Appointment to Safety & Technical team increases global reach

The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) has announced that Mike Ashton is to take up post as International Safety & Technical Advisor, bringing to the role considerable expertise from his more than 25 years in industry business management, safety, engineering and training positions in the UK, Middle East and Australia.

Mike joins IPAF from Lift Industries who are the Australian Distributor for TEREX insulated travel towers and crane borers located on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, where he was business development manager. Prior to that he held a similar role with AWD, capital equipment specialists in Perth, Western Australia. He was Resources Manager at the Elevating Work Platform Association (EWPA) of Australia and held business development and training manager positions at Access Service Australia either side of a spell as HSEQ & Training Manager at Rapid Access in the UAE. Before that he held both instructor and service engineer roles at AFI-Uplift, Nationwide and PTP Aerial Platforms in the UK.

Mike will continue to be based in Queensland, Australia, and will report to Brian Parker, IPAF Head of Safety & Technical, who says: “The primary responsibilities of Mike’s role will be to use his skills and commercial expertise to advise, support and develop the safety and technical aspects of IPAF’s business around the world. Key functions will be to summarise complex safety and technical ideas, prepare how-to guides, white papers and manuals, create and edit content for internal or external documents, and to assist in identifying strategies and opportunities for safety and technical initiatives.

“We’re delighted to appoint Mike following a rigorous search process and are confident he’s a perfect fit with the IPAF team and culture. He has valuable experience in the UK, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand powered access markets, and he will bring his obvious diligence and expertise to the role. We can’t wait for him to get started.”

Peter Douglas, CEO & MD of IPAF, comments: “I am delighted IPAF is able to announce this important addition to the Safety & Technical department – I’m sure that we have found the ideal candidate in Mike and he will fit in well to the IPAF culture, bolstering the team to help deliver significant progress against some of our key objectives, including incident reporting, collaborating on the development and implementation of new standards and in generating safety and technical guidance including the IPAF Toolbox Talks series of workplace safety briefings. We’re very happy to welcome him on board.”

Mike Ashton adds: “I have a long a varied career in powered access, covering engineering, training and business development roles here in Australia, the Middle East and the UK. I am passionate about safety and about demystifying the technical side of our industry, whether that is in disseminating sometimes complex technical guidance, leading on training and skills development, or winning and communicating with clients.

“When I saw this role advertised, I felt it was an ideal opportunity for me. I hope to be able to lend my knowledge and expertise to assist IPAF in delivering important projects in terms of standards development and implementation, safety awareness and guidance, the global incident reporting project or the IPAF ePAL app for operators of MEWP and MCWP equipment. I’m looking forward to this new challenge immensely.”