INTERVIEW
15
JULY-AUGUST 2013
ACCESS, LIFT & HANDLERS
bringing the event to the U.S., out of what is
comfortable territory in the UK and Europe, but
we had a huge turnout of USA members and
everybody seemed to take the information on
board.”
Many in North America will know IPAF by
its U.S. training wing American Work Platform
Training (AWPT). In recent months, however,
it has become the subject of a rethink, and as
Couling explains, it might be on the verge of
revision.
“When we first started AWPT it was because
we thought people in the U.S. would not
recognize IPAF. But I think that’s changed,
and it’s certainly changed since the Summit.
So, I think the sooner we can change AWPT to
the more general IPAF USA, or another similar
name, the better.
“With hindsight, which is always a great
thing, AWPT wasn’t the right strategy, but part
of being clever is to recognize that. I think
the change will happen relatively quickly, it is
certainly high on our agenda.”
While this potential change is under
discussion at IPAF, the Federation has made it
clear that no decision had yet been made on
the subject.
The rest of the world also offers great
opportunity for expansion, but as Couling says,
the way to success is to tread carefully. “I
think, for example, we are looking at the same
sort of challenges in South America; a huge
landmass with people very keen on eLearning.
It’s a huge economy that’s growing very rapidly
and its perfect timing for IPAF to introduce safe
working practices there.
“You have to be careful though. Yes, of
course, we want to grow, get new members,
open training centers, but IPAF is a not-for-
profit organization. I remember when we first
moved into the U.S., people saw IPAF as a
threat to the training programs they were trying
to promote. But there is no reason for anyone
to see IPAF as a threat; and I think the reason
they saw it that way was because they thought
we were trying to make a profit. It’s incredibly
important for us to stress that to all the
markets we are active in - the motives of IPAF
are pure; it exists to try and make the access
industry safer.”
Goals for the coming years
Apart from spreading eLearning internationally,
Steve Couling has laid out two other specific
goals for his presidency.
One of them is to promote more Country
Councils, which are formed by IPAF members
to promote unique causes in their countries.
Brazil, for example, already has one, but there
are many opportunities for more in the likes of
Eastern Europe and Turkey, says Couling.
“I have come to realize that as we have
spread into new territories, they all have their
regional queries, legislation, health and safety
issues, and I believe the right thing to do is to
have a forum so that they can discuss things
between them, and lobby for legislation in their
local regions.
“For example, we have a very strong Country
Council in Italy, which has been absolutely
essential when it comes to their economy. It’s
really important that those guys have stuck
together and found a way through it.
Looking East towards Asia, Couling continues,
“I can see the time will come for a regional
council, an Asian council, but I think what’s
necessary initially is to get some strong
membership and you evolve from there,
particularly as rental becomes stronger. The
whole concept of access comes from people
understanding that it’s available and then
people providing that through rental.”
The third topic on Couling’s presidential
hit list, and one very close to his heart, is
increased training for vehicle mounted platform
operators. Couling believes this specialist area
throws up some unique hazards which should
be addressed separately.
“It can be a little bit more complex to
understand them technically and some of the
applications are unique to that equipment. That
side of things can be so specialist that it just
requires some specialist training.”
“If you are operating self-propelled
equipment on a construction site, most
responsible sites these days have health and
safety policies, there are people marshalling
that on-site, whereas vehicle mounts are
operating in the public highways where you
haven’t got that level of scrutiny, really, and
to a degree you are relying on the operator
following procedures – human nature is that
people cut corners sometimes to do the job
quickly.”
“So I am looking at training for working on
highways and understanding special needs
of that particular application and how they
should be managed. Perhaps we could look at
a specialist training module for those particular
applications.”
The goal, says Couling, is a legal requirement
for anyone operating access and aerial
equipment in the UK to have a recognized
training qualification, preferably a PAL Card.
From there, the ultimate dream is to see that
spread worldwide.
“It might take three years, it might take five
years, but if you can’t hold up an IPAF card,
then I believe that you should not be using
access equipment, and I think that should be
one of our major objectives.”
■
Steve Couling, managing director
of Time-Versalift, and IPAF’s newly
appointed president, speaks at the
2013 IAPAs last March in Miami.
