IPAF and PASMA. Not just bits of paper to tick a box, but real tools for keeping things moving without hiccups.
We’ve just come off two days of hands on refresher training with the SHC Hire team, solid operators and straight talking.
If you’ve been around buildings with any kind of external access work, you’ll know how often cherry pickers, boom lifts, and towers get involved. You’ll also know how quickly things get complicated if the lads on site aren’t trained up properly.
This wasn’t just theory in a classroom. We got up in the gear and asked the questions. The PASMA tower build took some adjusting to, wrong brace in the wrong spot and it all goes a bit wonky. Better to learn that during a drill than on a job when someone’s halfway up trying to reach ducting over a glazed roof.
Same story with IPAF. Good to get a proper feel for controls on a MEWP before you’re trying to nudge in under an overhang with wind catching the platform. Most of our sites aren’t textbook. Tarmac’s uneven, there’s a skip where it shouldn’t be, scaffold’s half-down. You need confidence and clarity to work around it safely. Not guesswork.
What stood out was how relevant the course content felt. The instructors knew the setups — commercial estates, retail parks, mixed-use blocks with tight turnaround times. They weren’t quoting manuals. They’d clearly been on the tools. Makes a difference.
Now everyone on our team’s certified. Which means if there’s a leak on a three-storey canopy or signage to come down over a car park, we’re not waiting days for subcontractors to slot us in. We get in, get it done, move on.
And for property managers? You get peace of mind. Nothing gets bodged. No one’s working at height without proper sign-off. No nasty follow-ups from health and safety because someone ‘just popped up a ladder quickly’. It’s all above board. Tracked, logged, sorted.
Not every job needs powered access. But the ones that do, you want the right tickets in place. The right kit. And people who’ve got both.
We’ll be back in five years for the refresher, like clockwork. But between now and then, we’ll be putting this training to work properly. No fuss. Just safe, efficient access where it’s needed.
And yes — the equipment’s already on order.
