Site and safety managers can now use the Powered Access Licence (PAL) Card online verification tool at the International Powered Access Federation’s (IPAF), website to check if a card is genuine. A valid PAL Card issued by IPAF, Cumbria, U.K., or by its North American subsidiary American Work Platform Training (AWPT), Schenectady, N.Y., in the US, is proof that the cardholder has been trained to operate powered access equipment safely and effectively.
IPAF has launched the online verification tool in response to requests from site and safety managers for a quick and easy way to check if a card presented to them is genuine. The yellow, plastic PAL Card already contains several security features: The front side carries the cardholder’s name and photograph and shows the expiration date and the machine categories the cardholder has been trained to operate. Valid for five years, the card’s reverse side features an IPAF logo printed as a hologram to minimize counterfeiting risks, and the cardholder’s signature.
“PAL Cards are valuable because there are many job sites where operators without a valid card will not be allowed to operate powered access equipment, and there have been a small handful of cases involving forged PAL Cards,” said Tim Whiteman, IPAF CEO. “The online verification tool gives site and safety managers added security and confidence in the system.”
IPAF’s PAL Card operator training program is certified by TÜV as conforming to ISO 18878. More than 80,000 PAL Cards are issued each year through a network of more than 400 IPAF-approved training centers worldwide.
Lift & Access is part of the Catalyst Communications Network publication family.
