Last month the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published a new ISO 21455:2020 standard related to operator’s controls on mobile elevating work platforms. The standard specifies the performance requirements, location, marking and method of operation related to operator’s controls on mobile elevating work platforms (hereafter referred to as MEWPs) and takes into account operator safety and ergonomics.
It applies to all controls used by an operator and includes provisions for finger, thumb, hand, and foot operated controls, and covers various recommendations such as:
- Maximum/minimum forces of controllers
- Maximum/minimum sizing of controllers
- Location and distances of controls
- Movement, operation, and orientation of controllers
- Layout and grouping of controls
- Markings of controls
Haulotte has been involved from the genesis of this subject, thanks to Pierre Saubot, President of the Haulotte Group and former President of the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF), 15 years ago.
“When I was the president of IPAF in 2004-2006 we proposed work on the standardisation of controls – so we are really pleased to see the standard is now published. The main objective was to increase safety for users, but it has required many meetings between the HSE, IPAF’s Technical Committee and manufacturers, to investigate the similarities and differences between control panels from various manufacturers. Today the question is: will all manufacturers conform to the new ISO or not?”
With the IPAF Technical committee and HSE a hard and long work has been entered since 2015, to work about the standardization of MEWP controls panel. Many audit and meeting have been required between manufacturers to investigate the similarities and differences between various controls panels.
Why the ISO 21455:2020 standard emerged ?
The main reason for this new manoeuvre is clearly safety for users. In fact, studies conducted by HSE have shown that most accidents at work due to entrapment or crushing by machinery were due to skill-based errors that occur when an operator moves from one platform to another. Considered several options to overcome the problem, the design of the control was to develop a new ISO standard. The collaboration between HSE and HSL was born to identify all possible human cases and design a control platform that complies with ergonomic standards.
The ISO 21455: 2020 proposal
Based on current practice as well as user comfort and usability, the new standard will require minor change on control boxes. Most of the modern control boxes suit already the requirement while others may require a significant redesign of the control panel layout and orientation.
The concerned will be at the stage of the movement and orientation of the lift and drive controls. In order to help operators visualize and orientate which way up and down is, work platform controls will now need to be mounted at an angle to the work platform floor when in the neutral position. In this position, up and down should always be relative to the angle of the platform floor and intuitive to anyone looking at it.
Some competitors have already presented their brand new control panel, but clearly there is no immediate expectation. It is obvious that most manufacturers will comply over time. From Haulotte, Alexandre Saubot said that new products with the new ISO 21455 standard are already planned for the third quarter of 2020.
Source: Haulotte
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