Glowing success for first US IAPAs

More than 350 industry professionals from across the world turned out for the International Awards for Powered Access (IAPA) in Miami, USA.

The prestigious event, compared by comedian Mack Dryden at the Hilton Downtown Miami hotel on 26 March, was held in the USA for the first time.

There were a host of big industry names in attendance, including, Michael Kneeland, CEO of United Rentals; Brad Boehler, Skyjack president; Matt Fearon, Terex AWP president; and Tim Hatch, vice president of engineering at JLG, all of whom presented awards.

Steve Couling made his first appearance as the new IPAF president on the night, having been officially inaugurated into the role at the IPAF Annual General Meeting that morning, and handed the final trophy of the evening: The Lifetime Achievement Award, to Harry McArdle.

Paying tribute to Mr McCardle, founder of Height for Hire and Easi Uplifts, Mr Couling said, “He was one of the first entrepreneurs to take access seriously as a rental business; he is also quick to see new opportunities in products and markets, seeing, for example, the potential of large truck mounted platforms as well as other specialist forms of access.”

Leading up to the Lifetime Achievement presentation were 13 other prestigious awards. Here follows the list of awards and winners:

IPAF Training Instructor of the Year:

Rafael Bazzarella, from SkyJack

Best New IPAF Training Centre of the year:

The Sheet metal workers 33, Cleveland District Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (JATC), based in the USA

Best Marketing Campaign for Safety and IPAF Training:

Mastclimbers LLC

Access Photograph of the Year:

Paul Tynan; an employee of Summit Tower Hire, based in Australia, for his picture of a Bronto Skylift S70-XDT at the MacArthur Wind Farm in the state of Victoria.

Product of the Year - Mast Climbing Work Platforms and Hoists:

Scanclimber, Finland, for its SC8000 Eiffel Transport Platform

Product of the Year - Vehicle/Trailer Mounted Product of the year:

Ruthmann, based in Germany, for the Steiger T 540 truck mount

Product of the Year: Self Propelled (booms, scissors, atrium lifts):

Cormidi, Italy, for the KB-X

Product of the Year – Low-level Access:

ReechCraft, USA, for the Powerlift

Award for Outstanding after Sales Service:

Independent Parts & Service (IPS), UK

Contribution to Safe Working at Height:

AFI-Uplift, UK

IPAF Safety Champion:

Winner: Kevin O’Shea, Mastclimbers LLC, USA

(Highly Commended: Peter Douglas, Nationwide Platforms, UK)

Access Project of the Year:

Scanclimber, Finland, for its provision of mast climbing equipment to help refurbish the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France

Access Rental Company of the Year:

Industrial Access, Romania

Jointly organised by KHL Group's Access International and Access Lift & Handlers magazines and the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF), the annual event celebrates best practice and excellence in the access industry.

There were an impressive 86 entries for the awards, which helped provide the judges with a great selection of projects, equipment and expertise from around the world. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who entered. If you didn’t win this time, or perhaps did not make the shortlist, then please don’t be disheartened and do enter again next year for the 2014 IAPAs to take place in Windsor, London, UK.

We would also like to thank the five judges for all their efforts. They were: Enrica Pege, director of Venpa; Stefan Kulawik, managing director of Palfinger Platforms; Ebbe Christensen, president of Reachmaster; Wayne Lawson, IPAF president; and Ken Pustizzi, chief executive officer of Trico Lift. The latter three attended the event and each presented an award.

To see all the information about the event and for news of the IAPAs 2014, as it becomes available, visit: www.iapa-summit.info