews got straight back to work.

Structa Steel booked what they thought was a routine compliance inspection on a telehandler. Our assessment found it needed a full major inspection to stay compliant. We completed the major inspection on time, handled all repairs and compliance in-house, and there were no cost blowouts. When the scope grows, the difference is having one team that can quote it, fix it and certify it — not three.

Turnaround reality

We start the moment you enquire — same-day service, not a booking three weeks out. And we've completed major inspections in as little as six weeks. That matters when a machine is due mid-contract and every idle day costs you. If timing is tight, tell us the deadline and we'll tell you honestly whether we can hit it.

On site or in the workshop

Most major inspections can run either way. Our Yandina workshop is built for serious equipment — 38-tonne Bluetooth hoists and the room to strip a large crane down properly. When a machine can't travel, we mobilise: we've run on-site major inspections in the Whitsundays, deployed technicians to a Liebherr LR1280 for Surelift Cranes in the Bowen Basin, and supported Reeves Envico's 75-tonne crane in Kiribati. Interstate and remote work is normal for us, not an exception.

The Zero Downtime Guarantee, applied to inspections

Every scoped major inspection is backed by our Zero Downtime Guarantee: we complete the agreed work on or before the promised date, or you receive $500 in service credits for every eligible working day of avoidable delay caused by us. No other provider in the category puts money behind the date.

Replace, or renew?

Since 1 November 2024, ADR 80/04 (aligning with Euro 6) has tightened emissions rules for heavy vehicles, and it's prompting a lot of replace-versus-keep decisions. A new 20-tonne mobile crane runs around $450,000; larger machines exceed $1 million. A major inspection, with the rectification work done properly, can extend a compliant machine's life by more than a decade — at a fraction of replacement cost. We'll give you the honest numbers for your machine so you can make the call on evidence, not guesswork. If a rebuild is the smarter path, that's rebuilds and refurbishment territory.

Assets and brands we inspect

Mobile and slew cranes to 300 tonnes, crawler cranes to 280 tonnes, pick-and-carry cranes (Franna, Humma, Tidd), vehicle loading cranes (Palfinger, Hiab), EWPs and travel towers, telehandlers, crane borers, and mining plant. Brand-agnostic across the fleet, with manufacturer training and software for the makes that need it — Liebherr Liccon 1 and 2, Palfinger and Humma among them.

Proof

In 2025 we completed 513 jobs for 390 customers across Australia, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific. We work on cranes from 100 to 300 tonnes, hold Palfinger and Humma appointments, are a Robway repairer, and our technicians are Liccon 1 and 2 trained.

Featured case studies

• Kings Cranes — Demag AC100, Whitsundays — a newly bought slew crane, major inspection from initial scope to final sign-off before its first job.
• Structa Steel — telehandler — booked as a compliance check, delivered as a full major inspection, on time and with no blowouts.
• Surelift Cranes — Liebherr LR1280, Moranbah — the largest crane we've inspected in the field, to engineer and Liebherr spec, with near-zero disruption.

FAQ