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Interview
IPAF Powered Access 2020
edward taylor
on a part-time basis. When I heard about the CEO vacancy I thought if I was able to do that as a full-time job it would be perfect. Some of the fast-emerging markets – China and South-East Asia especially at the moment – but also our most mature market, which is the US, fascinate me too. It’s totally different to the UK from a standards and safety perspective. To try and make a difference and improve safety not just in the UK but across IPAF’s footprint around the globe is a great opportunity.
A clear view from the top Peter Douglas joined IPAF as chief executive and managing director in late 2019. He tells Neil Gerrard why promoting better accident reporting across all IPAF regions will be one of his top priorities as the organisation continues to make working at height safer
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What attracted you to the role of CEO of IPAF? I have been involved with IPAF for a number of years, working on the UK hirers’ committee and then the IPAF International Council. In 2012, I helped create the UK Council and was its inaugural chairman. And in 2013, I was asked to become a member of the board, a position I held until 2018. The work I did for IPAF previously was as a volunteer member. I got a real buzz out of making a difference, even
IPAF operates in about 70 countries. Do you see the opportunity for even more international expansion? I think so. But what we’ve got to remember is we’re working to a three-year plan. We’ve got budgetary constraints. It would be easy for me to get excited and try to put more flags in the map, but that’s not my priority. My priority is to understand where we’re at and to get my head around the IPAF three-year plan and deliver on that. What more can IPAF do to promote the culture of working at height safely? My biggest achievement as a board member of IPAF was the accident reporting initiative. I was responsible for getting the UK to commit that as a condition of membership all rental companies have to report any accidents they know about involving powered access, whether it be their staff, customers or whoever involved. We anonymise and aggregate all of that data and use it to change training courses if we feel there are lots of a certain type of accident, and it also informs our safety campaigns. We have been perfecting this data since 2012, but maybe haven’t done enough with it in terms of presenting it back to the industry to act upon. And while accident reporting is a condition of membership in the UK, disappointingly
18/03/2020 17:35
