CESAR REGISTRATIONS REACH 15,000 BUT THE INDUSTRY HAS MORE WORK TO DO SAYS DATATAG

BOMAG machine 15,000th registration

All concerned with the official Construction Equipment Security and Registration scheme (CESAR) can be proud this week as CESAR registrations reach the 15,000 mark.

Leach Lewis, the Bomag Compaction Centre for the South East of England, delivered the 15,000th machine, a Bomag BW120AD4 Tandem Roller. The new machine was delivered to Already Hire Limited of Slough. The Tandem Roller was put to work immediately on a Docklands light railway job. Bomag recently announced that it has adopted CESAR registration as ‘standard fit' on all new Tandem Vibratory Rollers sold in the UK. The Datatag system and registration plates are fitted by trained staff at its Larkfield facility in Kent.

The CESAR scheme is promoted by the Construction Equipment Association (CEA), which is funded by construction equipment manufacturers, and administered by Datatag ID Limited a British company that is a market leader in security marking. Rob Oliver, Chief Executive of the CEA has this to say about the 15,000^th registration............."CESAR came about because of the hard work of Kevin Clancy and the Plant Theft Action Group that started back in 1996. The CESAR scheme, which was launched in February 2007, gives the construction industry and the police the upper hand in fighting organised criminals that target construction plant. CESAR is a powerful deterrent against plant theft and it gives machine owners, operators and the police ‘state of the art' identification technology that massively increases the chances of identification and recovery in the event of theft".

As well as sponsoring the CESAR scheme the CEA recently announced, at the Construction Industry Theft Solutions conference, that it is to fund out of income from CESAR registrations a ‘National Plant Intelligence Unit' within the Met Police. Five leading insurance companies (Allianz, HSB Haughton, Norwich Union, Royal & Sunallinace and Zurich) are also sponsoring the unit for the next two years.

The recovery rate for ‘unregistered plant is estimated to be as low as 5-10% and industry insiders reckon plant theft to be as high as £100 million per year from the UK alone. Most stolen plant is exported to Continental Europe or Africa. CESAR registration allows the police to check on a machine in exactly the same way as they would a car through the police national computer (PNC). The unique plant registration number, which appears on a CESAR machine on two ‘tamper proof' triangular registration plates, is registered on the DVLA computer along with all the owners' details. The DVLA computer and the PNC are linked giving the police access to CESAR data at any time of the day or night.

Kevin Howells, Director of Datatag ID, and an expert on plant theft prevention and recovery is not complacent however; "I'm clearly delighted that we've reached another registration milestone so quickly but there's plenty more work for us all to do in educating the industry regarding the real threat of plant theft which not only disrupts a sites operation but which can adversely affect the safety of loyal staff too. I'm constantly encouraged by the attitude and support of machine owners like A-Plant and Clancy Docwra and of leading equipment manufacturers including, Doosan, Manitou, Merlo, JCB, Hanix, Bomag and Bobcat who all fit CESAR registration plates and Datatag security systems as standard on the machines they supply in the UK. There are however people still dragging their feet over the adoption of CESAR which is holding back the overall effectiveness of a scheme, supported by the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers, which is clearly good for the construction industry as a whole. We should all see plant theft and site security in a similar light to site safety, namely an issue for senior management to tackle with the proper focus, resources, training and motivation".

A number of local authorities including Birmingham City Council, Solihull, Edinburgh City Council and West Lothian have made adopting CESAR a requirement of their tender documents and more local authorities and utilities are set to follow.

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