CICA MEMBER PROFILE
Lou Sapio is the strategy-business & people manager at MAX Cranes.
MORE THAN JUST A TICKET – IT’S YOUR FUTURE! Max Cranes recently launched the MAX Academy, designed to address the skills shortages facing the crane sector. ‘MORE THAN JUST A TICKET – IT’S YOUR FUTURE’, underpins MAX Cranes’ initiative to create and recently launch the MAX Academy – an innovative specialised lifting training provider in mobile crane and rigging applications. There are a strong number of training providers nationally who provide highrisk tickets in crane operation and rigging. These are generally conducted over a one-week timeframe for each course, with a class size of five or six participants. The industry recognises the high-risk ticket as being the minimum 16 / CAL January 2022
requirement Safe Work Australia has placed on the industry to ensure a competency benchmark of an operator/ rigger. But does it help students become more employable? Attracting young people to the specialised lifting sector and ensuring those already employed are reaching their full potential are key objectives for the new MAX Academy. Lou Sapio is the strategy-business & people manager at MAX Cranes and he provided more detail relating to aims and objectives for the academy: “One
of the major issues with our industry, and a key reason why industry has been highly supportive of our initiative, is that anybody can go out and get a crane ticket, a rigger’s ticket or a dogman ticket, but it doesn’t make you competent and you won’t necessarily be offered work because you have the tickets. This approach can be risky to any crane business.” Sapio, a first-class welder by trade who has harnessed his passion for education to develop and build the skills of crane industry workers, has spent the last 20 years working in the employment www.cranesandlifting.com.au
