AWPT's Click It! Campaign Makes Rental Industry Debut at ARA

More than six months after its entry into the North American market, Aerial Work Platform Training's Click It! Campaign will make its debut to the rental industry next week at The Rental Show. AWPT's new safety campaign encourages all users of boom-type platforms to wear full body harnesses with a short lanyard attached to a suitable anchor point.

Similar to successful promotional campaigns that encourage people to wear their seatbelts when riding in a car, Click It! Initiative came from companies frustrated with the fact that aerial work platform operators are dying in boom lifts because they are not wearing a harness that would keep them from being thrown or catapulted from the platform. To remind and encourage operators and equipment owners to wear a harness, AWPT has printed reminder stickers that can be placed on the boom lift where they can be seen by all occupants in the platform.

AWPT's Click It! Campaign has received the approval of the Scaffold Industry Association, and several rental companies, including Sunbelt, NES, and Midwest Aerials, are on-board with the campaign and pasting stickers on boom-type lifts in their fleets. AWP manufacturer Skyjack also is adding the sticker on each new boom lift it rolls out into the field. According to Tony Groat, North American membership development director, AWPT has received an endless request for Click It! stickers from small to large companies in North American industrial and construction markets that are recognizing the campaign as a way to enhance boom lift safety.

In addition, AWPT has made available a document titled “Technical Guidance Note AWPT H1” that provides information on its recommendation for the proper use of harnesses and lanyards on different types of aerial platforms. Information on both can be found at www.awpt.org.

Next month at ConExpo, the IPAF Safety Zone at CONEXPO (Booth SZ1000, West Blue Lot) will feature a dynamic demonstration on the dangers of not wearing a harness in boom type platforms. The 15-minute show will run at regular intervals throughout the day and give practical advice on the correct way to use a harness. Stop by industrialliftandhoist.com for more details soon.

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