THE International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) has released its latest report into Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWP) accidents.
The analysis reveals that accidents while using MEWPs are proportionally more likely when working in public areas or alongside roads than on controlled sites such as construction sites, commercial or rental premises.
IPAF’s Global MEWP Safety Report 2016-2018 presents findings from the federation’s analysis of accident statistics gathered through its worldwide accident reporting project, which has incident reporting from 25 countries.
As well as the increased proportional risk of an accident occurring when working away from controlled sites, IPAF said the report identifies ‘recurring’ underlying causes of incidents involving MEWPs as falls from the platform, electrocutions, entrapments, MEWP tip-overs and MEWPs being struck by another vehicle.
Richard Whiting, IPAF’s general market manager for UK & Ireland said, “With this report there’s a new methodology to much of the analysis and the way the findings are presented, plus the report is interspersed with key recommendations to mitigate common risk factors. We’ve worked hard along with a dedicated group of IPAF members to analyse, interpret and present the data in a new way, to assist the wider industry to stay safe.
“One key change is that, rather than comparing a full year’s accident data to previous years, the most recent three full years of available data have been combined to produce an aggregate and average number of incidents – combining data into a larger overall set allows trends over time to be more readily identified.”
Other key indications include the fact that the industries in which deaths most frequently occur are forestry and construction. Both those sectors had an annual average of 19 reported fatalities, but the total number of days worked using MEWPs in construction worldwide is far higher than in forestry.
Richard Whiting added, “Renewed focus must be brought to bear to warn managers and operators of the relatively higher proportional risks of a major or fatal accident when not working on a controlled, segregated work site. IPAF’s Street Smart safety campaign already seeks to do this; we must look at how best to evolve this campaign to help reduce electrocutions or other accidents in forestry, for instance.”
Peter Douglas, IPAF’s CEO & MD commented, “MEWPs are still among the safest ways to conduct work at height. When unplanned incidents do occur, it is vital we capture that data and analyse the resulting statistics to see what trends are occurring and to influence IPAF’s technical guidance, adapt our training programme and inform our safety campaigns.
“We must work with our members and all industry stakeholders to improve incident reporting. It’s vital that all incidents including minor mishaps and near misses are logged; this helps identify heightened risk and mitigate underlying factors to reduce the number of major accidents or fatalities that do occur using the knowledge gained.”
The report is available to view or download via www.ipaf.org/accident
