UK Contractors Group to support PAL+ for steel erectors
At a recent meeting of its Health & Safety Sub Group, the UK Contractors Group (UKCG) agreed that it would encourage steel erectors and net riggers working on UKCG sites to hold an IPAF PAL+ qualification from 1 January 2013. It also agreed to extend this to other trades for specific projects, on a risk-assessed basis.
PAL+ is an optional, additional one day of category-specific training for mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) operators working in higher risk or challenging environments.
“UKCG members will encourage their supply chains to adopt the PAL+ training for key trades such as steel erectors and net riggers, and on a risk basis for specific projects, from January next year,” said Mark Atkinson from Clugston. “PAL+ is a positive development. Candidates will need to be experienced operators and they will have over five hours of practical assessment on MEWPs.”
IPAF developed the PAL+ training course in response to demand for training that better prepares MEWP operators for work in higher risk or challenging environments. PAL+ focuses on practical training and includes a short, compact theory session. It is intended to be more advanced, challenging and extensive than the PAL operator course, which meets all requirements for basic operator training.
PAL+ training is open to operators who hold an existing PAL Card (Powered Access Licence) qualification in the relevant category.
More information on PAL+ is at Facelift PAL+ Training
