Global Mobile Elevating Works? Accident Rate Falls in 2014

• Proeksa Meas
• 31 December 2015
• Construction Focus
• 1010 Views

Preliminary fatal injury rate calculations confirmed that mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) are one of the safest ways to perform temporary work at height, according to a 2014 report released in August 2015 by the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF)—a not-for-profit international organisation that promotes the safe and effective use of powered access equipment worldwide.

This latest analysis complements the IPAF’s release of the 2014 MEWP-related accident data and indicates that although the total MEWP rental fleet has increased in size, the fatal injury rate has fallen.

Presenting the research, Chris Wraith, IPAF Technical and Safety executive noted that IPAF is calculating the fatal injury rate based on the number of MEWP fatalities worldwide against the MEWP rental fleet worldwide and estimated utilisation rate, as no accurate data is currently available on the total number of end-user owned machines and their utilisation rate.

Based on the estimated rental fleet size, the average utilisation rate and the average days worked per year, the number of days a rented machine was operated per year was estimated at 168.4 million worldwide for 2013. Taken with the 68 reported MEWP fatalities worldwide in 2013, the fatal injury rate (i.e. the number of fatalities per 100,000 days a rented machine was operated) was estimated at 0.040.

For 2014, the number of days a rented machine was operated per year was 182.4 million and the number of reported MEWP fatalities was 64, to give a fatal injury rate of 0.035.

The MEWP fatal injury rate was put into perspective with other existing data on accidents and fatalities worldwide. Information published by official bodies based on accidents as a proportion of workforce was found for France, Singapore, the UK and the US concerning the number of fatalities due to falls from height per 100,000 workers and the number of fatalities at work per 100,000 workers.

The comparison with fatal injury rates due to falls from height and fatalities at work showed MEWPs to be a safe way to work at height. In the US for example, the MEWP fatal injury rate per 100,000 of the workforce in 2013 was 0.03, whereas the fatal injury rate per 100,000 of the workforce due to falls from height was 0.4 and the fatal injury rate per 100,000 of the workforce due to fatalities of any kind at work was 3.27.

Analysis of the 2014 data reveals that falls from height and overturn remain the two main causes of fatal accidents. The MEWP fatal injury rate was reviewed against other relevant industry sectors. However, the research found little commonality between industries in the way that fatalities are reported or tracked.

IPAF’s Rental Market Reports estimates the worldwide MEWP rental fleet at more than 1.1 million.