IPAF instructors embrace development seminars

More than 720 instructors and training centre staff have attended IPAF Professional Development Seminars (PDS) covering 25 countries and 8 languages in the last few months.

The PDS is the annual event for IPAF certified instructors and ensures that they remain up-to-date with legislation and training. Through attending the event, instructors gain Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points, necessary to maintain their IPAF instructor status. This commitment to continuous learning is one of the unique features of the IPAF training programme.

“The 2015 PDS was one of the best ever,” said IPAF instructor Roberto Catana from Setif in Italy. “It was precise, timely, well-planned, dynamic, capturing technical excellence, legislation and teaching. The PDS provided answers to questions, and gave clarity to uncertainties. It was done with the heart and goodwill of all those who work to keep this industry safe.”

“It was a successful PDS on all counts,” said IPAF instructor Beat Schütz from Regiomech in Switzerland. “Always exciting are the discussions among fellow instructors, who don’t meet very often. The presentation by guest speaker Christoph Kunz was very moving. He made clear what it means to find new goals after an accident and to fight your way back in life.”

IPAF’s operator training programme is certified by TÜV as conforming to ISO 18878, and meets or exceeds ANSI standards and OSHA requirements. This industry-led training programme is offered by leading manufacturers and rental companies, and requires that accredited partner training centres pass initial, annual and unannounced audits as part of the quality management system. Instructors are certified and undertake ongoing professional development which includes free annual updates to the training materials and educational workshops.

Trainees complete theoretical and practical training, and must pass the written and practical tests before being issued a PAL Card (Powered Access Licence) as proof of successfully completed operator training. PAL Cards are “smart” i.e. machine-readable and valid for five years.

There are more than half a million valid PAL Cards worldwide. The validity of a card can be checked by using the online verification tool at www.ipaf.org/checkpal