INTERVIEW
OUR INDUSTRY WILL RECOVER
Operators are seeking expansion in new sectors and territories, and that means fresh opportunities for IPAF, president Wayne Lawson believes
I
PAF president Wayne Lawson, JLG’s vice president and managing director for EAME, is in a relatively upbeat
mood, despite the economic uncertainty and lack of confidence in some markets. Elected in April, he’s looking forward to further membership growth, both geographically and into increasingly diverse industry sectors. “I’m an optimist,” he says. “Economic
recovery is fragile and we’re likely to have issues to sort out for some years, but I think the overall trend is going to be positive for the next few years. The adoption of powered access in particular is continuing to grow.”
Despite the current period of consolidation
in some established markets, particularly in rental, there is a huge potential for growth in developing territories. Powered access is also expanding into a broader spread of industry sectors, which IPAF is keen to support. The downturn has forced many rental companies to look at new areas of activity. “Some of the big Spanish companies have
been looking outside Spain to developing markets for expansion,” says Lawson. “We’ve seen the same thing with the construction downturn, as rental companies are far more interested in industrial markets now. This presents a real opportunity for IPAF to spread the word and reach those industrial sectors. We are looking at how IPAF can help these markets and I believe we can integrate very well, in industries from petrochemical to facilities management.” North America offers big opportunities for
IPAF, and the US market is showing greater interest in the Federation, at every level. “We are gaining momentum in every part of the US market,” says Lawson, “and we
access training, safety and powered access best practice, from a wide range of rapidly expanding territories. “In Latin America and Brazil in particular
there is a lot of interest in IPAF,” he says. “We are regularly getting membership applications from Latin America. You have some extremely professional organisations in that part of the world that are very interested in training and safety. They are keen to adopt best practice. “We are seeing the same thing in eastern
Europe, where there is also a lot of interest in IPAF. However, China and India are still slightly behind the curve on that and will take longer to develop that interest.” Lawson notes that there is a growing move
towards adopting proven methods and techniques, including health and safety, in all of these developing markets – particularly those with ties to more developed countries. “Western contractors will adopt a European
philosophy in terms of training and safety wherever they are working,” he says. “But in many developing markets it is also driven by local contractors and hire companies.” IPAF remains highly active around the
world, attending seminars, conferences and trade shows to push the message about safe use of powered access. With more than 85,600 PAL Cards (Powered Access Licence) issued last year alone, and 500,000-plus in use at present worldwide, it seems the message is well received. Discussions are ongoing about additional
training for those markets that are totally new to the PAL Card concept, to bring operatives up to a certain level prior to attending the PAL course. IPAF will also provide training centres that are all independent companies, with the time to become established within their individual markets. “It is vitally important that the PAL Card
remains the same globally,” says Lawson, “but the card might be augmented for some
RENTAL COMPANIES ARE FAR MORE INTERESTED IN INDUSTRIAL MARKETS NOW. THIS PRESENTS A REAL OPPORTUNITY FOR IPAF TO SPREAD THE WORD AND REACH THOSE SECTORS
need to gain traction with all interested parties, like manufacturers, contractors and the unions. “For a European it’s not a bad idea to
approach North America like you would the whole of Europe, because legislation and best practice are not always the same in different states.” It is not just developed markets that offer an opportunity for the Federation. There is often a misconception that developing markets grow quickly at the expense of health and safety, along with operator training. Nevertheless, Lawson is pleased to report strong interest in powered
12 | POWERED ACCESS 2012
markets, and that is being discussed within the Federation. Developing markets need to be allowed to grow.” The powered access market is a mature
sector in many countries, and yet is expanding and developing. Lawson is determined to see IPAF continue to play a key role in that growth, promoting safe use, operator training and best practice around the world. He remains confident that the industry is strong enough to recover. “It’s amazing how robust businesses
are in weathering the downturn. We saw consolidation in North America some years ago, but it continues an evolution of professionalism. Each cycle we go through, the industry grows in professionalism,” the IPAF president concludes. n
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