Six core IPAF disciplines, delivered against the International Powered Access Federation competency framework, examined to fixed criteria, and finalised with a PAL Card valid worldwide for five years. Customer-site training is available for qualifying groups.
The foundational IPAF certification for anyone operating a Mobile Elevating Work Platform. Operators are trained, examined, and certified against the IPAF competency framework on the specific machine categories they will use on site.
The course covers safe pre-use checks, ground assessment, controls and emergency procedures, working at height fundamentals, and supervised practical operation. On successful completion, the operator receives a PAL Card endorsed for each category they have demonstrated competence on.
A follow-on certification for existing IPAF operators who familiarise other operators on a specific machine. Demonstrators are the staff at hire desks, rental depots, and contractor sites who hand a machine over and walk the next operator through its controls before use.
Rental and hire desk staff. Site supervisors who introduce operators to new equipment. Service engineers who deliver machines and hand them over to customers.
A half-day practical course on the correct selection, fitting, pre-use inspection, and anchoring of full-body harnesses used in or from a MEWP. Required for anyone operating from a boom-type MEWP, and strongly recommended for all elevated work crews.
The course is practical-led. Trainees inspect, fit, and anchor harnesses on real equipment under instructor supervision, and learn to identify the failure points that take a harness out of service.
A supervisor-focused course on the systematic assessment of a site before powered access is deployed. Built for the engineers, planners, and supervisors responsible for picking the right machine, sequencing access, and signing off the lift plan.
The course covers ground-bearing capacity, overhead and underground hazards, exclusion zones, machine envelope clearances, and the integration of a MEWP into a wider site sequence.
A technical certification for the engineers and depot staff who inspect a MEWP before it is delivered to a customer. The PDI defines what good looks like before the machine leaves the yard, and is the last gate between a rental fleet and the site that will operate it.
Rental depot technicians. Service engineers at OEM and dealer workshops. Yard managers responsible for fleet readiness.
The IPAF programme for managers who plan, supervise, and remain accountable for powered access on their sites. The course closes the loop above the operator and supervisor tiers, defining what good management of MEWPs looks like across selection, deployment, training records, and accident response.
Operations managers, EHS managers, construction managers, plant managers, training managers, rental general managers, and the leaders ultimately accountable for safe work at height across a portfolio.