Trent Osborne and Doug Rawlings from United Forklift & Access Solutions, a joint winner in the Rental Company of the Year category

Achievers in the Australian equipment hire industry have been acknowledged in the Hire Industry Excellence Awards 2018.

Staged during the recent Hire and Rental Industry Association's 50th Convention in Brisbane, the awards "bring attention to the outstanding and high achieving members of the industry", according to organisers.

This year, there were two joint winners in the Rental Company of the Year category - United Forklift & Access Solutions and Fork Force.

"This award is a credit to the hard work, dedication and commitment that everyone in the United Team shows on a daily basis. It is a strong testament also to our suppliers and customers, with whom we share time and energy to form truly productive partnerships based on shared industry knowledge and understanding of customer needs and methods, so tasks can be swiftly and safely accomplished," says United's Trent Osborne, general manager of marketing, sales and distribution.

Complete Hire Equipment was named Rental Company of the Year in the under $5 million category.

Hiretech was honoured in the Supplier of the Year category, while JLG Industries (Australia) picked up the gong as Supplier of the Year in the Access Division.

Best New Product (General Division) went to JCB Construction Equipment Australia for the JCB Hydradig 110W, while Haulotte won Best New Access Product with the HA26 RTJ PRO articulating boom.

Haulotte is represented by United, and, according to Osborne, it is "at the forefront of developing world-class equipment that not only focuses on productivity and performance, but also on enhancing operator safety".