Total Crane Services | Eurocrane’s Full Service Explained

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In Summary…

Total crane services mean one company handling everything: installation, load testing, planned maintenance, electrical systems, LOLER inspections, 24-hour breakdown cover, refurbished cranes, and lifting gear supply. Using a single provider keeps accountability in one place, ensures engineers know your equipment at every stage, and reduces the risk of gaps forming between suppliers in a safety-critical industry. Eurocrane has delivered this across the UK for over 30 years.

What Goes into a Total Crane Servicing Company

A lot of companies claim to do it all, to be a one-stop shop for all your crane needs, but what goes into total crane services?

Simply put, it's a single provider that covers the full lifecycle of a crane from installation through to end-of-life, rather than a company that just installs it.

Using multiple suppliers for different aspects of your crane service creates gaps, middlemen that lead to accountability inconsistencies, equipment knowledge can differ, and can add admin headaches.

Using a company that offers total crane services will help lower the chance of an incident in a safety-critical industry where equipment records, inspection history, and fault patterns all need to be understood by whoever’s doing the work, especially when working with equipment with two principal hazards that lead to accidents, as HSE states; 

“Collapse of the crane – such incidents present significant potential for multiple fatal injuries, both on and off-site

Falling of the load – these events also present a significant potential for death and major injury”

In this guide, we will go through exactly what goes into total crane servicing, from installation to aftercare if anything goes wrong.

Total Crane Servicing: Key Service Details

Installation

The start of your total crane servicing experience and the crane's lifecycle, and the starting point the service is built on. If a crane’s not installed well, this sets up the entire service for failure, creating problems that maintenance alone can’t fully resolve.

A professional crane installation that passes inspections is meticulous, involving a site survey and structural assessment, runway beam installation, crane assembly, electrical connection, and pre-use testing.

While this is an overview, not all installs are the same; different sites, different overhead cranes, gantry cranes, and tower cranes require a different process.

Using the same company for installation and ongoing maintenance matters, the engineers who install the crane know exactly how it was set up, what tolerances were applied, and what to look for when they return for servicing.

Before the crane enters service, it should go through commissioning and load testing by a competent person.

Load Testing and Handling Systems

Before a crane enters service, it has to be proven to perform safely at its rated capacity under controlled conditions. This examination is possibly the most important part of the total crane services.

Load testing applies a known load above the safe working load to verify the crane performs to its specification before it's put into service.

The same process is required after significant repairs, after structural modification, after a crane has been relocated, and as part of periodic verification for high-duty applications.

Not every site suits a standard crane configuration. Where there are unusual load profiles, restricted headroom, multi-point lifts, or specialist material handling requirements, you need a bespoke lifting and handling solution.

Crane Servicing and Maintenance

Planned maintenance is the core of keeping a crane reliable and cost-effective across its working life. It sits between commissioning and the point where repairs or replacement become necessary, and when servicing is done well, it keeps costs and the risk of accidents low.

A structured maintenance programme includes lubrication, component inspection, electrical testing, brake adjustment, and replacement of wear parts before they fail. 

The gap between visits should be set based on manufacturer recommendations, usage intensity, and operating environment, not a fixed calendar that takes no account of how the crane is used.

The case for a contract maintenance arrangement over ad hoc callouts comes down to predictability. Fixed costs, guaranteed visit frequency, priority response when something crops up between scheduled visits, and engineers who become familiar with the specific equipment over time. 

It’s important to use a total crane service with engineers familiar with the major crane brands they work across, including Demag, Kone, Stahl, SWF, and GIS, which reduces turnaround time when parts need replacing during a service visit.

Electrical Solutions

Crane electrical systems are a vital part of crane operation, requiring specialist knowledge. They are responsible for a significant proportion of crane breakdowns if they’re not properly looked after.

Crane electrical systems cover motor controls, variable speed drives, pendant and radio control systems, panel wiring, limit switches, and safety interlocks. 

A fault in any of these can take a crane out of service just as effectively as a mechanical failure, and diagnosing it requires a different set of skills. These downtimes can be costly, as data compiled by the Fluke Corporation indicates;

“Unplanned downtime costs UK manufacturers up to £736 million every single week, with 68% of facilities suffering unexpected outages annually.”

On older cranes in particular, the electrical system is often the limiting factor on useful working life. A targeted electrical overhaul can extend that life significantly without the cost of full crane replacement.

Routine Safety Inspections/LOLER

Thorough examination under LOLER 1998 is a legal requirement that runs throughout the crane's working life. All lifting equipment must be examined at defined intervals by a competent person, and a written report must be produced after every examination. 

This is standard for cranes every 12 months, and for cranes that lift people, every 6 months. The failure to do this can lead to pretty extreme punishments, with Lawgistics citing a case that shows just how much it can cost;

"A coach company in Wrexham has been fined £250,000 after it repeatedly failed to comply with legal notices to get its lifting equipment examined."

Beyond satisfying the legal requirement, inspections serve a practical purpose. Catching faults early reduces the likelihood of unplanned breakdowns and builds a documented maintenance history if anything should ever go wrong. 

Having the same company carry out both inspections and ongoing maintenance improves the quality of that assessment over time, because the engineers examining the crane already know its history.

Breakdown and Repair

Good maintenance and regular inspections reduce the risk of unplanned crane failure, but they can't completely mitigate them. When something does go wrong, the response matters.

In manufacturing, construction, and logistics, a crane that stops working stops the operation around it. Mechanical wear, electrical faults, structural damage from impacts or overloading, and control system failures are the most common causes, and none of them waits for a convenient time.

A provider that only responds during office hours is not a total crane service. 

Many sites run shift patterns or operate seven days a week, and a breakdown at 2 am on a Sunday needs the same response as one at 10 am on a Tuesday. The breakdown service from a total crane service should cover overhead cranes, gantry cranes, and tower cranes across the UK, with engineers available at any time. 

First, make the crane safe and the area operational, then carry out the repair to return the equipment to full service. Before you need emergency cover, it is worth knowing the geographic reach, response times, engineer availability, and callout process of whoever you are relying on. 

Refurbished Cranes

There comes a point in every crane's lifecycle where replacement becomes necessary. New equipment isn’t the only option. A refurbished crane that has been properly overhauled offers reliable lifting capacity at a significantly lower cost than a new installation. 

The process involves a full inspection, replacement of worn or damaged parts, electrical overhaul, structural remediation where needed, and final testing before the crane is offered for sale. 

Every unit should come with an examination report, a test certificate, and a clear record of what work was carried out.

Refurbished cranes are particularly well suited to replacing like-for-like capacity, adding a second crane to an existing runway, or providing lifting capability for a site with a defined project lifespan. 

Also helping with sustainability goals, refurbishing and redeploying a crane that still has working life in it is a more resource-efficient outcome than scrapping and replacing.

Why Eurocrane?

Total crane services isn’t just a marketing phrase. It shows the capability of a company: one company, one set of engineers, covering the full lifecycle of a crane from installation through to end-of-life support.

Installation done properly, load testing before the crane enters service, planned maintenance on the right schedule, electrical systems kept in good order, LOLER inspections carried out and documented, 24-hour breakdown cover when something goes wrong, refurbished cranes where replacement is the right call, and certified lifting gear managed within the same framework throughout.

If you are looking for a crane service company that can handle everything from installation to end-of-life, get in touch or fill in the contact form, and a member of the team will get back to you.

Disclaimer: This article is intended as general guidance only and does not constitute legal, engineering, or professional advice. While we've made every effort to ensure accuracy, crane regulations (including LOLER 1998 and PUWER 1998) and safety requirements can vary by equipment type, industry, and site conditions, and legal obligations may change over time. Always consult a competent person, qualified engineer, or your legal advisor before making decisions about crane inspection, maintenance, or compliance for your specific equipment and operation.