06.01.2006

IPAF issues record number of PAL cards

The International Powered Access Federation issued a record 53,646 PAL cards last year, almost 25 percent up in 2004.

“The work at height regulations have definitely made employers more conscious of the need to ensure that their platform operators are properly trained” said Tim Whiteman, managing director of IPAF.

“IPAF’s training programme is compact and addresses industry needs, which explains its increasing popularity. Experienced operator’s, report that the course made them more aware of safety issues in the daily use of these machines. All of this feeds back to our goal of promoting safety and best practice in the powered access industry” he continued.

The PAL card is accepted by the UK based Major Contractors Group and the IPAF course has been certified by TüV as conforming to ISO18878. Around 200 independently owned training centres are currently authorised to provide the IPAF course and evaluation. All PAL cards are issued from IPAF headquarters and incorporate a number of security features such as a Holographic logo.