At Altitop Belgium, training is at the core of safety challenges on jobsites, designed to provide long-term support to operators in the field. With over 140 training sessions in 2025, the company adopts a pragmatic and committed approach, perfectly resonating with the values upheld by Haulotte. Interview with Cédric Seys, Trainer and Prevention Advisor at Altitop Belgium.
Altitop Belgium, a leading player in rental... and training
Altitop Belgium is historically a specialist in Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP) rental. Building on this field expertise, the company has progressively structured a comprehensive training offer to meet regulatory requirements and the operational needs of its customers.
The activity truly took shape about six years ago.
As Cédric Seys, Trainer and Prevention Advisor at Altitop Belgium, explains: « I developed the MEWP training at Altitop, based on Belgian legislation. We also became an approved IPAF training center. »
This dual approach makes it possible to meet the needs of highly varied profiles: companies operating exclusively in Belgium, but also those whose teams work abroad. « A certificate issued by Altitop is recognized in Belgium, and sometimes in neighboring countries, but as soon as you work internationally, IPAF certification is globally recognized. »
Training courses are held both at Altitop depots (Waregem, Strépy, Flémalle, or Aubange) and directly at customer sites. « We offer both options, » he specifies. « If the customer has a room for the theoretical part and a space for the practical part, we can perfectly train on-site. »
A training activity built on field experience
Altitop’s training activity developed from a simple observation: being a rental company, technician, and trainer all at once provides a very concrete vision of field realities.
« We are a rental company, so we get to see situations that go wrong at customer sites, » explains Cédric. « We integrate these examples into our training sessions to prevent the same mistakes from happening again. »
The training team, initially composed of a single person, has gradually structured itself.
« I started alone six years ago, and today we are three people dedicated to training, » he points out.
The content is designed and updated internally, with rigorous quality monitoring. In 2025, this organization made it possible to deliver over 140 external training sessions, representing between 800 and 1,000 certificates issued. And for 2026, the company is aiming even higher.
Safety first: the mistakes training aims to correct
Despite the constant evolution of equipment and safety systems integrated by manufacturers, and Haulotte in particular, certain operating errors remain very frequent in the field.
The most striking one concerns wearing a harness. « Wearing a harness remains a huge problem, » notes Cédric. « Some wear it incorrectly, others forget to tie off… But wearing a harness without anchoring yourself to the anchor point is useless. »
Another recurring issue observed is intentionally overriding safety systems. According to him, « when the machine goes into a safe mode, for example due to excessive tilt, many people immediately know how to bypass the system. » He adds that « they don’t always know the purpose of these devices, but they already know very well how to circumvent them. »
Finally, errors related to assessing jobsite conditions and, more generally, ground conditions are still very present. « I have actually seen a machine sink half a meter into the mud, » he recalls. « When I myself sink twenty centimeters on foot, the machine should never have been there. »
Training sessions are therefore an opportunity to identify, explain, and correct these behaviors, which jeopardize operator safety on the jobsite. « Training is not there so that operators work faster after one day, but so that they work safely, » he insists.
What is the vision for the future of training?
For Altitop Belgium, training is inherently evolving. It must keep pace with industry shifts and innovations brought by manufacturers.
Among the major challenges identified is electrification.
« We are seeing more and more electric, hybrid, or bi-energy machines, including large working height equipment, » observes Cédric. « We must also support the shift in mindset and address the misconceptions that still persist regarding electric equipment. »
Thanks to its role as an IPAF center and its daily use of Haulotte machines, Altitop benefits from continuous monitoring of standards and best practices. « Our training courses never remain static, » states Cédric. « They are constantly evolving based on what is happening in the industry and in the field. »
Beyond machines, standards, and technologies, Altitop Belgium and Haulotte share a strong conviction: training remains the primary lever for preventing jobsite accidents. Their complementary approaches aim to reduce accidents and make safety a sustainable skill, rather than a constraint. Equipment is evolving, integrating ever more safety systems and innovations, but without operator understanding, mastery, and accountability, the risk remains.
As Cédric reminds us, « machines are increasingly safe, but if the operator ignores safety rules or tries to bypass them, no safety device will be able to prevent an accident. » This is exactly where training takes on its full meaning: passing on the right reflexes, explaining the reasons behind the rules, and concretely showing the consequences of bad practices.