Aerial Lift Certification: What OSHA Requires, MEWP Training and the IPAF PAL Card

What OSHA requires

• Only authorized persons may operate an aerial lift (OSHA 1926.453 in construction).
• The employer trains workers to recognize and avoid the hazards of the work and the equipment.
• Daily checks: lift controls are tested each day before use.
• Safe use: harness clipped to the boom or basket, feet on the basket floor, load limits respected.

There is no "OSHA certification card" for aerial lifts. When a course is advertised as "OSHA certified", it means the course follows OSHA's requirements; the employer still decides who is authorized and keeps the training records.

What MEWP training covers

The ANSI A92 standards call aerial lifts MEWPs (mobile elevating work platforms), and ANSI A92.24 sets out the training. A complete program has three parts:

Part	What it covers	Who
Theory	Hazards (falls, tip-over, electrocution, crushing), the standards, pre-use inspection, load and wind limits, emergency lowering.	Operators and occupants
Practical	Pre-use inspection, controls, driving or positioning, emergency procedures, shutdown, with a hands-on test.	Operators
Familiarization	The specific make and model: control locations, safety devices, the manual, the working envelope.	Every operator, on every new model

The standards also separate roles: the operator runs the lift, occupants ride in the basket and need to know the hazards and emergency steps, and supervisors need to know enough to plan and oversee the work. Rescue planning is part of the training too: someone on the ground must know how to bring the basket down if the operator cannot.

The IPAF PAL card

IPAF, the International Powered Access Federation, runs the PAL (Powered Access Licence) program. After a course with a theory and practical test, the operator gets a PAL card, valid for five years, showing the categories they are trained on:

• 1a: static vertical, such as a vertical mast lift.
• 1b: static boom, which includes truck- and trailer-mounted booms like ours.
• 3a: mobile vertical, such as a scissor lift.
• 3b: mobile boom, such as a self-propelled boom.

A training course usually takes one to two days. We are an official IPAF training center: see IPAF training and the PAL card.

When to retrain

• A new type of lift, or a new make and model (familiarization at least).
• After an accident or near miss, or when an operator is seen using a lift unsafely.
• When rules, the work or the equipment change.
• When the card or the training record is due for renewal; the PAL card lasts five years.

Training for the occupants, not just the operator

On an operated rental, the person at the controls is our certified operator, and your crew rides in the basket as occupants. They still need to know the basics: wearing and clipping the harness, staying on the basket floor, the load limit, and what to do in an emergency.

See our operators, boom lift rental with an operator and 18 tips on operating a boom lift safely.