MEWPs, cherry pickers, access platforms - all traditionally thought of as machines used in the construction sector, but in the relatively well developed UK market powered access is spreading to many more sectors, resulting in the promotion of improved safety and productivity to retail, manufacturing, health, education, and services sectors.
When I applied to enter the powered access industry, one of the first things my interviewer explained to me was that the potential customer base for powered access is anyone who needs to reach higher than they can standing on the ground. That's a very broad customer base by any industry's standards!
In the UK the challenge of the last decade has been to spread the safety and productivity benefits of powered access equipment to new sectors:
The good news is that more and more members of the powered access industry are recognising this wider market for their products some, like HLS , are even designing product specifically for these more finished environments.
As an industry we can be responsible for an overall improvement in productivity of operatives carrying out work at height, as well as a reduction in incidents and accidents involving working at height:
Surely this is a goal worth working towards?