Effective date for ANSI A92 suite of standards moved to March

The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) is advising that there has been a revision to the effective date for the ANSI A92 suite of standards, which has been moved by the ASC A92 Main Committee from December 2019 to March 1 2020.

Members of the Committee voted on and approved the extension at its annual meeting on Wednesday, October 30 2019, and the change means the complete suite of standards including: ANSI/SAIA A92.20 – 2018 | Design, Calculations, Safety Requirements, and Test Methods for Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs); ANSI/SAIA A92.22 – 2018 | Safe Use of MEWPs; and ANSI/SAIA A92.24 – 2018 | Training Requirements for the Use, Operation, Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of MEWPs will now come into effect three months later than anticipated.

A decision by the ANSI Board of Standards Review (BSR) regarding appeals submitted on ANSI/SAIA A92.20 and A92.22 resulted in a limited revision on language that violated the ANSI Commercial Terms Policy. These limited revisions were balloted and approved by the ASC A92 Main Committee and are currently out for public comment until November 10 2019.

Following the close of the public comment period, the ASC A92 Main Committee will go through a 30-day recirculation ballot and a 30-day appeals period before submitting the final proposal to ANSI. Once the ANSI BSR has received the final submittal, the appellants will have an additional 15 days to submit an appeal to the ANSI BSR.

The ASC A92 Committee, and the A92 Chairmen will continue working with both appellants during this process. Actions being taken in an attempt to resolve the continued issues include forming a Commercial Terms Violation ad hoc, providing more guidance on the ANSI Lack of Dominance Policy, instituting additional policies and procedures for the A92 subcommittees, adding three licenses agreements on the SAIA Manual of Responsibilities (MoR), and reporting on A92 Standards and MoRs financials.

Tony Groat, IPAF’s North America Regional Manager, who also sits on all three of the ANSI committees, comments: “While the effective date of the standards has now been extended by three months, IPAF advises all powered access stakeholders in the US to continue to familiarize themselves with the key changes and requirements in the proposed new standards, with a view to achieve compliance as soon as practicable ahead of the effective date.”

“The new standards promote the safe use of MEWPs, outlining responsibilities and including new requirements for both operator and supervisor training, and so it makes sense to start implementing your requirements as defined in the new standards to ensure all involved with powered access operations are working safely and are compliant with requirements in the standards. IPAF can assist with understanding the key changes in the new standards and help you plan to be compliant in time for the effective date.”

IPAF can assist with compliance with the new ANSI and CSA MEWP standards; to find out about IPAF training visit www.ipaf.org/training or to find contact details of your nearest IPAF office or representative visit www.ipaf.org/contact

Information on the call for public comments can be found at ANSI Standards Action. Comments on the limited revisions should be submitted to deanna@saiaonline.org (with optional copy to psa@ansi.org).