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Leavitt Machinery purchases Crane Safety Ltd.

Leavitt Machinery has acquired Alberta-based training company Crane Safety Limited. A representative for Leavitt says that the purchase, which was made official June 1, 2017, brings more expertise to their offerings.

“We were really looking for a market expansion and as part of that, we need leading experts in the industry to help us expand,” says Jill Brook, operations manager for Leavitt Machinery. “We noticed we were lacking expertise in the crane area and one of the major attractive points of Crane Safety is all their instructors are journeymen-status crane operators who have over 30 years of experience, so adding that expertise to our team was a huge attraction.”

Since being established in 1985 by Bruce Larsen, Crane Safety Ltd. has provided training programs for mining, petrochemical, forestry, manufacturing and railroad sectors in Canada, the United States and South America. They have also designed instruction manuals for operation of a variety of crane types. Brook says that while they are making some additions – such as having crane instructors cross-trained for mobile-equipment training as well – the most significant change for Crane Safety Ltd.’s operations will be how they support Larsen’s efforts.

“Initially, there’s going to be no change to how customers are seeing things, except for two logos on their invoices and different letters going out,” says Brook. “Behind the scenes, though, we’re looking to modernize their operations. Bruce was running his business all by himself and he was everything to that business. Now he has the advantage of having a team of administrators and sales associates who can help him complete the office work and get it done more efficiently.”

Brook says that one of the other major factors in the purchase is enhancing the operations of their sister company, Leavitt Crane.

“We’ve really not been able to serve the customers of Leavitt Crane to the level that they need,” says Brook. “This expertise is going to allow us to provide the same high quality service we’ve been providing to Leavitt Machinery customers for well over 15 years now.”

Brook advises to stay tuned for info on some additional online courses to be offered at Crane Safety Ltd., including low chart courses and basic rigging courses.