Washington clarification

The State of Washington has confirmed that it has not changed its ruling on the use of harnesses in scissor lifts. As before, a full body harness and lanyard is only required when working from a boom elevated platform.

The confusion arose when some in the lift industry interpreted new rules from the State's department of labor and industries to mean that operators in scissor lifts should wear harnesses.

Aerial Work Platform Training (AWPT), the US training subsidiary of the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF), said it received clarification on the issue from Dan K McMurdie, compliance operations manager from the State of Washington's division of OSHA. See www.awpt.org for more.