Rick Smith
Senior Director of Product Training
____
JLG Industries
The standards that govern the access equipment industry (American National Standards Institute, or ANSI, in the United States and the Canadian Standards Association, or CSA, in Canada) have changed, and the deadline to be compliant was June 1, 2020. These updated standards should not be taken lightly — or ignored. Compliance is critical to mitigate the risk of safety hazards, lost time, fines and citations.
Here are a few of the biggest updates in the ANSI A92 and CSA B354 standards that you need to be aware of…
Who’s affected?
Literally everyone. Anyone who works with, in and around aerial access equipment – rental companies, equipment owners, supervisors, operators, technicians and so on – is responsible for being in compliance with these standards.
Why did the standards change?
ANSI and CSA create standards that govern the design and use of Aerial Work Platforms across North America. The last big change to these standards took place in 2006.Today’s standards, which were published for the U.S. in December 2018 and in Canada in May 2017, were drafted to be similar to international standards, like AS/NZS, CE/EN, GB and ISO, to better align North American aerial equipment manufacturers with the global market.
What were the major updates to the standards?
Under the new standards, a lot of industry terminology regarding aerial access equipment has changed. For example, Aerial Work Platforms (AWPs) – the former industry term for aerial access equipment – are now called Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs).
Other major revisions made to the standards were in three sections: Machine Design, Safe Use and Training.
The Machine Design section serves as a guide for equipment manufacturers to build compliant machines. It encompasses several components of aerial access equipment, including the design, calculations, safety requirements and test methods for Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs).
As the name suggests, the Safe Use section focuses on providing guidance for the safe use of MEWPs on jobsites.
The Training section provides information on the most up-to-date training requirements outlined in the standards. It provides guidance on preparing MEWP training materials, defines how theoretical and practical training should be delivered and identifies required elements for proper training and familiarization.
For more information about the updated ANSI and CSA standards, visit our online resource here.
Want to stay up to date with industry news and trends similar to this? Make sure you subscribe below to receive monthly updates from Direct Access with newly posted content so you never miss important information.