The newly elected President of the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) has used his inaugural address to call for the industry to attract more young people by creating apprenticeships and raising the profile of the career opportunities on offer.

Demand for IPAF training continued to rise in 2016, and almost 160,000 Pal Cards were issued across the year as a whole. IPAF training take-up saw pronounced growth in the Gulf States, New Zealand and Switzerland. In the UK and Ireland, nearly 10,000 more people completed IPAF training than in 2015.

Powered Access rental companies that are existing or future members of the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) will soon have to pass a more stringent vetting and auditing process in the UK, following a resolution of IPAF’s UK Country Council that was approved at the organisation’s global AGM earlier this year.

More than 300 delegates from across Asia and further afield used their attendance at the IPAF Asia Conference in Changsha, China, to affirm their commitment to safety in the powered access industry by signing a pledge to equip all operators of boom-type Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs) with a safety harness.

There are three new posters in the Andy Access safety series: "Danger, keep well clear"; "Do not jump out of the platform"; and "Register pre-owned machines".

The global Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP) fleet grew strongly in the past year, with the US market exceeding expectations and steady growth throughout Europe for the first time since the economic downturn, driven mainly by a resurgent construction industry and falling unemployment, according to the latest annual global rental market report from the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF).

Visitors to last month’s Suisse Public expo in Bern, Switzerland, enjoyed testing their knowledge in IPAF’s “back to basics” safety trail using real-life Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP) machinery to demonstrate various risk scenarios.