Training them, making sure they are competent and planning how to get them down is your duty as the employer. PHW assesses the operator on your own boom lift, on your own site.
Boom lifts, also called cherry pickers (mobile elevating work platforms), up to 13.5m working height. Give us the make and model when you ask for a quote.
The operator is assessed on your own boom, on your own site. The practical covers the pre-use inspection with a check of the ground and of overhead hazards, setting up with the outriggers deployed and the machine levelled, an exclusion zone kept clear under the basket, driving the machine and positioning the basket, working from the basket in a work restraint harness anchored to it, ground rescue and emergency lowering, then shutdown and securing. A theory test goes with it.
No UK government body issues a licence to operate a boom lift, and no statute requires one.
In Great Britain the duty to train sits with the employer, under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 section 2(2)(c) and PUWER 1998 regulation 9, which requires adequate training for everyone who uses work equipment.
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to every job done from the basket. Regulation 4 requires the work to be planned and supervised, including planning for emergencies and rescue, and to stop when the weather makes it unsafe. Regulation 5 requires everyone involved to be competent or, if being trained, supervised by someone who is. In practice that means someone on the ground who knows how to bring the basket down, agreed before anyone goes up.
Because the machine lifts people, LOLER 1998 regulation 9 requires thorough examination at least every 6 months, or in line with an examination scheme. If you hire the boom in, regulation 9(4) says it must come with evidence of its last thorough examination. Ask for it before anyone goes up.
The employer decides which operators are authorised to use each machine, and should record that decision in writing. The certificate, unit credit, records and site evidence statement are the evidence the employer relies on for that decision.
Up to four of your people assessed for competence in one day, on your own site and machines, with minimum downtime. Plus a written safe-system pack for each topic. Tell us the make and model of the boom and how many people need assessing, and we will come back with a quote and dates.
PHW has certificated thousands of candidates nationwide, for multinationals and small firms alike.
HSE prosecutions in this line of work.
£20,000 + £6,956 costs · 2025-12-03
A worker fell more than 30 feet attempting to abseil from a malfunctioning platform basket with no rescue plan in place.
Read the case →£51,000 + £28,467 costs · 2026-03-03
A cherry picker struck an 11,000-volt overhead powerline during biogas maintenance work, fatally electrocuting one worker and injuring a colleague.
Read the case →£157,500 + £27,669 costs · 2026-02-11
An industrial racking system collapsed during a load test and struck a mobile platform nearby, killing two workers.
Read the case →