International Powered Access Federation last week announced that entries are now open for the International Awards for Powered Access 2010, which is jointly organized by Access International and IPAF. The IPAF Summit and the awards dinner will be held March 25, 2010 at the Grange St. Paul’s Hotel in London.

The IAPAs celebrate and reward best practices in the powered access industry. The categories are:

• IPAF Safety Champion of the Year
• The Access Rental Company of the Year
• The Access International New Product of the Year
• Contribution to Safe Working at Height – Rental Company
• Contribution to Safe Working at Height – Equipment End User
• Contribution to Safe Working at Height – Manufacturer
• Mast Climbing Work Platform Achievement Award
• Access Industry Training Award
• Access Industry Sustainability Award
• IPAF/Access International Lifetime Achievement Award

The awards are open to all companies, not just IPAF members. There are three awards open to IPAF members only, i.e. the New IPAF Training Centre of the Year, The IPAF Instructor of the Year, and the Best Marketing Campaign for IPAF Training.

“The first IAPAs in Dublin were a great success and confirmed the organizers’ belief that there was a demand for an awards ceremony to celebrate and promote excellence in the access industry,” said Murray Pollok, managing editor of Access International. “The second IAPAs will again be held alongside IPAF’s Summit conference and we are confident that it will repeat the success of the first awards. We urge everyone in the access business — manufacturers, distributors, rental companies and training organizations — to consider submitting an entry for the 2010 awards.”

“These awards for the access industry are a true recognition of excellence, as nominees are being judged by their peers,” said IPAF managing director Tim Whiteman. “We are looking for entries from all around the world and are particularly looking for nominations for the IPAF Safety Champion of the Year.”

Companies and individuals can enter themselves or nominate others. They can submit entries for more than one award, and more than one entry per category. There is no charge for entering. Entries must be for work done in 2009. The deadline for entries is Dec. 31.

Entries must be submitted in English on the official entry forms, which is available in Word format at www.ipaf.org/iapa.