PAR2007 - IPAF

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compromise on safety issues, nor can
you afford to have someone working
with you, just to lift you up and put
you down.”
“Where scaffolding used to be the
preferred means of working on the
outside of buildings, powered access has
taken over – it just offers so much more
flexibility and productivity, particularly
for trades like us replacing external
windows,” he says.
Informative training
While Pardoe reckons the bulk of the
course hinges around certain fundamental
elements, he found some aspects
of the day’s training to be refreshingly
informative.
“Our instructor was very much to the
point,” he says. “While there are lots of
common-sense issues and reminders,
you do tend to overlook and forget
about them when complacency sets in
– and that’s inevitable when you do the
same tasks over and over again.”
“I’d never before considered planning
how I would use a battery powered
machine to conserve its energy or ensure
that I planned my working time to suit
the battery life available,” he adds.
He also reckons that the course provided
useful additional information that
goes beyond the safe operation of the
work platform. He says the use of harnesses,
being tied on and ensuring tools
are secured too while working from the
platform, have all helped him to be safer
and more productive in what he does.
“Attending the course has had a
direct impact on how my colleagues and
I now interact when we work at height,”
he says.
Lofty ambitions
Working on all manner of contracts for
West Sussex Joinery, Mike Younge has
found increasingly that more and more
time is spent working at height – which
prompted his attendance at a recent
training course to earn a PAL Card.
“We’re busy putting up dry linings
and plasterboard partition walls, but
About IPAF training and the PAL Card
The IPAF training programme for
operators of mobile elevating
work platforms is certified by
TüV as conforming to ISO 18878.
Training is provided through a
worldwide network of over 250
IPAF-approved training centres.
Successful trainees are
awarded the PAL Card (Powered
Access Licence). A PAL Card is
valid for five years and shows
the equipment categories that
the holder has been trained
to operate. More than 50,000
people are trained each year
to use platforms safely and
effectively.
The PAL Card is recognised in many countries as proof of platform operator training. In the UK, the
IPAF training programme is approved by the Major Contractors Group (MCG) and operators holding an
IPAF PAL Card are welcomed on any MCG site.
To find out more, visit www.ipaf.org.
most of them are in large, open buildings,
which requires almost constant
working at height,” he says.
“Quite often we’re finding that partition
walling in large buildings takes
us up to working heights of 11m, and
it makes sense to have more than one
person qualified for the safe operation
of a scissor lift. This way, we have
operational flexibility in what we do,”
he explains.
Additionally, Younge believes that
more and more firms are being increasingly
asked for licences and tickets by
site agents to prove that proper equipment
training has been carried out,
before they are allowed on site.
“I see what I’ve achieved as being yet
another skill that makes our firm much
more valuable to those who employ our
specialist services,” he says.
In August 2006, Younge was trained
on-site, using a scissor lift that is onhire
to West Sussex Joinery.
“I found it very useful to be trained
on-site using our own equipment and in
a working environment that is familiar
to me,” he says. “Given the choice, it’s
much less intimidating than going to
a training centre or perhaps having
to return to a college to get specialist
training and assessments carried out.”
Younge attended the training session
with an open mind.
“You look at kit and think that it’s
easy enough to operate, which, to a
degree is true,” he says. “But you don’t
always see the risks associated with
what you’re doing, or see how others
around your working area can put you
at risk.
“It’s easy to take straightforward
things for granted, without thinking
about how a situation can quickly
change, and the course was useful in
addressing some of those scenarios to
make you much more aware of what is
going on around you.”
“I learnt a lot about how to assess and
identify ground conditions, and how
different surfaces can affect machine
stability too,” he says. “With a PAL
Card, I can work independently of others,
which makes our team much more
productive.”
Thanks to Nationwide Access for
their assistance with this article.
See what the MCG says about the PAL Card at
www.citb-constructionskills.co.uk/cardschemes.
The PAL Card:
Validity can be
checked with a
single call to the
IPAF hotline at
0845 1307775.
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IPAF POWERED ACCESS REVIEW 2007