Access Platform
Regulatory scope and compliance for working at height
Hugo Lift
Client: When updated Health & Safety regulations made ladders unsuitable for many workplaces, a clear gap emerged: organisations still needed a safe, compact, single-user way to work at height. With sector insight but no product development capability, the client turned to Pd-m to help create an access platform that could be manoeuvred easily across shop floors and warehouses while offering far greater reach than a step solution.
Approach: We began with immersive user and environment research to understand behaviours, constraints and ergonomic needs. This informed the product architecture, regulatory pathway and a series of concept directions that balanced practicality, safety and manufacturability.
Challenges: Achieving significant height within a compact, one-person system posed mechanical and structural challenges. Meeting EN 282 added stringent requirements for stability, load capacity and safety systems. Iterative modelling, prototyping and testing enabled us to refine mechanisms, validate performance and establish patentable innovations.
Deliverables: We delivered concept development, industrial design, engineering, DFM, manufacturing guidance and full compliance management, resulting in a production-ready, certifiable platform.
Impact: Launched at the Health & Safety Event at the NEC, the platform gained rapid traction and is now used across major industrial, retail and logistics sites—helping organisations work safely at height while reducing reliance on ladder-based systems.
“We employed Pd-m to design and develop a new flagship product. They adopted a structured and well-organised approach from the initial fact-find through to proof-of-concepts, meeting and selecting potential suppliers, testing and final approval.
Throughout, they demonstrated creative thinking and innovative problem solving, with an eye to cost at all times. I have no hesitation in recommending them and am in no doubt that we will employ their services again.”