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ACCESS in ACTION

Chris has a long history in the access

industry having worked in access hire

before recognising an opportunity in

the market to develop his own business

offering Yellow Card training.

For the TSHA, it is a win-win, having

an experienced industry training

professional stepping into the role.

“Cobra Training & Licencing Service has

been around for about 13-14 years now,

initially offering Yellow Card Training,

branching out to also offer telehandler

training around 2006-2007,” Chris said.

“I’ve been a member of the TSHA since

its inception and was on the founding

executive committee as the Training

Advisor for the association. I oversaw the

TSHA Gold Card training program and its

updates and improvements.

“We had the original Gold Card (TSHA

training) program we started with

but have now aligned it to a unit of

competency – RIIHAN309A. The Gold

Card has now been through two updates,

the D-Code and E-Code updates.

“We did a roll out to all trainers after

An introduction to the newTSHA President

The Telescopic Handler Association of Australia (TSHA) has a new President – Chris

Taylor, General Manager for Cobra Training & Licencing Service – a Registered Training

Organisation, who steps into the role after many years serving on the TSHA committee.

the initial alignment and spent about 12

months on the second upgrade. We are

now reshooting the training DVD, adding

scenes and revamping it,” he said.

Chris said TSHA training usually takes

between one-two days to complete

but that depends on the size of the

group, their previous experience with

telehandlers, and how many attachments

they’re learning.

“I am happy to step into the role of

President. Our committee is dedicated

and has been working hard on:

• Registered Inspector Program for

annual inspection testing

• Development of checklist for hire

companies and repairers

• Stability testing and compliance with

Australian Standards

• Compliance checklist for older

machines

• Standardisation of load chart

information is ongoing (different for

each manufacturer).

“The TSHA committee gives up their time

to undertake

these initiatives.

We meet four

times a year and

always need

volunteers to

help prepare

jobs.

“There have

been a lot of

accidents in

recent months which basically resulted

from people not understanding how

telehandlers work or what standards

operators have to meet.

“Members have voted to have our own

industry Standards for telehandlers. We

think this might be a world first. We have

members on the Australian Standards

committees to help that happen.

"So there are a lot of great things

happening for the TSHA now but we can

always use some assistance to help our

industry get better. Give us a call.”

Contact Chris on: 0448 450 132 or visit:

www.tsha.com.au

“There are some exciting things

going on standards wise in the North

American market. Both the Canadian

and US Standards are about to change

and become more in line with ISO and

European and Australian Standards as

well, which, from a manufacturing stand

point is a great thing," Brad said.

Brad said a global standard, from a

design, user and training perspective

would be great.

“Every country and manufacturer has

their own regional interests, methods,

regulations and infrastructure and they all

want to have control of their standards.

"But from a manufacturing perspective,

gravity is the same for everyone in the

world; ultimately it will still make you fall,

wherever you are. Job sites are job sites

International standards and regulations on EWPs

everywhere. When you put people to work

at height if it’s safe here, then it’s safe

there; and it should be safe everywhere.

“I think the most effective, efficient and

safe way to work at height is with the

machinery we have in our industry today.

If we let people who are not experts in

our machinery, not experts in our industry,

decide what is safe on our machinery,

we’ll get to a point where machinery will

be too expensive because we will have

had to design every type of safeguard and

fail safe into the equipment.

“Yes, we need to make people practically

safe. But I can’t see how we can get to

the place where every single event or

incident can be covered. That’s what this

space between your head is for, right?

“This is where the operator’s intelligence

comes into play.

We need to rely

on that. If rental

rates continue

to go down and

we continue to

regulate and have

greater requirements on the equipment

eventually people aren’t going to use the

equipment anymore and that will be a

step backwards in workplace safety.”

Brad also mentioned a new work item on

ISO TC 214 for control standardisation on

EWPs. He said it is a real possibility we

could be seeing common controls and

safety aspects on EWPs into the future.

“That will be a great step forward for our

industry.”

Visit: www.skyjack.com

At the EWPA Seminar at HIRE16, Brad Boehler, Skyjack President gave

a presentation on international standards and regulations and what we

can expect in the future. Here is a summary of what was said.

42

ACCESS IN ACTION • AUGUST 2016

Brad Boehler