NES Rentals Holdings Inc., one of the largest aerial equipment rental providers in the country, has become an AWPT training center in the Chicago, Ill., market and will offer operator training based on the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) training program.

“NES is pleased to respond to a growing interest in the Chicago area for AWPT training for aerial lift operators. Because we already offer operator training programs from various aerial work platform manufacturers, it was a natural progression for us to add AWPT training to our programming,” said Teresa Kee, director, environmental, health and safety of NES. “Successful completion of the AWPT program leads to the issuance of an internationally-recognized Powered Access Licensed-registration [PAL] card. The PAL card represents the gold standard for aerial platform training throughout the globe and we are pleased to offer our customers the type of training that will allow them to operate in the safest, most productive way possible.”

NES’ first AWPT training center opened in Des Plaines, Ill., to serve the greater Chicagoland area. The training center offers customer training and will conduct operator training for all branch employees who operate or occupy aerial devices.

Said AWPT’s Tony Groat, “The IPAF program is unlike any other operator training program in the industry. While both IPAF and AWPT are dedicated to providing comprehensive training in the safe use of aerial work platforms and mast climbing work platforms, neither organization performs the actual training. Training is done by those members of IPAF, like NES, who have met stringent requirements and are certified as authorized training centers. We provide them with the training materials, then follow up and monitor the way the actual training is conducted. It’s the only program available that has checks and balances to assure a consistent implementation of the training.”

In addition to NES, there are three other AWPT training centers located in the Chicago area including those operated by Skyjack, the Sheet Metal Workers’ Local Union 73 and the Construction Safety Council.

AWPT is the subsidiary of IPAF that administers IPAF’s North American training program. The IPAF program meets the demands of both U.S. and Canadian legislation and has been independently audited by TUV, the leading German and international standards accreditation organization, as conforming to the international standard ISO 18878:2004.

For more information, visit www.awpt.org or www.nesrentals.com.

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