about PASMA

In its earliest days the Prefabricated Access Suppliers' and Manufacturers' Association (PASMA) was a manufacturers' organisation.

Indeed, in those early days the manufacturers truly were the routes to market for mobile access towers. Market analysis showed that the same companies who were manufacturing were not only selling towers, but also hiring and indeed contracting with access towers.

However, in the intervening years, the market has changed and, with some notable exceptions, the majority of mobile access towers reach the end user through intermediaries such as tool hire and rental companies.

It was not a sudden, but a dawning realisation in PASMA, that from our early beginnings and being very close to the end user of our equipment, we had in fact grown further away from the user. To remain relevant and be the informed voice of the industry, we needed to do two things. Firstly, we needed to open up our membership to other stakeholders, such as rental companies, training professionals and user groups; and, secondly, if we were to meet one of our primary objectives, that of making the use of mobile access towers as safe as possible, we had to increase the availability of PASMA training.

In the space of some five years, I am pleased to say, these objectives are being realised. PASMA now has some 130 members, 150 Approved Training Centres and, from training an average of 3000 delegates per year five years ago, we trained around 13500 last year. We are on target to train between 18000 and 20000 this year.