Industry Organizations Address AWP Safety Education

The American Rental Association (ARA), the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), the Associated Equipment Distributors (AED), the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF), and the Scaffold Industry Association (SIA) have joined forces to develop a new educational document, which focuses on personal fall protection (PFP) for users of AWP equipment.

The result of this joint venture is the Statement of Best Practices of Personal Fall Protection Systems for Aerial Work Platform Equipment. A previous document, Statement of Best Practices of General Training and Familiarization for Aerial Work Platform Equipment, was introduced to the industry in February 2010.

The participating organizations recognized a need to address the proper use and regulatory compliance of AWP personal fall protection and created a common resource to educate users on best practices of the safe use of PFP equipment. The use of PFP is a component of AWP training and has legal requirements in the United States. OSHA regulations and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards both address fall protection when using AWP equipment.

The objectives of this best practice document are intended to educate the industry on applicable OSHA regulations and the industry-recognized and supported ANSI standards; provide information to assist users and operators during their selection process to identify the most appropriate personal fall protection system for their job functions while operating AWP equipment; inform the user and operator how to recognize and guard against the potential fall hazards associated with the use of AWP equipment; and encourage the incorporation of best practices for personal fall protection with AWP equipment into a company’s fall protection plans.

The Statement of Best Practices of Personal Fall Protection Systems for Aerial Work Platform Equipment document was unveiled by the participating organizations during The Rental Show in Las Vegas. An educational session entitled “AWP Training: Fall Protection” will be held March 2 at The Rental Show. This document also will be available as a free download from each participating organizations’ websites.