Aerial Lifts

Aerial jacks are able to accommodate various duties involving high and tricky reaching spaces. Usually utilized to perform routine maintenance in structures with lofty ceilings, trim tree branches, raise heavy shelving units or mend phone lines. A ladder could also be utilized for some of the aforementioned jobs, although aerial hoists provide more safety and stability when correctly used.

There are several models of aerial lifts available on the market depending on what the task needed involves. Painters often use scissor aerial jacks for instance, which are categorized as mobile scaffolding, handy in painting trim and reaching the 2nd story and higher on buildings. The scissor aerial hoists use criss-cross braces to stretch and lengthen upwards. There is a platform attached to the top of the braces that rises simultaneously as the criss-cross braces raise.

Cherry pickers and bucket lift trucks are a different type of the aerial hoist. Usually, they possess a bucket at the end of an elongated arm and as the arm unfolds, the attached bucket platform rises. Platform lifts utilize a pronged arm that rises upwards as the lever is moved. Boom lifts have a hydraulic arm which extends outward and lifts the platform. All of these aerial hoists call for special training to operate.

Training courses offered through Occupational Safety & Health Association, acknowledged also as OSHA, cover safety steps, machine operation, upkeep and inspection and device load capacities. Successful completion of these training programs earns a special certified license. Only properly licensed people who have OSHA operating licenses should run aerial hoists. The Occupational Safety & Health Organization has developed rules to uphold safety and prevent injury while using aerial lifts. Common sense rules such as not using this apparatus to give rides and ensuring all tires on aerial lifts are braced in order to hinder machine tipping are referred to within the rules.

Unfortunately, data reveal that greater than 20 aerial hoist operators die each year while operating and almost ten percent of those are commercial painters. The bulk of these incidents were brought on by improper tie bracing, hence many of these might have been prevented. Operators should make certain that all wheels are locked and braces as a critical security precaution to prevent the instrument from toppling over.

Additional guidelines involve marking the encircling area of the device in an obvious manner to protect passers-by and to guarantee they do not come too close to the operating machine. It is imperative to ensure that there are also 10 feet of clearance between any utility lines and the aerial lift. Operators of this equipment are also highly recommended to always have on the appropriate safety harness when up in the air.

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