Implementation of New ANSI Standards Delayed Until March
The ASC A92 Main Committee has delayed the implementation of the ANSI A92 suite of standards for mobile elevating work platforms from December 2019 to March 1, 2020.
Members of the Committee voted on and approved the extension at its annual meeting on Oct. 30, and the change means the complete suite of standards including: ANSI/SAIA A92.20 – 2018 | Design, Calculations, Safety Requirements, and Test Methods for Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs); ANSI/SAIA A92.22 – 2018 | Safe Use of MEWPs; and ANSI/SAIA A92.24 – 2018 | Training Requirements for the Use, Operation, Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of MEWPs will now come into effect three months later than anticipated.
A decision by the ANSI Board of Standards Review (BSR) regarding appeals submitted on ANSI/SAIA A92.20 and A92.22 resulted in a limited revision on language that violated the ANSI Commercial Terms Policy. These limited revisions are currently up for public comment.
Following the close of the public comment period, the ASC A92 Main Committee will go through a 30-day recirculation ballot and a 30-day appeals period before submitting the final proposal to ANSI. Once the ANSI BSR has received the final submittal, the appellants will have an additional 15 days to submit an appeal to the ANSI BSR.
The ASC A92 Committee, and the A92 Chairmen will continue working with both appellants during this process. Actions being taken in an attempt to resolve the continued issues include forming a Commercial Terms Violation ad hoc, providing more guidance on the ANSI Lack of Dominance Policy, instituting additional policies and procedures for the A92 subcommittees, adding three licenses agreements on the SAIA Manual of Responsibilities (MoR), and reporting on A92 Standards and MoRs financials.
“While the effective date of the standards has now been extended by three months, IPAF advises all powered access stakeholders in the U.S. to continue to familiarize themselves with the key changes and requirements in the proposed new standards, with a view to achieve compliance as soon as practicable ahead of the effective date,” said Tony Groat, IPAF’s North America regional manager, who also sits on all three of the ANSI committees. “The new standards promote the safe use of MEWPs, outlining responsibilities and including new requirements for both operator and supervisor training, and so it makes sense to start implementing your requirements as defined in the new standards to ensure all involved with powered access operations are working safely and are compliant with requirements in the standards. IPAF can assist with understanding the key changes in the new standards and help you plan to be compliant in time for the effective date.”
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.