Lavendon showcases access training and accessories

At an open day at its Lutterworth headquarters, Lavendon Access Services gave visitors a taster of the new training courses on offer plus a look at the Blue Sky range of access accessories and demonstrations of the company's Nano platforms from Power Tower.

In 2009, the Lavendon Academy provided 10531 training places for MEWPs (mobile elevated work platform) operators and 2000 places on PASMA (Prefabricated Access Suppliers' and Manufacturers' Association) courses. Lavendon is expanding the range of courses offered and is rolling out some of its in-house professional development training to customers.

The new courses starting at the Lavendon Academy in March and April are: IOSH managing safely; asbestos awareness; safe use of abrasive wheels; manual handling; First Aid - appointed person working at height - ladders, steps and harnesses; stepping into management; product knowledge for order makers and toolbox talks (presentations on key operational issues).

Louise Powell, the Lavendon Access Services Training Manager, said: "We want to be a one-stop shop for the training needs of our clients. The new courses are open to all companies, not just powered access users. Many of the courses have been developed in-house and have been highly effective so we want to offer them externally.

"It's a way of sharing our proven expertise and adding value to the service we offer our clients. If these courses prove popular we will add to them in the coming months with more training topics such as: management development, sales and customer service."

Mark Robinson, the Lavendon Access Services Technical Training Manager, said: "This is absolutely fantastic. We're entering a whole new era of training for the access hire industry. This is a much more joined up approach to training which will make it more effective for our customers.

"By having all these inter-related courses under one roof we ensure we understand precisely what our customers need and then make sure it is applied across the range of courses we provide. It's very exciting."

The Blue Sky range of access accessories includes items such as pipe carriers and cladding handlers. The range is currently exclusive to Lavendon and has been developed with the cooperation of the platform manufacturers who have ratified them as safe.

The most basic devices simply hold materials in a convenient way on the platform; more automated devices are hydraulically actuated to offer up materials for ease of positioning and installation.

Users must still be aware of the weight limits of their platforms when loading up the attachments. Lavendon told visitors to the open day that Blue Sky is interested in feedback from customers and willing to develop versions of the attachments to suit particular requirements.