Ontario Tabletop Show small but mighty

Jan. 29, 2013 – Old friends reacquainted and new
friends were made at the CRA Ontario Tabletop Show, held Jan. 19 at the
Nottawasaga Inn in Alliston, Ont. Attendance was 113, including 34 exhibitors and 31 rental operators. The Nottawasaga
proved to be spacious and comfortable, with an excellent kitchen.

The day started with two excellent
seminars, a first for the Tabletop Show. Tom Bell of Haulotte Group gave an
interested audience the benefit of his 27 years’ experience in the lift and
access field with an in-depth and impassioned talk on lift equipment safety. He
explained in the seminar that the topic was near and dear to his heart ever
since he was on the scene of a fatal accident involving a lift platform working
around the Rogers Centre in Toronto. 
Attendees came away with a long list of critical tips for safeguarding
their customers. For instance, did you know that you should never rent safety
harnesses?

Tom Bell says, "Be safe."

The next seminar was hosted by Robert
Goodall of Verisk Crime Analytics, the consultancy advising National Equipment
Register on its anti-theft programs. Goodall’s resume alone was worth the price
of admission; he was an Ontario Provincial Police officer for 31 years,
retiring as head of its theft investigations unit. From there he became head of
security for the Darlington nuclear plant near Pickering, Ont. Then the RCMP
sent him to Afghanistan.

Goodall gave attendees a good
background on heavy equipment theft in Canada and outlined several services
that CRA members can access for free through the NER. Heavy equipment theft
happens, he said, because it is a relatively low-risk, high-reward form of
criminal activity. Skid steers, tractors, backhoes and landscape loaders
account for 74 per cent of the equipment stolen. These items are common
everywhere, and often left unsecured on construction sites and open yards. They
are not easily identified as stolen, and police are poorly trained in their
identification and documentation. Recovering stolen equipment is not a high
priority for police as rising costs force them to focus on violent crime. The
machines are relatively easy to move across borders and criminals operate
sophisticated networks of crooked dealers and brokers who move and sell the
equipment to unscrupulous buyers.

NER maintains a database of over
110,000 theft reports and 25 million ownership records. Canadian members of the
CRA can use three key services to help safeguard equipment from theft and
assist with recovery if the equipment is stolen: HelpTech, IronWatch and
IronCheck. HelpTech is the equipment registration service operated by NER. CRA
members can register up to 1,000 items for free. HelpTech records are then
fully searchable by law enforcement across North America, increasing the
chances your equipment will be identified and returned if recovered. IronWatch
is a monitoring service that tracks your equipment through an attached GPS
device. There is no monthly fee. Using IronWatch, you can set up a “geo-fence”
for stationary equipment that alerts the system if the machine moves outside of
a designated zone. Finally, IronCheck is a due diligence check for buyers of
used equipment. Goodall says to think of it as CarFax for the equipment
industry.

The smartest guys (and girl) in the Ontario rental business.

The CRA Ontario banquet was a
high-spirited event as usual, with a trivia game show complete with buzzers and light-up podiums. Paul Potvin
of Location Equipment Supply proved to be the trivia master, bringing home the
pot of collected money for Table Two.

After dinner, the awards were handed
out by Mike Maltby, CRA Ontario president, and Dale Brinklow, CRA Ontario vice
president. The winners were:·     

• Ontario Supplier of the Year – Dean
  Nasato, Wacker Neuson
• Ontario President’s Image Award, General – Paul
  Potvin, Location Equipment Supply
• Ontario President's Image Award, Event –
  Hank Vanheuvelen, Tim’s Rent-All
• National Rental Person of the Year,
  Ontario  – Chris and Colin Wilson, A
  World of Rentals
• Ontario Rental Professional of the Year
  – Ed Cosman, Canadian Rental Service

Related link
www.crarental.org