30 YEARS OF
ACCESS INTERNATIONAL
25
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2013
access
INTERNATIONAL
A way of life
James King
, founder and
managing director of KHL Group,
oversaw the acquisition of
Access
Now!
and its transformation
into
Access International
. He
provides his perspective on
those formative years.
introducing new technology, work practices
and business management into markets which
previously had very little access equipment
usage.
The partnership with IPAF, KHL and
Dutch company IPI, led to the launch of the
APEX exhibition in 1996, which is now the
world’s largest gathering of access equipment
owners, users and manufacturers. Once again
the partnership with IPAF worked perfectly to
invite visitors to the show where many became
new members of the federation. APEX even
organised the industry now-famous party at
the Chateau Neercanne in Maastaricht – the
spiritual home of the industry’s greatest ever
hangover!
This was a time described by many
as Klondike Fever in the emerging and
burgeoning access industry. Manufacturers
were straining to keep up with orders
and become the world No. 1 and owners,
dominated by rental companies, were investing
heavily to keep up with customers’ demands.
These were heady times for the industry with
rapid consolidation of manufacturers and
rental companies just around the corner. It was
either eat or be eaten – a white knuckle ride
which was great fun to be part of.
Dynamic growth
IPAF has done – and continues to do – a
tremendous job of improving work practices
across the world. As its official magazine,
Access International
has enjoyed working as a
part of the industry - taking this message to
all four corners of the world.
With China, India, Latin America, Asia
Pacific all looking to adopt safety legislation
for working at height; and mature markets
expanding their operator certification and
training schemes, the access industry has
many years of exciting and dynamic growth
ahead.
KHL and
Access International
look forward
to playing its part in this growth by being
the trusted media partner, messenger and
information provider.
Here’s to the next 30 years!
AI
K
HL first started talking to the always-
splendid Paul Adorian in 1993
regarding the acquisition of IPAF’s
official magazine,
Access Now!
Paul is one of the access industry’s great
characters and a true pioneer in the safe use of
aerial work platforms. His tireless and often
thankless work to formalise and regulate a
new industry - through the formation of the
International Powered Access Federation -
drove him into many unchartered waters, one
of those being magazine publishing.
As the industry grew, Paul realised that the
IPAF magazine needed to be outsourced to
enable him and his dedicated team to focus
on the federation; and to raise the image and
awareness of safe working at height, right
across the world.
What struck me during initial meetings
with Paul was the passion he had to
professionalise and legitimise the access
industry and make sure that the “I” in IPAF
truly stood for “International” rather than the
UK bias that had naturally emerged. KHL’s
promise to IPAF during negotiations was to
take its message to a global market and raise
the access industry’s profile across the world.
Driving forces
Access International’s
launch in 1993 was
an tremendously exciting time for KHL.
We knew that legislation in Europe and
North America was driving a massive new
rental market for aerial work platform fleets;
and that productivity gains and life-saving
technology was also starting to drive the
market in emerging economies.
The co-Editors for the launch of
Access
International
, by the way, were Paul Marsden
(now Editorial Director of KHL) and Tim
Whiteman (now IPAF’s CEO). Once it’s in
your blood…
KHL worked extremely closely with
IPAF during the formative years of
Access
International
.The magazine’s editorial became
genuinely international and was designed to
KHL’s usual high standards; its circulation
also expanded to cover over 150 countries,
First issue of
Access International
AI
rounds up some of the key
moments since
Access Now!
was launched in 1983
1983
■
IPAF founded. Creates
Access Now!
magazine.
1985
■
Pinguely-Haulotte enters access industry.
First telescopic boom in 1986.
■
Niftylift established in the UK by Roger
Bowden.
1990
■
Ashtead Group buys Sunbelt Rentals.
1992
■
Lavendon Group formed by David Price.
1993
■
KHL Group acquires
Access Now!
from IPAF
and creates
Access International
, the first
international magazine for the aerial platform
industry.
1995
■
Manitou enters
aerial platform
business.
■
Oil & Steel founded
in Italy.
AI
May-June 1995:
A Simon Boxer 100
working at the new
Kansai International
Airport in Japan.
