Cultural Intelligence | Cultural Intelligence

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Plant: mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs)
Prepared by Chris Peace in March 2021 for a NZISM webinar in the series Fact or fiction; also available at www.riskmgmt.co.nz.
Summary and abstract
This research note summarises grey literature and some academic literature about safety-
related issues of mobile elevating work platforms. Such items of plant can be found in many
workplaces and work activities. They provide safety and productivity benefits but also have
caused deaths and serious injuries.
Origins of MEWPs and work platforms
Personal experience from the 1970s onwards suggests that workers stood on palletised stock being
moved by fork lift trucks (Figure 3, in Trinidad). Some had no edge protection and/or the pallets were
not secured to the truck. Safety cages were subsequently developed but were not always fit for
purpose. Some MEWPs were designed for very specific purposes (Figure 4, a workstation/MEWP in a
UK distribution centre in 1993). Scissor-lifts intended for purely static use to lift items between levels
were adapted for use as static work platforms (Figure 5 seen in manufacturing site in the USA in
1995) but sometimes lacked necessary safety features. Some mobile work platforms cannot be
raised, having been designed for a specific purpose (Figure 6, at Auckland airport in 2016).
The focus in this research note is on MEWPs likely to be found in New Zealand now.
Photographs of some mobile elevating work platforms are appended. All photographs are copyright ©
Chris Peace 1992-2021.
Uses and potential for harm
A European Standard EN280: (2009) describes MEWPs as being intended to move workers to
working positions where they can carry out work from the platform with the intention that they get on
and off the work platform at one defined access position. A free preview of part of the standard is
available at: https://infostore.saiglobal.com/preview/is/en/2001/i.s.en280-2001%2Ba2-
2009.pdf?sku=630498.
There is a large variety of MEWPs, designed for a wide range of indoor and outdoor applications. The
various types include scissor-lifts, articulating booms, telescopic booms, vehicle-mounted booms, rail-
mounted booms and deck-mounted booms. Some have a combination of these characteristics as
shown in the appended photographs.
A research report for the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) notes that (Leah et al., 2013):
Mobile Elevated Work Platforms (MEWPs) are commonly used across all industrial sectors
by a whole variety of trades, including mechanical and electrical contractors, and painters
and decorators, as a safe, temporary method of working at height. There is a large range of
MEWPs on the market and their controls and functionality varies depending on the category,
manufacturer, model and size of machine. As their popularity and range of applications has
grown, concerns have emerged about trapping/crushing accidents involving MEWPs.
Legal requirements in New Zealand
The Health and Safety at Work Act (2015) defines plant to include:
(a) any machinery, vehicle, vessel, aircraft, equipment (including personal protective
equipment), appliance, container, implement, or tool; and
(b) any component of any of those things; and
(c) anything fitted or connected to any of those things.
Thus, a MEWP can be machinery, a vehicle or equipment and is an item of plant.
Examples from practice
Figure 7 is a small articulating boom MEWP for light duties. The high-reach articulating boom MEWP
in Figure 8 was seen on a construction site in the UK in 1994. The workers were an estimated 10
metres above the concrete slab; the platform swayed so much that one worker climbed onto the steel
beam to finish attaching a purlin.

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Safety II - The Role of Governance

Dec 2018. Carlie Cossill (ProfNZISM) shares her Leading Practice Report from her Masters of Advanced Leadership Practice, Massey University