The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) regularly hosts conferences, seminars and awards programs to promote its message of safety and training for work at height, but the organization tried something different this past fall with its new INNOVATE workshop, held Oct. 16-17, 2018 at the Houston Area Safety Council in Houston, TX. Unlike the typical conference format, where attendees sit and listen to a group of speakers, the intention behind INNOVATE was to get industry stakeholders together to brainstorm solutions to challenges facing everyone involved.
To find out more about IPAF's intention with INNOVATE, we talked with IPAF North America Manager Tony Groat. Following is an excerpt from that discussion:
Rental: What was the inspiration for the new INNOVATE workshop event?
Tony Groat, IPAF North America Manager: The IPAF North American council recognized that there are endless choices of industry events where industry experts share their knowledge on various topics and subjects. We wanted to create an industry event that offered the attendees an opportunity to be an active participant and allowed their unique experience and knowledge to be shared.
Rental: What was the ultimate goal for the event?
Groat: There were several goals: (1) To engage industry stakeholders from all entities and levels to share and hear potentially new and unique perspectives on key industry issues; (2) to create solutions to known industry challenges based on the collaboration from stakeholders with no preconceived idea on the outcome; (3) to offer proposed solutions in the fulfillment of IPAF’s mission ‘to promote the safe and effective use of powered access equipment” and (4) to create new relationships and networking that remain in place beyond the event.
Rental: Did the event meet IPAF’s expectations? Were there any surprises? Disappointments?
Groat: Initially we were disappointed at the number of registrations for the event (slightly over 50) but realized the numbers actually were beneficial to the process and getting all to share their ideas and get decisions made. Holding the event for the first time, we had concerns about whether we had enough time allotted to meet our goals, but were pleasantly surprised to find the time allocated placed sufficient pressure on participants to maintain group focus and complete the task on schedule. While the development of the proposed solutions was the focus, they were created in small groups. When the groups presented their ideas, all were exposed to the thoughts and ideas of others, shared their feedback and broadened the sharing from small groups to all attendees. All received the benefits of being part of each working group. The only ongoing disappointment is the difficulty in reaching more stakeholders to get them involved, which remains a work in progress.
Rental: Many thought-provoking ideas were presented. Which was the winning solution and why?
Groat: Attendees were assigned to one of 10 groups, each group collaborating to create a potential solution for a known industry issue. Each group presented an overview of their topic, identified an issue they needed to create a solution for and presented their group’s proposed solution. We decided in advance that all would vote on the solution they believed would be most worthy of industry investment to implement. We didn’t have a landslide vote for any one idea and concluded all were winners. Nonetheless, we did have two leading ideas from the votes – the first addressing “Near Misses” and the second “Recognizing a Safe Workplace." The reason why each was recognized was due to the ability of those groups to effectively communicate their message about the need for and feasibility of their proposed solution to be brought to market. In summary of the"Near Miss” solution, the key message was "a near miss not reported can result in the next accident taking place." That group's proposal was to support rather than punish those who report a near miss and make it convenient and culturally expected “to protect the next shift and report your story." This proposal addresses culture, industry awareness of issues needing attention, and long-term improvement in safe use.
Rental: What other themes surfaced from discussions at the workshop?
Groat: We addressed 10 industry issues and all presented ideas worthy of consideration or further development. All ideas will be brought forward in some manner.
Rental: What will IPAF do with the ideas discussed and presented?
Groat: The IPAF INNOVATE event was the first action toward making the ideas discussed a reality. Information is a responsibility – you can’t unknow information shared. Every attendee was part of the industry and can carry the ideas forward in their business and other means in the industry – such as industry standards. One of the ideas regarding retraining was carried forward the week after INNOVATE in a proposal to change language in ANSI A92 industry standards.
IPAF will share the ideas from the INNOVATE event in a summary white paper work done by all 10 work groups. IPAF will itself look into all proposed solutions and suggest ongoing action for 2019.
Rental: When and where will the next INNOVATE be?
Groat: INNOVATE 2019 is currently under construction, with a few tweaks learned from 2018. The event will take place July 16-17 at the Sheraton Chicago O’Hare Airport Hotel in Rosemont, IL,. Stay tuned for more details.
