IPAF announces head of safety and technical appointment

Brian Parker has been appointed as the head of Safety and Technical for the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF). He joins from AFI-Uplift Ltd and takes up the post on 2 October, reporting to Peter Douglas, IPAF’s CEO and managing director.

Most recently, Parker was group business development manager-Technical Support at AFI and brings 24 years’ experience working in the powered access sector to the role. He also previously held roles as national specialist training manager for HSS and was Group Health and Safety manager and prior to that Training manager at AFI.

Prior to that he served for seven years in the Royal Engineers as an operator of heavy equipment. He is a certified IPAF, PASMA and CITB instructor, holds a diploma from NEBOSH and is a graduate member of IOSH, and a Mental Health First Aid tutor.

Peter Douglas said, “Brian’s key responsibility is to ensure IPAF’s resources are effectively used to raise safety standards in the powered access industry worldwide. He is the perfect fit for this role and is well known to all of us at IPAF having served on the UK Country Council and Training Committee. He has a huge amount of experience and, as anyone who has met him knows, he is very passionate about safety.”

Brian said, “I’m delighted to be taking up this important role for our industry. I hope to be able to use my experience and interpersonal skills to lend renewed impetus to the many safety initiatives and projects at IPAF. Key priorities will include driving forward IPAF’s global accident reporting project (www.ipaf.org/accident), delivering technical guidance and developing Andy Access safety posters and Toolbox Talks to help keep powered access operations safe. I can’t wait to get started.”