IPAF introduces new international standards for operator controls for mobile lifting work platforms (MEWP). The new standard ISO 21455: 2020 was released in April of this year, and ended the ten-year work of IPAF members and the British Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to standardize the actuation, displacement, position and operating methods of MEWP control.
The development of the new standard began in 2010, when HSE in the United Kingdom began to study the MEWP trap and control design. It is also based on the research carried out by IPAF first. If any, the operation method and direction of MEWP controls may be standardized between different brands and models to further improve safety. Reports RR960 and RR961 from the UK HSE study were released in 2013.
After the report was released, the British HSE and MEWP manufacturers began discussions through the IPAF ’s Manufacturer Technical Committee (MTC) and the Equipment Manufacturers Association (AEM), thus establishing the Lifting Work Platform Manufacturers Council (MEWPC), which was later renamed MEWP Industrial Manufacturers Group (MIMG).
As a result of this unique collaboration, a proposal was made in 2015 to use MEWP to control international standards for performance, location, marking and operating methods, and a new ISO standard was released this month.
Peter Douglas, CEO and General Manager of IPAF, said: "Unprecedented collaboration between global MEWP manufacturers, industry associations and HSE in the UK has produced new MEWP control standards. It shows the importance of the IPAF Committee in promoting global standards, and It ’s great to see the results of this project, and to improve the safety of MEWP through standardized control. "
Tony Groat, IPAF North America Manager (a member of ISO TC 214) added: "I believe the standard provides new directions that can affect the control design, thereby improving the operator's intuitive movement direction based on the position of the control panel. Optimistically , The standard will immediately affect the design standards of MEWP manufacturers and countries in its next revision. "
