Efficient Scaffold Hire: Maximising Your Project’s Potential
When it comes to construction and renovation projects, scaffold hire plays a crucial role in ensuring safety, efficiency, and productivity....
October 14, 2024
What is PASMA training?
Prefabricated Access Suppliers and Manufacturers’ Association, often shortened to the acronym ‘PASMA’, is a well-known training association that focuses on using mobile access towers safely and promotes best practice. Everyone at PASMA is an industry expert, meaning that they are an ideal association to provide essential training and skills for people working at every level within the height industry. There are a number of PASMA approved training centres across the country that thousands of people attend every year.
Do I need PASMA training?
If you’re working with tower scaffolds then PASMA training and certification is recommended as it ensures best practice is followed. Working at height regulations apply to all those working in the industry where there is a possibility of a fall that could cause personal injury. The regulations ensure that everyone working at height is competent to do so.
As an employer, it is your duty to ensure employees are properly trained and competent, not only does this help reduce the risk of accidents or incidents occurring, but it helps make their role easier when they’re aware of best practices and safety procedures.
So who should attend a PASMA training course? The standard training course is aimed at anyone involved in the use of mobile access towers. By attending training and passing the course, it enables people to safely erect, use, inspect and dismantle mobile access towers.
What’s the difference between IPAF and PASMA training?
To meet the latest working at height regulations and to protect the safety of staff that work at height, PASMA and IPAF are necessary training courses to undertake. However, both cover different aspects of working at height. So determining the most suitable course for you or your employees will depend on the method of access on the worksite. Ask yourself: are you using powered access or mobile access towers?
International Powered Access Federation, commonly known as ‘IPAF’, is a course that covers the safe use of powered access. PASMA, on the other hand, focuses on the safe use of mobile access towers. Both these types of equipment are different, therefore they require slightly different and tailored training.
Erecting Mobile Access Towers? Get PASMA trained
A PASMA training course focuses on safely using mobile access towers, also known as mobile scaffold towers. As their name suggests, mobile towers are non-powered and can be maneuvered using wheels at their base.
It is a working at height regulation that requires the assembly of a mobile access tower to be carried out by, or under the supervision of, appropriately trained personnel. For those that want to erect their own towers, it must be carried out by fully trained staff. Furthermore, if you have staff using the equipment but not assembling, then those staff should also undertake a PASMA training course to ensure that they’re safe when working.
Using Powered Access? Choose IPAF training
A IPAF training course focuses on ensuring the safe and efficient use of powered access equipment or mobile elevating work platforms, known as ‘MEWPS’. It is a course predominantly designed for operators, users, demonstrators and instructors.
What does powered access equipment include? Powered access encompasses equipment such as cherry pickers, scissor lifts and boom lifts. Essentially, it is any equipment that is powered by electricity or diesel. For heights that are unreachable by mobile access towers, using powered access equipment is ideal; this is because boom lifts and cherry pickers offer stable and safe access to heights both horizontally and vertically.
Which is best?
Whilst other courses such as IPAF can be undertaken instead of PASMA, sometimes alternative courses are overlooked when working with a mobile tower, and you will be asked to show a PASMA card first.
IPAF and PASMA training courses are different and do cover working with different working at height equipment. Selecting the right course for you should ultimately come down to which equipment you use. If you or your staff work with both types of access equipment, then attending both types of training is advised.
Both of these training courses offer a 5-year certification and equip your staff to be able to meet health and safe regulations for working at height.
Contact Access Towers Services
Interested in getting your PASMA certificate? It has never been easier with Access Towers Services Ltd. Our expert course leaders offer courses at our site here in Croydon. You can book a course online, or find out more information by giving us a call today on 0208 665 1181 or filling out our online contact form.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is considered working at height?
Anything above ground level is considered Working at Height. Access Towers are a large provider of PASMA Training and sit within the top 5% in the UK, allowing us to train the full range of 1-Day PASMA Courses to suit any of your work at height Tower Training requirements.
What are the working at height regulations?
It is recommended by Health & Safety standards that those who are assembling Towers should be PASMA Trained. This will give operatives a 5-year qualification of competency for the use of mobile towers.
Do I need to have a licence/certificate to use the equipment?
Certifications will vary depending on what equipment you’re hiring. It’s always best to speak with our Hire Desk if you are unsure, where they can advise what will be best for you or in more advanced working conditions, we can install onsite.
What are the different training sessions you offer & who are they for?
Training courses are for anyone using the equipment, from commercially to domestically. These will range from PASMA Training for the use of Towers, IPAF Training for the use of MEWPS as well as various other courses such as Safety Harness Training and First Aid.
How do I know which equipment will be right for the job?
Our Hire Desk are trained across the full range of work at height stock available and will be able to advise and assist cost-free.
How quickly can you supply the tower(s)?
We aim for a next-day turnaround, this is dependent on the transport routes and how busy we are at the time. It works both ways and could be earlier than your requested date.