MEWPs and technological advancements in the powered access industry can help to enhance safety and efficiency and aid people in their work, rather than replace people altogether, according to speakers at the Europlatform 2019 conference in Nice, France.

After months of lobbying, the European Materials-Handling Federation and its partners have succeeded in gaining EU approval for a request to delay implementation of new regulations concerning the production and sale of non-road-mobile machinery (NRMM).

IPAF has relaunched its global accident reporting portal as part of a major drive to gather the best quality data from around the world, demonstrating what analysis can teach us about improving safety in powered access with a webinar on the latest trends.

IPAF has published an important document, the IPAF Three-Year Strategic Plan. We created it to help all of us understand the major objectives for the organisation over the next three years, and to measure and demonstrate our progress towards those goals.

A new presidential team has been confirmed for the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF), with Brad Boehler of Skyjack being elected to the role at the organization’s AGM in Dubai, UAE, on 6 March 2019. Other changes to the IPAF Presidential team saw Norty Turner of United Rentals elected as IPAF Deputy President and Karin Nars of Dinolift confirmed as Vice President. Nick Selley of AFI-Uplift completed his full two-year term as President by handing the chain of office to Brad Boehler at the AGM, assuming the ex officio role of Immediate Past President. Meanwhile, Andy Studdert of Cramo, the 2015-2017 IPAF President, maintains his seat on the IPAF Board as a Director.

During this difficult period, IPAF has continued to work with national governments, health & safety bodies and international standards organisations to ensure safety and best practice continue to be maintained and shared.

Accidents while working at height using MEWPs are proportionally more likely to occur when working in public areas or alongside roads than on controlled work sites such as construction sites or commercial premises, according to IPAF’s latest safety report. The report is now available to view or download free of charge via www.ipaf.org/accident

Around 100 attendees enjoyed the conference line-up, networking and gala dinner at the third IPAF Elevation event, where the unifying themes were sustainability, smart supply chains, and engaging with contractors to work safely and effectively at height.

IPAF supports OSHA’s annual safety stand-down as part of its mission to promote the safe and effective use of powered access equipment – IPAF has developed poster artwork and toolbox talk guidance that are available for free download from the www.IPAF.org website as part of IPAF’s Andy Access campaign promoting the safe use of MEWPs and MCWPs.

Around 100 delegates were in attendance for the inaugural IPAF MEWP Safety & Standards Conference on 16 May 2019 alongside the Changsha International Construction Machinery Exhibition, Hunan Province, China. The first IPAF Chinese PDS for training instructors was hosted to coincide with the new standards conference.

Tributes have been paid to two pioneers of the powered access rental industry, after Dan Kaplan and Denis Ashworth died within the past two weeks. Both were previous recipients of Lifetime Achievement Awards bestowed by IPAF, as part of previous years’ International Awards for Powered Access (IAPAs) ceremonies.

A major consultation is to be launched as the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) sets out to establish the possibilities for powered access training and safety guidance afforded by new technology such as virtual reality and platform simulators, involving the more than 1,000 accredited IPAF instructors around the world.

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.