IPAF SUMMIT
Speaking at the IPAF Summit, Michael Kneeland,
chief executive officer of United Rentals, said the
second half of 2013 will be stronger than the first
half with the market seeing 8% growth in 2013
and 11% in 2014. He also said United Rentals
plans to spend more than $1 billion on capital
expenditure in 2014 with 30-40% of that figure
going toward aerial equipment.
United Rentals recently reported final quarter
2012 revenues up 13.2% to $1.25 billion, while
full year sales increased 12.8% to $4.66 billion
and EBITDA profits rose to $1.99 billion from
$1.49 billion.
“[About] 43% of our fleet is access,” Kneeland
told the IPAF Summit crowd. “Our utilisation was
73.9 % for the last quarter of 2012. We are bullish
about access for the future.”
Kneeland said 39% of the company’s rental
revenue in 2012 came from access equipment. He
also said residential construction is “coming up.”
“Residential construction [starts] indicate non-
residential construction is coming up too.”
Typically, nine to 12 months after residential
construction kicks up, non-residential follows,
Kneeland said. “Half of United Rentals’ revenue
comes from non-residential and industrial,” he
added. “The back half of this year will be stronger
than the front half.”
Kneeland also said United Rentals has saved
$104 million during its first eight months after
integrating with RSC. He wants the company to
round out the year with more than $250 million in
savings.
“Recovery is on its way,” he said.
MICHAEL KNEELAND
Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary of
labor for occupational safety and health at
OSHA spoke about fall from height and its bid
to make the access industry safer
a PAL Card (Powered Access Licensed-
Registration).
According to Mr Studdert the three-month
process to train NES staff wasn’t just an
excursive in training. “What happened was
beyond my wildest dreams; we fundamentally
changed the NES culture in three months.We
became more cohesive as a company.
“Now everyone understands the mission; in
the past there was a separation between the
field and office staff – but that has changed
now that everyone at NES has a PAL Card
“Even the most grizzled veterans who
thought, ‘what am I doing here?’ walked away
from the training having learned something.
And the person in the office understands the
challenges of the operator in the field.”
Ending his speech, Mr Studdert threw a
challenge out to the industry, “30,000 Pal Cards
in the US by this time next year; it sounds like
a lot, but it really it isn’t - it’s a drop.”
OSHA action
Thankfully, the mission for a safer workplace
is being taken up beyond the access industry,
and plans underway at the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
will have a significant bearing on the sector.
Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary of labor
for occupational safety and health at OSHA,
shared the organisation’s policies.
OSHA is in its 42nd year and sets and
enforces health and safety standards, including
falls from height. “We have far too many
people killed and injured through falls.
Sometimes though I feel when we come to
conferences like this it is a case of speaking to
the choir and the people we really need to talk
to are not in the room today.
“But I don’t think compliance with OSHA
standards is enough; that should just be the
floor and most companies should go beyond
that. Nevertheless there are a lot of companies
out there that don’t quite get it yet.”
As Mr Barab describes, OSHA is a relatively
small agency with roughly 2,200 national
and local inspectors covering up to 8 million
workplaces. Hence it has a whistle-blowing
programme and relays on workers to be the
eyes and ears of the agency and ensure their
rights concerning health and safety non-
discrimination are exercised
In recent years OSHA has been turning its
attention to falls from height, particularly in
the construction industry.
“We still lose about 750 workers in construct
every year – principally falling form roofs,
ladders and scaffolds – and this is the leading
cause of deaths in the construction industry.”
The agency doesn’t offer many full-blown
>
Michael Kneeland, chief executive
officer of United Rentals
41
MAY-JUNE 2013
access
INTERNATIONAL
