If you are a provider of mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) equipment, then I’m sure that you are aware of the new American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the CSA Group, formerly Canadian Standards Association, standards for the industry that will go into effect in early 2020.
The following standards were published on December 10, 2018:
- A92.20 Design, Calculations, Safety Requirements and Test Methods for Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs)
- A92.22 Safe Use of Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs)
- A92.24 Training Requirements for the Use, Operation, Inspection, Testing and Maintenance of Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs)
These standards affect both the manufacturers of MEWP equipment and their dealers and rental operators. Companies renting MEWP equipment will be most effected by:
- Substantial impact to customer safety.
- Requirements for proper training and safe or unsafe use which affect the number and severity of incidents of equipment damage and destruction.
- The potential for lawsuits based on allegations that the dealer or rental company “failed to fully and properly train, familiarize and/or warn customers”.
A recent article in Rental Management Magazine pointed out that having multiple machine generations in your fleet may result in customers who have rented MEWPs from you in the past being confused or frustrated by the new machines not functioning as anticipated or reporting new safety features are causing the machine to malfunction.
Fortunately, these issues can easily be avoided with the customer and equipment tracking capabilities in Rental360, a modern cloud platform built for businesses like yours that need to manage, track, and/or rent equipment.
From the Rental Order screen in Rental360, any user can quickly see the customer’s order history to know if they have previously rented an older generation lift or work platform from you in the past. If so, and they are now renting a MEWP that complies with the new standard, you can provide some proactive guidance around the new safety features of the equipment and set expectations accordingly.
If you’re wondering how you’ll know which generation each piece of equipment falls into, you can track that information in the Equipment Record, which is accessible from the Rental Order Screen or the Equipment List.
Having all of this information at the fingertips of anyone interacting with your customers will not only help prepare your customers to use your equipment more effectively but can also help to track trends and identify opportunities for better training. If you have multiple customers call in with complaints or issues involving your new generation MEWPs, those will all be tracked to the specific pieces of equipment. When a frequently troubling piece of equipment is set to be rented out once again, the individuals making the sale or delivering the equipment will see that they need to provide additional guidance on the use of the lift or platform.
To learn more about Rental360 and how it can help prepare you for better equipment standards compliance, watch an on-demand demo.
This post was originally published in August 2018 and was updated to provide more complete information.