Peter Douglas to chair IPAF UK Country Council

Newly formed UK Council holds first meeting in Edinburgh and elects chairman and vice-chairman

PETER Douglas (pictured), executive director of operations at Nationwide Platforms, was elected chairman of the newly formed IPAF UK Country Council at its first meeting on 19 September 2012, in Edinburgh.

Ben Hirst, joint managing director of Horizon Platforms and representative for the Access Alliance, was elected vice-chairman.

‘This new UK Council will devote itself to UK issues and will be a force to help the UK powered-access industry move forward,’ said Mr Douglas.

‘IPAF has grown internationally over the last few years and, at times, not enough resources have been dedicated to UK-specific issues. The forming of this Council will change that.

The IPAF UK Country Council has 22 members with a range of industry experience and a wide representation of rental companies, manufacturers, training centres and suppliers.

It aims to represent the industry and IPAF’s UK members by working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), government and contractors, by driving operating standards, by improving safety in the industry and by ensuring that members are kept up to date with any legislative, technical or other changes that could affect them.

‘Our first meeting was very productive,’ said Mr Douglas. ‘We agreed to a full review of member benefits and to develop a two-year formal plan for the very popular IPAF regional meetings.’

The next meeting of the IPAF UK Country Council is planned for 5 December 2012.