IPAF members level up to Rental+

All rental members of IPAF in the UK have upgraded to the IPAF Rental+ minimum standard.

The standard assures people seeking to rent MEWPs that an IPAF member company will always confirm to the highest industry standards. As part of the upgrade to minimum membership standards, IPAF has also launched a new feature on the www.ipaf.org website that allows anyone seeking to rent MEWP equipment to find their nearest IPAF Rental+ accredited company quickly and easily using an online map.

The IPAF UK Country Council mandated in 2017 that all hire/rental company members in the UK should be audited to meet the required standard within a two-year transition period, and the launch of the new geolocation function via www.ipaf.org/rental enables users to find their nearest IPAF Rental+ MEWP hire firm.

Over the past two years, all UK IPAF rental member companies have been working towards the minimum requirements, which includes Safety Systems in Procurement (SSIP) accreditation alongside IPAF criteria to improve safety in the industry. All new IPAF rental members in the UK will also need to be certificated to the IPAF Rental+ standard as of this month.

Stephanie Nolan-Byrne, IPAF’s quality and audit manager, said, “Members have been excellent in their response to the requirement to meet the IPAF Rental+ standard, helping each other gain awareness, finding success in upskilling members of their staff and management teams to enable a safe environment for their business and in turn their customers.

“Anyone looking to hire a MEWP in the UK can now quickly and easily search for their nearest IPAF Rental+ accredited company, safe in the knowledge that they will be able to hire the right equipment to conduct temporary work at height safely and that their requirements will be met with excellent customer service and professionalism.

“The IPAF Quality and Audit Team has worked side-by-side with members to encourage and develop processes to achieve consistency across membership, bringing members feedback to IPAF for implementation in future developments of the standard.

Richard Whiting, IPAF’s UK & Ireland market general managers, commented, “IPAF has been supporting members through the process to attain IPAF Rental+ minimum standard and we thank members for the engagement and hard work shown. Those efforts are paying off and the UK Country Council’s 2017 decision to mandate IPAF Rental+ for all hirer members by September 2019 is well on course.”