Source: HSE
All PAL Cards to Become Smart
From 1st January 2015, all Power Access Licence (PAL) cards issued by the Powered Access Federation (IPAF) are to become machine readable. By becoming smart they aim to improve site safety as only trained operatives will be able to use mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPS) and mast climbing work platforms (MCWPs).
Things such as level of training, categories etc will be readable by the machine and means the operator can only start a machine if the data on the card is correct for the work being done.
Managers will also be able to track how long the machine has been used for and by who, therefore helping to prevent fraudulent use.
For more information on PAL cards and the IPAF training programme, visit the Internation Power Access Federtion website using the following links:
http://www.ipaf.org/en/resources/news/article/all-pal-cards-to-be-smart/?
For further information on the use of MEWPS follow: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/geis6.pdf
