EWPA News

Do you own and hire out Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWP’s)?

If your answer is yes, you need to read this article...

JUST OVER THREE years ago, the government publicly consulted with industry about changes to the Health and Safety at Work Act, primarily for plant and structures. This new series of regulations is now legislated and in is the hands of Worksafe NZ for setting a plan of implementation. It is the EWPA’s understanding that the Plant and Structures regulations implementation will be consulted with industry before being enacted. This doesn’t mean we will get to make change to it when consulted but more on how the regulations will be implemented and the time periods for adoption. So, what is so important about these regulations? There are a few things that Hire will need to consider and adopt. Some/most we are all doing already. Such as, machine guarding and increased safety measures for users of hired equipment. There will be a need to lift our game on a few items that are difficult to guard without considerable cost. Seatbelts and operator restraint will be an increased area of attention. This may mean not just a std lap belt but a restraint belt that disables the machine if it’s not fitted. The work we have recently done around log splitters will also come back into the forefront. The biggest changes is with EWP’s and working at height. This is something the EWPA has been working hard on over the past year to get a better position than that being adopted. Sadly, it seems Worksafe think better than the industry when it comes to EWPs, and this means we will need to adopt their latest ideas for the time being whilst we prove they have it wrong and need to adjust. Two things affect hire going forward on EWP’s. First is that inspectors of EWPS now need to be CBIP accredited which means they need to hold a welding qualification or similar knowledge of the Welding Supervisor qualification. This can only be proven by attending and passing the Weld

Supervisor course run by HERA. All of this needs to be done by December this year to continue inspecting EWP’s. The second thing is that the inspector cannot inspect a machine that they have worked on over the previous six months. This includes any repair or scheduled maintenance work. That means, you need to have either two inspector/mechanics or a third-party inspector for every 6 monthly certifcate if your technician continues to maintain the machine. This has bought a whole lot of complexity to the situation and in the minds of the EWPA has increased risk not safety. There is much more to come on this matter and as HIANZ, we will do as much as we can to support the EWPA in getting a better position on this matter. The EWPA will keep us informed of progress and we will update our HIANZ /EWP members webpage with more information as it comes to hand. ■

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