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  • In response to new safety requirements due to COVID-19 and following IPAF’s guidance to training centres, Nationwide platforms has successfully completed an online instructor-led MEWPs for Managers course for construction contractor Skanska.

  • The first in a series of potentially life-saving safety briefings has been launched by IPAF. IPAF’s ‘Toolbox Talks’ are a series of safety presentations ideal for use in breakrooms and worksites to get key messages across at the start of a shift.

  • IPAF Representatives showcased MEWP safety guidance, including the importance of quality operator training, correct use of PFPE and the Don’t Fall For It! safety campaign – designed to prevent falls from the platform – at OSH India 2022 in Mumbai.

  • 5838: Does the operator course include harness training?

    The IPAF MEWP Operator Training course is specifically designed to train people to operate MEWPs however, as a part of the content the course includes a short section of basic harness training on these areas:

    - Before use: Pre-use checks of a harness and lanyard, checking for proof of Statutory Inspection
    - Harness wearing: How to put a harness on
    - Harness adjustment: Ensuring candidates have no slack in a correctly fitted harness
    - Lanyard adjustment: Adjusting for machine and candidate
    - Attachment to MEWP: Designated anchor point and karabiner locked
    - IPAF technical guidance H1 on harnesses

    Harness inspection is not covered in the IPAF MEWP Operator Training course.

    For any person that needs comprehensive harness training, IPAF offers awareness level harness training suitable for everyone, user level training for those that will use a harness in a MEWP, and inspector level training for those that will be required to conduct Statutory Inspections of PFPE for use in a MEWP. Click here to learn more

  • An International Safety Committee has been created by IPAF, to globalise standards development and assist in effective implementation and promoting awareness about industry safe practice. IPAF is now inviting representatives to join the new committee.

  • Featured Campaign

    DON’T FALL FOR IT!

    IPAF’s Don’t Fall For It! safety campaign identifies key causes of falls from the platform, and provides advice about how to avoid associated hazards.

    Added 10 Mar 2022
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  • The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) announces the launch of its Global Safety Campaign for 2024, titled "CRUSHING CAN KILL!" The third Global Safety Campaign released during IPAF Head of Safety and Technical Brian Parker’s tenure aims to raise awareness and reduce entrapment and crushing incidents involving Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs), which have resulted in numerous fatalities and injuries over the past decade.

  • It is the employer's responsibility to ensure that all operators they direct and authorize to use aerial equipment are adequately trained, familiarized and made aware of operator responsibilities to comply with current health and safety requirements.

    Added 1 Jan 2018
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  • Technical Guidance

    MEWP Safety Alert Protocol

    The purpose of this guidance is to develop a standard approach to the generation and circulation of safety alerts in the MEWP industry.

    Added 1 Jan 2018
    Last updated 1 Jan 2018

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  • The IPAF Global Safety Report 2023, covering 2012 - 2022 data, analyses the main causes of serious injuries and fatalities occurring when using powered access machines to conduct temporary work at height, highlighting the need to gather more near-miss data from across the industry worldwide to help avoid the most common types of serious accident in future.

    Added 28 Jun 2023
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  • A safety trail demonstrating the most common types of MEWP accidents, as identified by the latest analysis of data gathered in IPAF’s incident reporting project, will be the theme of the IPAF stand at Vertikal Days 2021 in Peterborough, UK, 22-23 September.

  • A safety awareness leaflet has been issued to warn users of MEWPs about the catapult effect, which can cause occupants to be ejected from the platform, leading to serious injury and death, especially if occupants are not wearing the correct PFPE.

  • 5862: Do users of mast climbing work platforms (MCWPs) need a PAL Card?

    The employer should ensure that all Operators using the equipment are trained to operate the MCWP, with full knowledge of the controls of the equipment, safety systems and emergency procedures, risk assessment guidance and they are able to carry out pre-use/daily inspections and perform the emergency descent. The employer should also ensure that all Operators receive adequate machine-specific familiarization, which should be conducted by a competent Demonstrator with the correct certifications, to ensure operators understand the specific machine controls and safety systems.

    Demonstrators are persons, with full knowledge on the operating commands of the equipment, they are able to perform the emergency descent, carry out pre-use/daily and weekly inspections and ensuring that these take place.

    In addition, they are trained in the demonstration of MCWP to others in a documented scheme, to ensure Operators understand the specific machine controls and safety systems.

    The responsibility for determining the training needs of persons in respect of safety, and for making the necessary arrangements for training, rests with the individual employer. In the case of self-employed persons, the responsibility rests with themselves.

    IPAF training programs include MCWP Operator and MCWP Demonstrator, and its successful completion at an IPAF-approved training center leads to a PAL Card, the highest international standard of quality training.

  • Information gathered in a worldwide project to report accidents and near-misses has informed a major update to IPAF’s comprehensive training course on how to load and unload MEWPs and other plant equipment safely from trucks or trailers.

  • Brian Parker has been announced as the new Head of Safety & Technical for the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF). He IPAF joins from AFI-Uplift Ltd and takes up post on 2 October, reporting to Peter Douglas, CEO and Managing Director.

  • A VR sim on which to demonstrate operator training, and several safety stations using a selection of MEWPs to illustrate the key risks involved in the most common causes of MEWP accidents will be among the main draws on the IPAF stand at SMOPYC 2021

  • The fatal injury rate (FIR) for mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) declined in 2016, despite the fact that the total MEWP rental fleet and the number of rental days worldwide increased significantly over the same period.

  • Information gathered in a worldwide project to report accidents and near-misses has informed a major update to IPAF’s comprehensive training course on how to load and unload MEWPs and other plant equipment safely from trucks or trailers.

  • Tony Groat, North America Regional Manager for IPAF, has been honored as Person of the Year at the ALH Awards 2019 in San Diego, California, for his work to promote MEWP safety and training and in developing new US and Canadian standards.

  • The latest edition of Elevating Safety, IPAF’s magazine for readers in North America, is now available in print and digital format. The 2018 edition contains expert advice and insight into new North American standards, considers the future of powered access, and asks “should ladders be banned from US job sites?”

  • Registrations are now open for the inaugural IPAF MEWP Safety & Standards Conference, which will take place on 16 May 2019 alongside the Changsha International Construction Machinery Exhibition (15-18 May), Hunan Province, China.

  • When working at height in a Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP), one of the leading causes of death and severe injury is falls from the platform. This toolbox talk looks at the risks and how to prevent falling from the platform.

    Added 26 Apr 2021
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  • A new online shop has been launched by IPAF, offering the chance to order safety and technical guidance leaflets, stickers or decals, training materials, as well as key magazine publications including IPAF Informa in Italian and IPAF-Journal in German.

  • Haulotte, the international MEWP manufacturer, has reached a historic agreement that sees it become one of the first sustaining members of IPAF, which was formally signed at the Europlatform 2018 conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 11 October.

  • IPAF is pleased to announce Matt Fearon, President of Terex AWP, the global manufacturer of Genie® branded Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs), will be its headline speaker at the organisation’s annual ElevAÇÃO conference, on 5-6 February 2018 in São Paulo, Brazil.