The event, which was held in Leighton Buzzard, brought together the best of the best in the plant industry and it was great to see so many young and female plant operators competing.
President Callum Mackintosh was delighted to be asked to judge the competition along with fellow SPOA member Tomasz Orkiszewski from GoldCast Academy, Chris Blake and Chris Bushell from CITB, Gez Bonner from Lynch Plant Hire and Phil Hayden from M O’Brien Plant Hire.
Judges were paired up for the first three challenges, Callum and Tomasz oversaw the Tiltrotator Challenge where competitors were tasked with using a JCB 140x with steelwrist tiltrotator to put a batter on a stockpile of material. With just two minutes per finalist on each challenge they were judged on not only the task but their approach and attitude as well as the method adopted and their execution. Observations were made from a health and safety perspective and the judges looked at how the operators were able to use the functions of the tiltrotator to maximum effect.
This challenge was won by Jamie Currie, a young operator well known to all at the SPOA after his achievement of becoming the youngest person to gain a Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS) Red Card at the age of 13.
-- Advertisement --
Jamie Currie said: "It was great to take part in this competition and meet other operators like Tom Balls and Paul Davidson. An added bonus was getting hands on with a variety of makes and models of machine, which has got me considering options for my first machine that I wouldn't have considered before."
Speaking about the competition, Callum Mackintosh, President of the SPOA, said: “What a phenomenal event! There were almost 40 finalists battling it out to be crowned Plant Operator of the Year. Finalists accumulated points as they progressed through the challenges with the top five highest scores getting through to the final challenge.
“I was absolutely delighted to see Jamie Currie win the Tiltrotator Challenge, a decision made by the other judges. He beat 35 other competitors to do so and scored full marks. He certainly has a bright future ahead of him.
“Also worth mentioning was Louie Coram, who at just 12 years old, displayed an excellent level of control and awareness. It was clear that the youngest finalists spent their time observing the successes and failures of their fellow competitors which paid off on this challenge.”
With the final five finalists confirmed they each took turns to mount a Komatsu PC228us and to load a Doosan DA30 ADT. All six judges took up positions to assess the skills on display.
Owner operator Mark Palmer-Broughton wowed the judges on this task displaying a natural flow to the loading process, scoring high points on this challenge but it just wasn’t enough to pass Hannah Jarman who had amassed the highest total over the day and went on to be crowned Plant Operator of the Year 2022.
Hannah, a former plant operator apprentice at the CITB National Construction College at Bircham Newton, is blazing a trail for females in the industry.
Callum concluded: “The competition was well supported by the industry and it was encouraging to see so many companies really get behind it. Hats off to everyone involved in organising the event and to everyone who competed. I can’t wait for next year.
“It would be great to see this event supported by members of the SPOA and of course I’d like to see more entrants and more sponsors from Scotland. We have an abundance of highly skilled operators here and it’s time we showed that off.”
This a view shared by Brian Coogan, editor of UK Plant Operators Magazine who said: "We're at the start of something big here and I'm looking forward to making the 2023 competition bigger and better with the support of Callum Mackintosh and the SPOA."
