IPAF guidance for second party inspection of MEWPS
February 3rd 2009

The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) has produced guidance for second party inspection bodies that carry out periodic in-service inspections (also known as thorough examinations) of mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs). In the MEWP industry, it is common practice in many countries to employ second parties, typically in-house engineers, for these tasks.

“This guidance should help companies demonstrate the independence, impartiality and integrity of the second parties that they employ,” says IPAF technical officer Gil Male. “These are important attributes which help second party inspection bodies to demonstrate independence from competing pressures that could influence the results of the inspections/thorough examinations that they carry out.”

The guidance defines the essential characteristics of a second party inspection/thorough examination system. It can be downloaded from the Publications/Technical Guidance section of www.ipaf.org Click here

In the UK, access equipment used to lift people must be thoroughly examined by a competent person every six months. IPAF’s CAP Card (Competent Assessed Person) programme certifies that the holder has been independently assessed as being knowledgeable and able to carry out thorough examinations of platforms in the context of current legislation. The assessments focus on machine safety and are for experienced engineers. More information on the CAP programme is at www.ipaf.org/cap Click here

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