Ashley Thacker

Ranger Lifting has appointed industry heavyweight Liam Mccaffrey in response to growing demand for its products and services in Queensland. Ranger, a Sydney-headquartered lifting, rigging, and height safety equipment supplier, already serves the state from New South Wales, and positioning a widely respected professional closer to the point of use was a natural next step. […]

New South Wales, Australia-based Ranger Lifting has named industry veteran Oliver Auston technical consultant. He will continue to serve as a Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) board representative. Auston was co-founder of the UK brand Checkmate, a height safety pioneer, and has served on the LEEA board for over a decade, including a tenure as […]

Think about what’s more important: where a product is from or its compliance with relevant standards.   Brace yourself: as good as Aussie-made product is, 90% of the lifting and rigging gear sold in Australia is imported from Europe, the States, Asia, or elsewhere. Much less product is manufactured here than people think. That’s why so […]

When working at height, it is important to be properly trained and consult the experts, says Ashley Thacker of Ranger Lifting. I was talking to height safety expert James Moule, of LINQ Height Safety, recently. Our conversation was two-sided in that much of it was positive, about the progress Australian industry has made in height […]

Seven things we have learnt in the last six months—and three things we would tell our pre-Covid selves. The best companies have treated this year as an opportunity; we are no different. It’s evident that businesses that were able to take decisive action eight months ago are better off now. It was important not to […]

There are many reasons why lifting gear breaks. Here, we look at seven common causes.   There is an unacceptable reality that even when lifting is a core function at a company or on a jobsite, it is not given the recognition is deserves in terms of safety and competence-based expertise. We see hundreds of […]

After nine years’ of highly valued service, Ashley Thacker (pictured) has stepped down from the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) Board as Regional Director – Australia. Ashley’s successor on the Board is Steven Flint, founder and CEO of The Rigging Shed in Western Australia. The transition took place during the LEEA AGM, held on the […]

As a nine-year tenure on the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) board concludes, it’s time to reflect and give new leadership our full support. I remember the size of the task that faced us nine years ago; it was like standing at the foot of a mountain. Our end goal, as it is today, was […]

Undoubtedly, Coronavirus has taken a lot from us, but it has also given us an opportunity to create better working and personal lives for ourselves as the ‘new normal’ dawns. It is time to look at this in a positive way. At the time of writing, May has been greeted like a milestone in the […]

The annual awards dinner held recently after the opening day of the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association’s (LEEA) LiftEx trade show provided the first opportunity for many to watch the Think Lifting video. The film is a collaborative work between LEEA and Lift & Hoist International (LHI) magazine, and is intent on promoting the lifting industry […]