Technical Guidance on Ground Condition Assessment from IPAF

A new safety campaign has been launched by IPAF ensuring that all ground conditions and the likely hazards for consideration have the proper assessments completed first.

Poor ground conditions can cause machines to become unstable, this is usually the result of soft or weakened areas, however when working on MEWP’s or powered access platforms this is unacceptable as they need the ground to be in a good working condition in order to enhance their stability.

When it comes to the safe operation of MEWP’s and powered access platforms it is critical that the correct assessment of the ground to be worked on has been completed to ensure safe operation of the machines. This is most important for machines that use outriggers and jack-legs for levelling such as spider lifts, trailer mounts and rough terrain scissor lifts.

For more information on how to make a safe assessment about the ground conditions before travelling, setting-up or operating your MEWP then download the following document detailing the Safe Use of MEWPs.

Guidance on the Assessment of Ground Conditions.

When setting up on site there is now a new tool that offers guidance to make this process even easier, IPAF’s new ‘Spreader Plate Calculator’. It is used to help determine the size of the outrigger pad/ spreader plate needed to be used when setting up on site and its simple design makes it extremely user friendly.