Manufacturer members of the International Powered Access Federation have agreed on a new symbol that will signpost the location of emergency descent controls, the U.K.-based federation announced.

“Even experienced operators sometimes have difficulty locating the emergency descent controls that every mobile elevating work platform is fitted with,” said Tim Whiteman, IPAF managing director. “This new symbol is a practical visual aid and a prime example of an industry initiative to make access equipment even safer. We encourage manufacturers to fit this as standard on new equipment and rental companies to fit this decal to their existing fleets.”

Emergency descent systems can be found on all types of mobile elevating work platforms. They differ in terms of where they are located on specific machines and how they operate. The decal should be positioned to clearly indicate the location of the emergency descent controls. Operators should ensure that somebody at ground level knows how to use the controls in an emergency. 

Manufacturers can obtain the artwork for the emergency descent symbol for use on their equipment. The artwork can be downloaded from the “Resources” section of www.ipaf.org. Limited numbers of free copies are available from IPAF.