LEEA appoints Beltrao as Director of Compliance

The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) has appointed Alex Beltrao as Director of Compliance. “I am looking forward to contributing to the growth of LEEA together with its membership and to solidify the Association as the worldwide reference for lifting equipment safety,” he said.

The role is responsible for the LEEA’s knowledge and sharing it to benefit members. This is done by providing technical advice, developing guidance documents and codes or participating in development of new standards or pieces of legislation on behalf of the members.

“Being Director of Compliance requires a mix of technical background and an understanding of global standardisation and regulatory frameworks,” said Beltrao. “It was therefore a great opportunity to use my skills and knowledge to help achieve LEEA’s ambitious new goal of reaching 5000 members.”

A civil engineer by training, with a decade of experience in designing steel structures, in 2013 Beltrao moved to Brussels to work for the European Committee for Standardisation as Programme Manager for the construction sector. Here he oversaw development of European standards and the bridging between the technical committees, CEN members and the European Commission. In 2019 he started working for Tata Steel in the UK in his last role before joining LEEA as Director of Compliance.

Commenting on LEEA, Beltrao said: “Having worked with many industry associations in the construction, steel and gas sectors, I was very impressed with LEEA’s history of contributing to a safer lifting industry and how it was able to evolve from chain testers to addressing the wider industry, developing guidance and training and expanding the membership in the UK and internationally.”

He added: “With the expansion of LEEA to members in new geographies, new markets and new stakeholders in the supply chain, the challenge is to adapt and grow our knowledge base and services in a way that is relevant to them and helps them to improve the safety of the industry.”

Director of Compliance is the third key new senior management appointment made by LEEA this spring as part of the executive management team. The team will be working closely with LEEA CEO Ross Moloney in the strategic development of the Association, who said: “We are proud to welcome Alex to the LEEA team. He brings tremendous experience to the role of leading and managing our compliance work, with responsibility for all aspects of policy, research, and audit quality, which is a crucial aspect of the support that LEEA provides to members.”