Brazilian rental company Mills Rental was the winner of the Rental Company of the Year at this year's International Awards for Powered Access (IAPAs), held in Rome last week.

Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Gerhard Hillebrand, IPAF's Italian representative and, posthumously, to Lars-Petter Godenhielm, who was a past president of IPAF and managing director of Dinolift.

Over 400 industry professionals from almost all continents including Europe, North and South America and East Asia attended the awards ceremony which took place on March 29 at the Sheraton Hotel in Rome, Italy.

Other winners included Alimak Hek for the Access Project of the Year on the Garibaldi Porta Nuova project in Milan, and Nationwide Platforms for Contribution to Safe Working at Height. 

The four Product of the Year categories were won by Manitou for the 280TJ telescopic boom, Edmolift for the Air, Ruthmann for theT330 truck mount, and Geda for the Multilift P18S hoist.

The IPAF Safety Champion of the Year was Austin Baker of AFI-Uplift, while the award for Outstanding After Sales Service was won by TVH.

Kevin O'Shea of Mastclimbers LLC was named IPAF Training Instructor of the Year, and Spanish company Maquinarias Paco was the Best New IPAF Training Centre.

The new award for Access Photograph of the Year was won by Uwe Schneider of German rental company Mateco for a shot of one of the company's Teupen XTG 230s cleaning the glass roof of the Medical Association building in Hanover, Germany. The work is being carried out by Hayko May Cleaning Company, based in Einbeck, Germany. 

The independent judging panel were: Andy Studdert, CEO of US-based NES Rentals; Gordon Leicester, managing director and owner of Facelift, UK; Mikael Kämpe director of group fleet at Finnish rental company Ramirent; Richard Tindale, then global sales and marketing director of Snorkel; and Wayne Lawson, JLG vice president and managing director of EAME, and IPAF president.

The IAPAs are jointly organized by Access International and IPAF. The 2012 awards were sponsored by Italian manufacturer Co.Me.T Officine (headline sponsor), Henderson Insurance, Hinowa and Platform Basket (supporting sponsors). Genie sponsored the IPAF Training Instructor of the Year and JLG sponsored the IPAF Safety Champion of the Year.

The next IAPAs will be held on March 26, 2013, in Miami, FL. Watch for event details at www.iapa-summit.info

The full list of winners and the citations from the judges were as follows:

Mills Rental, Brazil (Access Rental Company of the Year)
The winner in this category was chosen for its outstanding work in developing an access rental company in a young market. This winner has made a significant contribution to encouraging its country of operation to embrace powered access and safety. It is helping to expand the market with a disciplined approach to growth in a rapidly developing region.

Lars-Petter Godenhielm and Gerhard Hillebrand (Joint Winners – Lifetime Achievement Award)

Lars-Petter Godenhielm was a great entrepreneur and good to do business with, as well as being a huge supporting force to the industry, through his work with industry regulations and with IPAF.

Gerhard Hillebrand is a nurturer and guiding hand to all those in the industry, giving generously of his time and knowledge to support the development of individuals and companies in powered access and building IPAF Italy into a very active organisation.