Shiny!

This is taken from the news section of UK-based bespoke access platform company, Working At Height. It shows a custom platform design for South West trains in Bournemouth who have just taken delivery of the first twenty five platforms. Apparently they have been very well received by the train depot staff. It looks incredible shiny, but I wonder how long it will stay that way! 

Online Operator Training Introduced by Genie

One of the exciting things that was recently displayed by Genie at a recent rental show in Las Vegas, was their new operator training program which is to be delivered on an online platform. The program is specially designed or aerial work platforms is called Genie Lift Pro.

There is an online component to the course, which is interactive in nature, and it is expected to take participants about 3 hours to carry out. The training is not linked to any specific manufacturer and is designed to replace some of the classroom based teaching. In order to pass the training, participants must score the maximum, 100%.

In addition to this, participants must also attend a hands on training session, which needs to be done with an approved dealer either on site or at the dealer's premises. As part of the hands on component of the course, students need to be able to show that they are familiar with the basics that would have been taught on the online course. This can include walk around checks for example. If the dealer is able to see that the participant is competent in using a lift then the dealer can sign off the certificate from the online section of the training and give the student a card which proves that they have passed both parts of the training program.

Genie state that by doing both parts of this training program, the student will have covered the various requirements to become a certified user of aerial work platforms as is stipulated by a number of regulatory bodies such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as well as health and safety requirements and the equivalents in other countries, such as Canada.

This programme will be on sale for dealers to buy in a pack of several “seats”, which can then be sold on to their customers individually. The price that these individual seats are thought to retail at is about $290, but may vary depending on the number of “seats” to be purchased.

Other commentators in the industry have praised the programme for allowing the students to learn at a pace and time that suits them best. The programme is the first of its kind within the industry and is expected to help improve safety and productivity on the work site.

Whilst it may seem like this programme is intended to replace the IPAF PAL card, Genie have stated that this isn't the case and it is merely hoping to add to this.

This is why the company has made the programme open to all, even their competitors, as the intention is to improve safety within the industry.