IPAF Training ExplainedMEWP Safety for Electricians

IPAF stands for the International Powered Access Federation, an industry body that runs a training scheme for operators of mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) such as scissor lifts and booms. Its card is the PAL (Powered Access Licence). IPAF training is an industry scheme, not a legal requirement. The law asks for adequate training for everyone who uses work equipment (PUWER regulation 9) and competence for everyone involved in work at height (Work at Height Regulations regulation 5). HSE says specific courses are not a strict legal requirement, but recognised schemes are available, and it expects operators to hold a card listing the categories they are trained on, plus familiarisation on the make and model they use. Electricians use MEWPs for lighting, cable tray and containment at ceiling level, and external work, and many sites ask for a PAL card as a site rule.

IPAF cards use training categories: 1a (static vertical), 1b (static boom), 3a (mobile vertical, such as a scissor lift) and 3b (mobile boom, such as a self-propelled articulating or telescopic boom). These are training categories, not groups from the British or ISO standards, which classify machines by group (platform inside or outside the tipping line) and type (how the machine travels). The card lists the categories the holder is trained on. A category is not the legal test: the question is whether the operator has adequate training and competence for that machine, and the employer must also give familiarisation on the specific make and model. Electricians who use scissor lifts and self-propelled booms usually train on 3a and 3b.

HSE says the trained operator is responsible for a basic function check every day before use, following the manufacturer's instructions, and that records of these checks should be kept. The check covers the platform, guard rails and gate, hoses and leaks, tyres, and outriggers where fitted; the ground controls first and then the platform controls; the emergency stop and emergency lowering; and the safe working load marking. Check your harness and lanyard before every use. You also need evidence of the last LOLER thorough examination, which is required at least every 6 months for a MEWP or under an examination scheme, and a hired MEWP must come with it. If you find a fault, isolate the controls, tag the machine and report it. A safety-critical fault takes the MEWP out of service until it is put right.

Rescue is part of planning the work (Work at Height Regulations regulation 4), so the plan is made before anyone goes up. HSE says the plan should name trained, site-based people who can lower the platform using the ground controls or emergency descent system, include them in the familiarisation for that machine, and give them chances to practise. It should also hold the call-out details for the service engineer or another competent person who can bring the platform down if the machine fails. Calling 999 is for medical help; it is not the rescue plan. On entrapment, consider a MEWP with a secondary guarding device where there are structures to be trapped against; covers and shrouds on the controls do not protect you from crushing. If a machine touches an overhead line, HSE guidance GS6 says assume the wires are live, never touch them, call 999 and ask for the line owner to be contacted, and keep others away. On wind, the limit is the manufacturer's figure for that machine; no figure is set in law.

How long a PAL card lasts, and how it is renewed, are rules of the IPAF scheme, not the law, so check the current terms with IPAF or your training centre. The expiry date is on the card, and HSE says it should be checked. What the law asks for does not expire on a date: the operator must have adequate training and be competent for the machine, and HSE guidance says refresher training should be given when necessary, because skills decline and people who use a machine only now and then may need it more often. Familiarisation on each new make and model is needed whatever the card says.

In a scissor lift the guard rails are the fall protection, and a harness is needed only where the risk assessment or the manufacturer calls for one, so check the manual and the plan for the job. Booms are different, because the basket can be thrown about if the boom swings, jolts or is struck. HSE's MEWP page says that where a risk of falling remains, a harness with a short work restraint lanyard must be secured to a manufacturer-provided anchor point in the basket. HSE's GEIS6 information sheet says people at risk should wear fall prevention equipment and that work restraint is the preferred option. Both are guidance rather than a regulation, and on a boom the practical answer is to wear one. Clip to the basket anchor, never to the structure being worked on. The lanyard is for restraint, short enough to stop you reaching a position where you could fall, not for arresting a fall.