The Aerial Work Platform Fatalities Report highlights the critical safety concerns and risks associated with the use of aerial work platforms (AWPs), including scissor lifts, boom lifts, and other elevated platforms. According to recent data, fatalities from AWP-related incidents have become a significant issue across various industries such as construction, maintenance, and warehousing. The report identifies several key causes of these fatalities, including falls from height, electrocutions, tip-overs, and entrapment.

One of the most common causes of fatal incidents is inadequate fall protection or improper use of safety harnesses. Workers who fail to properly secure themselves are at greater risk of falling from significant heights, often resulting in severe injury or death. Additionally, lack of operator training contributes to improper handling of the equipment, increasing the likelihood of tip-overs or collisions with obstacles like power lines.

Through the International Powered Access Federation's (IPAF) voluntary initiative, more accidents were consistently reported in 2013, which led to an unexpectedly high number of aerial work platform (AWP) deaths. Preliminary findings from IPAF's accident database show that 53 AWP-related deaths were reported globally in 2013.

　　The main causes of these fatalities and numbers for each were:

　　· overturn (16 deaths total)

　　· fall from height (13)

　　· entrapment (10)

　　· electrocution (7)

　　· impact with AWP (4)

　　· falling object (2)

　　· unknown (1)

　　Nearly 50% of the deaths (49%) had something to do with mobile devices. Of the deaths, 11 (21%) included static booms and 14 (26%) involved movable verticals (1b). Two (4% of the incidents) included a machine whose kind was unknown.

Thirty (or 57% of the deaths) happened in the United States. Germany, Spain, and the UK recorded three deaths each, Belgium, Canada, France, and the Netherlands reported two, while Armenia, Australia, Ireland, Malaysia, Norway, and the Middle East reported one.

Since its start in January 2012, IPAF's accident reporting project has closed a gap in the data about the number and primary causes of fatal accidents, as well as the lack of a centralized process for reporting and evaluating significant incidents involving AWPs. Thirty-two AWP fatalities were reported globally in the project's first year.

In its second year, IPAF technical officer Chris Wraith emphasized that the accident project is still in its early stages and advised against drawing direct analogies. "Any meaningful year-over-year comparison on the frequency of accidents will not be possible until at least 2016–2017," he stated. "The presented comparative figures are purely informative and do not indicate a rise in the number of fatalities related to AWP from 2012 to 2013."