Interesting news from the 99-year old Engineering News-Record that will soon have some impact on construction job sites in the Western Pacific. The Troy, Michigan-based publication earlier this month reported that the use of aerial work platforms is on the rise citing a recent study by the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) which found that AWPs continue to grow as a percentage of rental fleets.
We have heard concerns from island specialty rental firms and construction companies that is in line with a growing nationwide effort to revise ANSI safety standards and curb the number of potential operators calling for quotes and renting out our collective gear that not highly experienced using an aerial work platform.
“In these new standards, we’re looking at what we know today that we didn’t know when we wrote the last standard,” said IPAF North America Development Manager and ANSI committee member Tony Groat. “We’re looking at new equipment in the marketplace, as well as new technology available to us.”
The proposed draft standards from IPAF and the Scaffold & Access Industry Association are A92.20 Design, Calculations, Safety Requirements and Test Methods for Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs); A92.22 Safe Use of MEWPs; and A92.24 Training Requirements for the Use, Operation, Inspection, Testing and Maintenance of MEWPs. These will replace the existing A92.2, A92.22 and A92.24 standards.
Aerial work platforms, referred to in the new standard as “mobile elevating work platforms,” or MEWPs, have been reclassified in the new A92.2 as either vertical- or boom-based lifts. The categories now also include truck-mounted lifts, which were not addressed in the previous edition of the standard.
One of the biggest changes in the draft standard is the requirement for load-sensing alarms and cutouts to be built into new work platforms.
In addition to design changes, the new ANSI standards will include new guidelines for operators, passengers and supervisors. Fall-protection gear will be required on all boom-type lifts, and the new standard will discourage the use of MEWPs to transport workers from one level to another. The standards will also make it the responsibility of a supervisor to prepare a risk assessment for any use of the platform, placing the onus not just on the worker at the controls but also on site managers and contractors.
If you have any aerial lift needs and would like to discuss potential solutions, please drop GET, LLC a line via our website at www.get-guam.com or give us a call at 671-797-0789-your authorized Terex/Genie Representative for Guam and Micronesia.