Retail fit-out programmes are becoming faster, tighter and more complex but new insight from a live construction site suggests a critical safety blind spot remains largely unaddressed: MEWP rescue plans that fail under real site conditions.
A live mobile elevated work platform (MEWP) awareness and rescue session delivered by Horizon Platforms on an active store fit-out project is reported to have revealed widespread gaps in rescue preparedness, machine familiarity and supervisory confidence among retail construction teams.
The session was commissioned by Sigma M&E and for senior members of a national retail chain's continuous improvement group. Attendees included site managers, project managers, health & safety leads and senior contractors working across store fit-out projects nationwide.
While experience levels varied, a consistent issue emerged: many of those responsible for planning, approving and supervising MEWP activity were not regular operators themselves, and rescue arrangements were rarely rehearsed on the machines actually in use. The session combined guidance on MEWP selection and management with a live, on-site rescue exercise using operational equipment. Participants were required to work through a realistic rescue scenario under site conditions, including congestion, multiple trades operating simultaneously and live programme pressures.
One of the most significant findings was that while rescue plans were usually in place, they were often lengthy, difficult to access and impractical during an emergency. In several cases, nominated ground rescue personnel had limited familiarity with the specific control layouts of different MEWPs used on site. Discussions also highlighted a persistent issue on fast-moving retail programmes: although MEWPs may appear similar, control logic and rescue systems vary significantly between manufacturers. During the session, some participants were surprised to learn that identical control inputs can produce opposite movements on different machines, a potentially critical factor during an emergency.
Matt Fray, head of retail sales at Horizon Platforms, said: 鈥淲hat we consistently see on retail projects is that rescue planning exists on paper, but the people expected to carry it out often haven鈥檛 had the opportunity to practise it on the machines they鈥檙e actually using. When you introduce real equipment and real site pressures, the gaps in familiarity and confidence become very clear.鈥�
To support the practical exercise, Horizon Platforms introduced a simplified MEWP rescue process flow chart, designed to guide decision-making during an emergency without relying on written procedures buried within method statements. Feedback from participants indicated this approach was more effective under simulated emergency conditions.
The session concluded that effective risk reduction on retail fit-outs relies not only on operator training but on competent supervision, appropriate machine selection, regular familiarisation and realistic rescue rehearsal, particularly for those expected to operate ground and emergency controls.
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