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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 (