The ARA of Massachusetts helped members kick off the spring rental season on an informed footing by offering a series of online seminars tailored to address some of the most critical issues of the moment. Each session in the series was presented on multiple dates in March to ensure anyone interested in participating had the opportunity to fit it into their schedule.
First up in the series was “ANSI Standards for MEWPs,” presented by TrainMOR corporate safety trainers Russ Niedzwiecki and Scott Ahner. This session covered the essentials surrounding the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) standards regarding mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) — what they are, why they are important and where rental operators’ responsibilities fall. “We wanted to make sure everyone was educated on these and able to explain to their customers what they need to do and what they don’t need to do,” says Steve Reitter, manager, rental and service divisions, Robinsons Hardware & Rental, Hudson, Mass., and an ARA of Massachusetts board member.
Then, “Cybersecurity Training” was offered. Presented by Myk Dinis of Bryley Systems, this session explained the best practices in managing and mitigating cyberthreats in today’s digital world. Detailed analyses also were offered on the potential costs associated with breaches and exactly who the “bad guys” are and how they can infiltrate a business’s network. To illustrate the relevance of this issue to all organizations, Reitter offered a recent example from the state of Massachusetts, saying, “They can’t inspect vehicles right now because their supplier for inspections got hacked. They have not been able to do car inspections for the whole month. So it’s an important issue for all of us.”
The final installment in the spring training series, “Do you rent hoisting equipment in Massachusetts?”, broke down recent updates to Massachusetts’ hoisting regulations. As the existing program has been enhanced and rental operators in the state must comply with the requirements, representatives of AtLeisure Contractor Licensing — ARA of Massachusetts’ hoisting training program partner — were on hand to guide attendees through the nuts-and-bolts of the current guidelines. “Hoisting licensing is a hot topic in Massachusetts. We need to make sure we keep our members at the forefront of what’s going on with that,” Reitter says.
“Our goal with this series was to take care of some important issues that we normally would cover in person. Obviously, meeting in person was not a viable option right now, but we didn’t want to sit and let these issues be ignored,” Reitter says.