This document is intended to provide practical guidance on safety measures to minimize exposure to COVID-19 for anyone using MEWPs, MCWPs or Construction hoists for work activities.
Stay informed on the latest developments about COVID-19. Follow advice given by your healthcare provider, your national and local public health authority or your employer on how to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. National and local authorities will have the most up to date information on whether COVID-19 is spreading in your area. They are best placed to advise on what people in your area should be doing to protect themselves.
We appreciate your support during this time and ask you to visit www.ipaf.org/covid19 regularly for updates from IPAF. Please contact us at [email protected] or your nearest IPAF office for any inquiries about this.
4 Nov 2020
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Technical Guidance
COVID-19 Safe Training Advice - IPAF Training Centre resuming MEWP, MCWP and Hoist training
This document is intended to provide practical guidance for IPAF-approved Training Centres to minimise the risk of exposure to COVID-19 when undertaking training on MEWPs, MCWPs and Hoists.
New guidance has been issued by the UK HSE, following pressure from IPAF to clarify what should happen to machines on work sites that require an update to their safety certificates while the country is still in partial lockdown during the coronavirus outbreak.
IPAF is hosting a free webinar on the future of safe learning. The webinar looks at how COVID-19 has impacted training, how IPAF is responding and how employers and powered access operators can utilise different technologies to continue to learn safely.
It is essential that MEWPs are secured and managed correctly to ensure that only competent and nominated personnel operate the equipment in accordance with the employer’s safe system of work. All MEWPs should be stored in a safe and secure manner when left unattended.
The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) has released a new guidance pack focused on the safe use and maintenance of batteries fitted to mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs).
Revised safety guidance has been published outlining how to reduce risks of trapping and crushing incidents when using MEWPs. It is available to download free of charge.
IPAF’s Technical & Safety department has issued global guidance on the remounting of second-hand MEWP/AWP equipment on a different chassis. The guidance emphasises the difficulty and high level of engineering expertise required to mount MEWPs/AWPs on a chassis other than those for which they were originally designed, cautioning that “failure to mount or re-mount a MEWP/AWP correctly can and has led to serious accidents worldwide”.
IPAF Members and partners are invited to register now to join the free online Access, Lift & Handlers (ALH) Conference, which will be hosted on Friday 23 October, and featuring presentations from Peter Douglas, CEO, and Norty Turner, IPAF President.
In consultation with manufacturers, contractors, rental companies and other interested parties, IPAF has produced this good practice guide listing some of the key points that should be taken into consideration by rental companies and their customers when managing any type of Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP).
Resources and recording of the webinar that took place on 15 July 2020, with IPAF and guest presenters Kate Pasterfield of Sponge and Darren Verschuren of Serious Labs.
Identify key changes to terminology and definitions, requirements for owners and operators, guidance and requirements on risk assessments, equipment familiarization and requirements for operator and supervisor/manager training that will affect all manufacturers, dealers, owners and users of Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs), formerly referred to as Aerial Work Platforms (AWPs), in North America.
Identify key changes to terminology and definitions, requirements for owners and operators, guidance and requirements on risk assessments, equipment familiarization and requirements for operator and supervisor/manager training that will affect all manufacturers, dealers, owners and users of Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs), formerly referred to as Aerial Work Platforms (AWPs), in North America.
Identify key changes to terminology and definitions, requirements for owners and operators, guidance and requirements on risk assessments, equipment familiarization and requirements for operator and supervisor/manager training that will affect all manufacturers, dealers, owners and users of Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs), formerly referred to as Aerial Work Platforms (AWPs), in North America.
Identify key changes to terminology and definitions, requirements for owners and operators, guidance and requirements on risk assessments, equipment familiarization and requirements for operator and supervisor/manager training that will affect all manufacturers, dealers, owners and users of Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs), formerly referred to as Aerial Work Platforms (AWPs), in North America.
Comprehensive new guidance outlining key principles and ways to reduce risks when using MEWPs in the vicinity of power lines, with the aim of helping to reduce electrocution and electric shock incidents, has been launched by IPAF at Conexpo.
The loading and unloading of mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) is potentially a high risk activity, as findings from the IPAF accident reporting database (www.ipaf.org/accident) show. This document outlines the importance of planning and managing the delivery and collection operations.
Representatives of IPAF at the Association of Professional Foresters (APF) Show in Warwickshire, 22-24 September 2022, have launched an updated leaflet entitled Safe Use of MEWPs to Manage Trees and Vegetation.
IPAF and the Scaffold & Access Industry Association (SAIA) have signed an agreement to work together to promote safety and training in powered access throughout the US, Canada and Mexico.
New guidance outlining some of the principles and risk mitigations when using MEWPs to work at height in public areas and alongside roads has been published by IPAF.
The purpose of this IPAF Rental Standard is to acknowledge and document what is recognised as industry good practice, which in many cases exceeds minimum legislative requirements, therefore promoting and enabling the safe and effective use of powered access equipment worldwide.
IPAF has assured its members and the wider industry that powered access operations remain a vital part of UK construction, facilities, processing and maintenance supply chains, and as such companies should continue to operate during the latest lockdown.
The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) has launched new industry guidance in Dutch in collaboration with ProRail: “The Safe Use of Aerial Work Platforms Near Railway Infrastructures.”
The purpose of this document is to provide information, and good-practice guidance on means of reducing exposure to trapping
and crushing hazards while using a MEWP.
New guidance has been issued by IPAF to assist those using MEWPs, MCWPs, lifts and hoists to work safely and minimize risk from coronavirus. An accompanying free webinar will be published on Thursday 21 May, and thereafter available to view online.
While powered access remains one of the safest methods for performing temporary work at height, incidents involving mechanical or technical failures can still lead to serious injuries and fatalities. IPAF emphasises that many of these incidents are preventable through consistent inspection routines, proper maintenance, and adherence to safety procedures.