07.08.2003

IPAF and CSCS join forces

IPAF managing director Paul Adorian has welcomed a move that will bring almost 100,000 trained platform operators holding its PAL card within the boundaries of the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS). The move will also see IPAF join the CPCS management board which, said CSCS chairman Tony Merricks, “will adopt the same standards and work proactively to ensure a common approach to plant training and health and safety matters in the UK.”

Deeply rooted in the agreement is the recognition that platform operation is a completely different ball game to that of most other construction plant. Most CSCS card holders who operate Mobile Elevated Work Platform (MEWP) on construction sites will have an entirely different basic trade or skill, such as steel operators and painters, and simply use MEWPs as an additional ‘tool’ to help get a job done safer and quicker. Under the agreement additional IPAF qualification to operate the relevant type or types of platform will be added as an additional category on their existing CSCS card. On the other hand, those whose trade is ‘platform operator’ – often hired out with the equipment, will receive a CPCS card with the IPAF logo on the back.

Commenting on the move Paul Adorian said: “Whilst I’ve always understood the desire for a single operators’ card, I’ve always been concerned that maintaining such a position might not prove entirely practicable. In coming together in this way with the CSCS, we actually have devised a solution that I believe will suit everyone. We keep, completely unchanged , our training scheme and PAL card as the well established, multi-industry and internationally recognised passport that allows trained platform operators access to areas in which they need to use platforms. The link up effectively gives operators a form of dual nationality in that when they qualify for a PAL card, their CSCS card will be upgraded to include their PAL card platform categories.”