"Never use MEWP as a crane"

[kerry davies]

Just to finish off this topic the HSE has finally got someone imprisoned for failing to ensure the guy up in the MEWP was "competent". It didn't help the guy in the MEWP, he is dead.

 

This is not a million miles away from the scenarios we have been discussing and hopefully people will be a little more circumspect in future.

 

Note for PM's, the big fines were for the main contractor failing to check the competence of sub-contractor staff. Even though the main contractor was in liquidation the director responsible was still hammered for £80K.

[pscandrett]

Just to finish off this topic the HSE has finally got someone imprisoned for failing to ensure the guy up in the MEWP was "competent". It didn't help the guy in the MEWP, he is dead.

Talking of competence, I've done the IPAF 3a/3b course which seems to be fairly standard for entertainment MEWP workers. However, IPAF issue a PAL - a 'licence'. As I understand it, it's more to prove that you've done the training (and indeed to demonstrate a level competence to others, as per the thread above). It's not a licence though, is it? It's just almost a de-facto standard proof of training? (Someone told me it was against the law to use a MEWP without an IPAF ticket... but I thought that it's the standard 'competence' thing, like with PATting, to satisfy risk assessments and H&SW/HSE/etc guidelines and regulations rather than it specifically being a legal requirement?)

 

I get irritated when people say 'it's the law that <such and such>' when in fact it's more policy/risk assessments etc that dictate the issue in question; I can see the point of the policy and checking, but it just seems to turn into a pile of bureaucracy with people blindly following bullet points and lists. As a case in point, using a scissor lift in a city centre shopping area over the weekend required negotiating loads of hoops and hurdles; it just adds piles of paperwork and time and often the processes are horribly inefficient in the first place[1] :-(

 

For clarity, I understand the need for competence, training, risk assessments etc and the H&S rules. I suppose my question is - is there an alternative to IPAF training, and if there was, would anyone who had taken it have mountains to climb everywhere the met anyone that demanded an IPAF PAL to use a machine?

 

[1] I'm convinced that the entire country could increase its overall efficiency by streamlining administration and adding in a dose of common sense.

[Roderick]

As a case in point, using a scissor lift in a city centre shopping area over the weekend required negotiating loads of hoops and hurdles; it just adds piles of paperwork and time and often the processes are horribly inefficient in the first place

Peter, that statement alone worries me.

If you can't see the risks involved with a scissorlift in a shopping area on the weekend then I am not sure you should be operating one.

MEWP pose a number of risks for both the operator and other people around them. I would have been concerned if there weren't any procedures in place at the shopping area.

You call for more 'common sense', sadly 'sense' is becoming less and less common.

[pscandrett]

Yes, I clearly can see the risks in using a machine in a shopping area. The stark nature of textual conversation on the net has distilled my comment too much I see - I'm sorry I didn't clarify enough appropriate concerns when making my point.