Martin Cheese retires from access industry

Low-level access veteran Martin Cheese retired at the end of August after 47 years in the access industry, most recently as international sales manager for JLG Power Towers.

Martin began his career in the Merchant Navy, where he developed a lifelong passion for traveling the world. After leaving in 1977, he joined the scaffolding company Access Equipment in Birmingham, UK. From 1980 to 2001, he held various positions, always in scaffolding, with companies such as GKN, Eigertower, and Scafhire. In 2001, he left to start a company in the Midlands, MTD, where he served as managing director until 2004. In 2003, he trained as an IPAF instructor with Instant Training.

In 2005, he left MTD and joined Pop-Up to start a new project at the onset of the low-level access movement in the UK, coinciding with the introduction of the new Working at Height regulations. In 2008, Martin moved to Power Towers, initially as sales manager for the UK, and ended his career as international sales manager, overseeing South America, Australasia, and Asia, with additional responsibilities for North America after JLG’s acquisition of Power Towers in 2015. His latter years reignited his passion for travel, adding a fitting conclusion to his career.

Jonathan Dawson, managing director of EMEAI Verticals at JLG, said, “We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with Martin over the years. He has been a true specialist and a valued source of knowledge, as one of the founders of the low-level access business in its infancy. Beyond that, Martin has been a wonderful colleague, much loved by both colleagues and customers alike across the globe. We are grateful for the legacy Martin leaves behind. His retirement marks the end of an era in the low-level access arena, where he has been omnipresent since its beginning. We wish Martin a long, well-deserved, and happy retirement and look forward to receiving postcards from him and his wife Sam as they travel the world. We also expect to receive tips on places where we need to be selling, as he spots inappropriate working-at-height methods in some far-flung land!”