Associations issue aerial work platform safety document

Marcia Doyle Headshot
Updated Feb 14, 2013

Screen Shot 2013 02 13 At 8 28 27 AmFour associations have joined together to issue a 36-page best practices document on workplace risk assessment and selecting the most appropriate aerial work platform for a job, it was announced at The Rental Show.

The American Rental Association, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the International Powered Access Federation and the Scaffold & Access Industry Association have worked together on two previous documents, one on general training and familiarization on aerial equipment and the other on personal fall protection systems.

The new release, Statement of Best Practices for Workplace Risk Assessment and Aerial Work Platform Equipment Selection, will be available as a free download from each of the participating association’s websites linked above. To go directly to the PDF, click here.

“These are layman’s tool rather than a standard,” says Tony Groat, International Powered Access Federation. We can put in a lot of details that a standard would not have.”

For example, “how do you chose the right piece of aerial lift equipment?,” continues Groat. “This document gives a process for doing that. Planning before work begins is the essential part of this. No plan equals the potential for high risk.”

There are four basic steps to risk assessment: identify the hazards, evaluate the risks, identify who may be harmed; define, document and implement control measures; and review and revise as necessary. “We provide tips on how to identify the hazards, for example,” says Groat. “This is a very practical tool. We get into the details.”

A workplace analysis in the document provides guidance on proper aerial work platform selection. “If you don’t select the right equipment, other hazards are created,” Groat says. “People can pick this up and be able to perform their own risk assessments the next day.”