School MEWP operator competence and familiarisation training

Operating a MEWP is not authorised by simply being familiar with general school equipment or by having watched someone else use a machine. The operator should have completed a recognised operator training course for the relevant MEWP category. Evidence of that training may be a certificate, card or licence that identifies the categories covered. Before operation, the training evidence should be checked. In particular, check that the category listed is relevant to the MEWP to be used and that the card, certificate or licence has not passed its stated expiry date. This check supports a decision about whether the person may proceed; it is not itself a substitute for recognised training or a practical assessment. For a school arranging work through a contractor or hire company, the same principle applies: the school should not assume that the person supplied is suitably current. The responsible person should establish, through the applicable arrangements, that the operator's relevant training evidence has been checked.

Hypothetical example: A school is arranging work at height using a MEWP. An individual presents a training card, but the category shown does not clearly match the type of MEWP being arranged, or the expiry date has passed. The appropriate decision is not to treat the card as sufficient and allow operation. The school should pause the arrangement and seek confirmation through its applicable process from the relevant training or equipment provider. This awareness course does not decide what alternative arrangements should be made.

A likely mistake is to accept any training card as proof that the person can operate any MEWP. The correction is to look for the relevant category and the expiry date, rather than relying on the existence of a card alone. Another mistake is to treat this awareness lesson as permission to operate. It is not: recognised operator training and any required assessment must come from the appropriate training arrangement.

Recognised training for a MEWP category provides a foundation, but it does not by itself familiarise an operator with every machine they may encounter. Before using a particular MEWP, the operator also needs familiarisation with the controls and operation of that specific make and model. This matters because machines that appear similar may have different control layouts, operating functions or control responses. Familiarisation should therefore relate to the actual machine that will be used, not just to a similar machine or to a general description of the category. It should be provided through the appropriate equipment or operational arrangements and should not be replaced by the operator guessing how an unfamiliar control works. If the make or model changes, or if the operator encounters an unfamiliar machine, treat that as a point at which additional machine-specific familiarisation may be needed. This course does not provide that familiarisation or explain how to operate any particular machine.

Hypothetical example: An operator has recognised training for the relevant MEWP category and a current card. On the day of the work, the hired machine is a different make and model from the one used during the operator's previous task. The correct response is to identify the need for familiarisation with the controls and operation of the machine actually supplied before it is operated. The operator should not rely solely on the current card or on informal assumptions that the controls will be the same.

A likely mistake is to regard a similar-looking machine as interchangeable with the machine for which the operator was previously familiarised. The correction is to identify the actual make and model and ensure that suitable familiarisation covers its controls and operation. Where a school has a local plan, procedure or arrangement for arranging familiarisation, look for how it identifies the machine, who provides the familiarisation and what evidence is retained. Follow that arrangement where it exists; this course does not create or replace a school-specific process.