26.09.2012

Douglas to chair IPAF UK

Peter Douglas, executive director of operations at Nationwide Platforms, has been elected chairman of the newly formed IPAF UK Country Council after its first meeting in Edinburgh. Ben Hirst, joint managing director of Horizon Platforms and representative of the Access Alliance, was elected vice-chairman.

The IPAF UK Country Council, which is comprised of 22 members, says that it aims to drive operating standards and improve safety in the industry by ensuring that members are kept up to date with any legislative, technical or other changes which might affect them.

Douglas said: “This new UK Council will devote itself to UK issues and will be a force to help the powered access industry move forward. IPAF has grown internationally over the last few years and there has at times not been enough resources dedicated to UK-specific issues. The forming of this Council will change that.”
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Peter Douglas

“Our first meeting was very productive. We agreed to a full review of member benefits and to develop a two-year formal plan for the very popular IPAF regional meetings. There was a lot of positive energy at the meeting and Ben Hirst and I need to ensure that we retain this, that issues are kept relevant, and that we make some good decisions as a group.”

IPAF chief executive Tim Whiteman added: “The forming of the UK Council is extremely significant and something that we have been working towards in the last years. The move is intended to make sure that today’s international IPAF is still fully relevant to the needs of UK members. It was a pleasure to attend this first meeting.”

Vertikal Comment

Until now the IPAF Council was in effect also the UK Council, reflecting its roots, however as the federation has grown internationally the Council took on a more cosmopolitan make up and not only was less time available for UK matters, but they were less relevant to the non-UK council members. With the growth in country councils it was only a matter of time before the original Council became the International Council and a separate UK Council was formed.

Reaching this point is significant and shows how the future of the federation is likely to pan out, with increasingly autonomous IPAF country councils the chairman of which will sit on the international council which is likely to be made up entirely of chairmen, plus manufacturer representatives. It is in fact a critical stage in the organisation’s development that is likely to lead to a more decentralised structure going forward. The challenge will be to retain a strong and common set of standards so that IPAF membership and an IPAF PAL card means the same in China as it does in Germany.

Ideally the PAL card and IPAF training will also remain centralised so that a Brazilian tradesman with a PAL card will be as welcome on a site in Angola as he is in Rio de Janeiro or London.