PASMA training breaks records

In 2012 a record breaking 60,000 candidates attended and successfully completed a tower training course at an approved PASMA training centre, claimed the association.

This compares with 50,000 for the previous year, amounting to an increase of 20%. According to PASMA, which represents the mobile access tower industry, falls from height is the biggest killer in the UK workplace.

Since PASMA first introduced its Towers for Users course back in 2005, it has successfully trained more than 350,000 operatives. The PASMA PhotoCard is proof that the holder has been trained to best practice standards based on the latest legislation and most current guidance, which PASMA plays a leading role in developing.

As a result, the PhotoCard is now the only proof of competence accepted by many site managers and health and safety professionals, said the association. The training courses are delivered across the UK and Ireland through a network of some 400 approved training centres.

PASMA’s director of training, Stuart Hopkins, said: “We have developed a course that is now recognised as the definitive benchmark for competency when working with towers. Not only in the UK, but increasingly overseas.

Mr Hopkins added, “Our input is increasingly being sought by overseas government agencies and trade bodies keen to improve safety and performance standards in their own respective work at height industries. We are also receiving a growing number of enquiries from overseas companies wanting to deliver professional PASMA training.”

Courses on offer for 2013 include Towers for Users, Work at Height Essentials, Low Level Access, and AGRs for Towers for Users.