What if the information that could prevent the next accident is already out there, but sitting with another company?
That question was at the heart of the IPAF Summit & International Awards for Powered Access (IAPAs) in Istanbul, where sharing knowledge and ideas was the central theme.
For Trackunit, three moments showed what that looks like in practice. An award-winning partnership with Sunbelt Rentals UK & Ireland demonstrated the value of shared fleet data. A workshop with Laing O’Rourke explored how connected equipment data can improve safety on site.
And in my keynote, I challenged the industry to go further. If we can share data to run equipment more efficiently, why can’t we share what we learn from near misses to help prevent the next accident?
Trackunit and Sunbelt Rentals UK & Ireland were named joint winners of IPAF’s Digital Development Award for their work using shared equipment data to improve how aerial platforms are managed, maintained, and serviced.
Built on Trackunit IrisX, the Sunbelt portal connects more than 20,000 assets and gives each rental customer their own portal, with detailed insights into the equipment they rent, including its usage, performance, and rental history.
With both sides working from the same information, rental companies and contractors can identify faults sooner, make better decisions, and improve safety on site. The portal also lays the groundwork for digital access management and mandatory inspections, helping contractors better manage equipment safety before work begins.
Steve O’Brien, Compliance Team Leader at Laing O’Rourke, joined Trackunit’s Georgia Vaidarlis Raffaut to lead an interactive workshop exploring a simple question: Can sharing data make powered access safer and more efficient?
The discussion explored what happens when contractors, rental companies, and OEMs share their different views of the same machine. It also highlighted how connected access and operator competence are moving from optional innovations to customer requirements.
Major clients, particularly on large data center and technology projects, are increasingly setting these expectations. That pressure is spreading across contractors, rental companies, and subcontractors.
Laing O’Rourke is already putting Trackunit IrisX to work on connected data from across approximately 1,200 machines, showing what’s possible when safety information becomes part of everyday operations.
In my keynote, “Sharing for safer operations,” I made a simple case: We need to share more information about near misses, without compromising privacy or commercially sensitive data.
That doesn’t mean sharing everything. It means agreeing on a common way to report near misses, including the type of machine, how it was being used, and how serious the incident could have been.
When companies share this information, we can start to identify safety patterns that no single company would see on its own.
Aviation has already shown us how this can work. EU regulations protect the confidentiality of people reporting safety incidents and encourage a culture of learning rather than blame. There’s no reason powered access can’t take a similar approach.
What makes it work:
The next big step in powered access safety could come from sharing what we know beyond our own organizations. No single company has the full picture.
Sunbelt and Laing O’Rourke show what’s already possible when companies share equipment data with their partners. Sharing protected near-miss data could take that a step further, helping the entire industry identify risks and prevent accidents.
The more we share what we learn, the better we can move from proving safety after the fact to preventing incidents before they happen.
To keep the conversation going, connect with me on LinkedIn. Sign up below for the Trackunit newsletter to follow our work to eliminate downtime.
Domokos Spéder is VP, Platform Revenue & Partnerships at Trackunit, where he has spent nearly a decade advising construction OEMs, rental companies, and contractors on turning connected-equipment data into commercial results.
