PASMA Training UK 2026 — Mobile Access Tower Certification Explained

What Is PASMA?

PASMA stands for the Prefabricated Access Suppliers' and Manufacturers' Association. It is the lead trade body for the mobile access tower industry in the UK, and it sets the training standard that almost every principal contractor now accepts as proof of tower competence. When people talk about "getting PASMA trained" or "having a PASMA card", they mean completing one of PASMA's accredited courses through an approved training centre and receiving a photo card recording the categories they passed.

The important thing to understand is that PASMA training is not, in itself, a legal requirement written into any single piece of legislation. What the law requires is competence. PASMA training is the industry's standard way of demonstrating and recording that competence — which is why the card is so widely demanded even though no statute names it directly.

Who Needs PASMA Training?

PASMA training is aimed at anyone who comes into meaningful contact with a mobile access tower. In practice that covers a wide group of trades and roles:

• People who assemble or build towers — putting the frames, braces, platforms and guardrails together.
• People who dismantle towers — taking them down safely once the work is finished.
• People who alter or move towers — repositioning a tower across a site, extending it or changing its configuration.
• People who inspect towers — carrying out and recording pre-use and periodic checks.
• People who simply use a tower — working from the platform, even if someone else built it.

That last point catches a lot of people out. You can be the person who climbs up to do a job rather than the person who erected the tower, and you may still be expected to hold a card. Electricians, painters and decorators, ceiling and partition fitters, signage installers, mechanical and electrical contractors, facilities and maintenance staff, shopfitters and many general builders all routinely need tower training. If your work involves aluminium scaffold towers in any capacity, assume you need it.

The Main Course: Towers for Users

The flagship PASMA course is Towers for Users. It is the one most tradespeople take, and when a contractor asks for "a PASMA card" without specifying, this is almost always what they mean. The course is designed for anyone who assembles, dismantles, moves, inspects and uses mobile access towers.

Towers for Users is typically delivered as a one-day course combining classroom theory with hands-on practical assessment. You don't just sit and watch slides — you build a tower yourself under supervision. A typical day covers:

• The legal background and your duties when working at height.
• Hazards and risks specific to mobile access towers, including instability and falls.
• Selecting the right tower for the task and the ground conditions.
• Safe assembly methods, including guardrails and stabilisers.
• Inspecting a tower before use and recording the inspection.
• Moving, altering and dismantling a tower safely.
• A practical build and a theory test to confirm competence.

Pass both the theory and practical elements and you receive a PASMA photo card valid for five years. The card lists the category you passed. Before the five years are up you take a refresher or re-sit to keep the card current — standards and good practice evolve, and contractors will check the expiry date, so an out-of-date card is treated much the same as no card at all.

Other PASMA Course Variants

Towers for Users is the core course, but PASMA accredits a family of courses aimed at different equipment and different roles. You take the one that matches the work you actually do — holding the wrong category can be as much of a problem on site as holding none. The main variants you'll come across include:

• Low Level Access — focused on low-height access equipment such as podium steps and low platforms, for people whose work keeps them at modest heights rather than on full towers.
• Towers and Linkable — extends the standard tower training to cover linked and combined tower configurations used to create larger working platforms.
• Work at Height Essentials — a broader awareness-style course covering the principles of working at height, useful as a foundation or for those whose contact with towers is occasional.
• Specialist and role-based courses — additional categories exist for particular tower types, low-level systems and roles such as those who manage or inspect equipment.

If you're not sure which course you need, the simplest approach is to describe the actual equipment and tasks to an approved training centre and let them match you to the right category. The card records each category you hold, so it's possible to build up more than one over time as your work changes.

The Legal Context: Work at Height Regulations 2005

The legal framework that drives all of this is the Work at Height Regulations 2005. These regulations place duties on employers, the self-employed and anyone who controls work at height. A central requirement is that work at height is properly planned, supervised and carried out by people who are competent to do it — or, where they are still being trained, under the supervision of someone who is.

Competence is the operative word. The regulations do not say "you must hold a PASMA card". They say the people doing the work must be competent, and that mobile access towers must be assembled, used and dismantled safely. PASMA training is the industry's established method of delivering and evidencing that competence for towers — which is why the card has become the practical proof everyone asks for.

The regulations also feed into how towers should be put together. Two recognised safe methods of assembly are taught and referenced widely:

• 3T (Through The Trap) — the operator works from a position within the trap door of the platform, fitting and removing guardrails so they are never standing on an unguarded platform.
• Advance guardrail — guardrails are fitted from the level below before the operator steps up onto the platform, so there is always a guardrail in place when they reach the new level.

Both methods are designed to remove the moment of risk where someone would otherwise be on an unprotected platform during assembly. A good Towers for Users course will cover the principles behind these methods so you understand why towers are built the way they are, not just the sequence of steps.

Why Principal Contractors Insist on the PASMA Card

On a managed site, the principal contractor carries legal duties for the safety of everyone working there. They have to be able to demonstrate that the people using access equipment are competent. The cleanest way for them to do that is to ask for a recognised card and record the details — it gives them a consistent, checkable standard across every trade and subcontractor on site.

From the contractor's point of view, the PASMA card answers a simple question: can this person be trusted around a tower? Checking a card at induction is far quicker and more reliable than trying to assess each individual's tower knowledge on the spot. That is why "no card, no access to the tower" has become a normal site rule, and why turning up without a current card can mean being turned away or moved off tower work for the day.

For subcontractors and the self-employed, holding current PASMA cards for your team is increasingly a condition of even being invited to quote. It signals that you take safety seriously and removes a barrier before the job starts. Keeping a record of who holds which card and when each one expires is the kind of admin that quietly wins and keeps contracts.

PASMA vs IPAF — What's the Difference?

PASMA and IPAF are often mentioned in the same breath, and it's easy to assume they're interchangeable. They are not. They cover different equipment, and the card you need depends entirely on what you're working from.

PASMA covers mobile access towers — the aluminium scaffold towers you build by hand from frames, braces, platforms and guardrails. IPAF (the International Powered Access Federation) covers powered access equipment — mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) such as scissor lifts, boom lifts and cherry pickers. IPAF training leads to a PAL Card (Powered Access Licence). In short: towers are PASMA, powered platforms are IPAF.

The practical implication is that plenty of tradespeople end up holding both. If your work one week involves a scaffold tower and the next involves a scissor lift, you'll likely need a PASMA card for the first and an IPAF PAL Card for the second. Neither card covers the other type of equipment, so don't assume that being trained on one qualifies you for the other.

How Much Does PASMA Training Cost in 2026?

Course prices vary by training provider, region, whether you train in an open public course or have a centre come to you, and how many people you put through at once. As a rough guide for 2026, a one-day Towers for Users course typically costs somewhere in the region of £100 to £200 or more per person.

A few things move the price within and beyond that range:

• Open vs on-site courses — booking onto a public course at a training centre is usually the cheapest per head for one or two people. Having a trainer deliver on your own premises can work out better value once you have a group, since the cost is spread.
• Group bookings — many centres offer reduced per-person rates for several delegates trained together.
• Region — prices tend to run higher in and around major cities than in some other parts of the country.
• Course type — variants and combined or specialist categories can sit above the standard one-day rate.
• Refreshers — renewal or refresher training is a recurring cost to budget for every five years per cardholder.

Treat any single quoted figure as indicative only and get current prices from approved training centres in your area. Set against the cost of being turned away from a site, or the consequences of an unsafe tower, training is a modest and predictable outlay — and one most contractors simply expect you to have already covered.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is PASMA training a legal requirement?

Not by name. The legal requirement under the Work at Height Regulations 2005 is that people working at height are competent. PASMA training is the recognised industry way of achieving and proving that competence for mobile access towers, and the card is the proof contractors ask for — but it's the underlying competence that the law cares about.

How long is a PASMA card valid?

A PASMA card is typically valid for five years. Before it expires you take a refresher or re-sit to keep it current. Contractors check the expiry date, so an out-of-date card is generally treated as if you have no card.

Do I need PASMA if I only use a tower someone else built?

Often, yes. Towers for Users is designed for people who use towers as well as those who assemble them, and many contractors expect anyone working from a tower to hold a card regardless of who built it. Check the site rules, but assume you may need it.

Is the course classroom only or hands-on?

Towers for Users combines theory with a practical element. You build a tower yourself under supervision and complete both a practical assessment and a theory test, so it is very much hands-on rather than a lecture you sit through.

Does a PASMA card cover scissor lifts or cherry pickers?

No. Powered access equipment such as scissor lifts, boom lifts and cherry pickers is covered by IPAF, which issues the PAL Card. If your work involves both towers and powered platforms, you'll need both a PASMA card and an IPAF PAL Card.

How long does the training take?

The main Towers for Users course is usually a single day covering both theory and practical assessment. Some variants and refreshers can be shorter, so confirm the duration with your chosen training centre when you book.

The Bottom Line

PASMA training is the UK standard for mobile access tower safety. The law requires competence when working at height under the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and the PASMA card is the recognised proof that you have it. Most principal contractors will ask for it before you go near a tower, the main Towers for Users course is a practical one-day course leading to a five-year card, and it sits alongside IPAF — which covers powered access — rather than overlapping with it. For any trade that touches aluminium scaffold towers, a current PASMA card is no longer a nice-to-have; it's the price of entry.