Know the Risks of Aerial Lifts

To some extent, an aerial lift offers the stability of scaffolding with the mobility of a ladder. OSHA defines “aerial lift” as “any vehicle-mounted device used to elevate personnel.” OSHA says aerial lifts include:

• Extendable boom platforms,

• Aerial ladders,

• Articulating (jointed) boom platforms,

• Vertical towers, and

• Any combination of the above.

OSHA and ANSI provide several standards for using these lifts (see Applicable ANSI and OSHA Standards).

The familiar scissor lift is one type of aerial. Compared to scaffolding, scissor lifts and ladders provide more flexibility of use. Compared to ladders, scissor lifts (they have platforms with railings) and scaffolding (they typically have larger platforms with railings) provide more fall prevention. Scaffolding provides fall prevention once you are at elevation, while a scissor lifts provides it when you close the gate behind you.

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Other types of aerial lifts might have a bucket instead of a platform, but they all provide that additional fall protection. Nevertheless, many people die each year from aerial lift-related incidents. One in four of those fatalities is an electrician.

The four main fatality causes are:

• Falls. (Example: User fell from seated position on railing.)

• Collapses. (Example: User failed to perform pre-use checks of the hydraulics and/or electrical systems.)

• Tip-overs. (Example: User A incorrectly set the outriggers before raising the platform, then User B stood in the fall zone.)

• Electrocutions. (Example: User tried to rewire a lighting ballast with the branch circuit energized.)

Notice these examples are unsafe acts.

You don’t have to be in the lift to be killed by a collapse or tip-over. Stay out of the “fall over zone” on each side of a lift. Stay out from in front of a lift when it’s moving (the driver probably can’t see you). Even if getting hit by an aerial lift doesn’t kill you, having your foot run over by it can leave a gruesome permanent injury.

Inspection

Anything can happen between the scheduled inspections of your company’s lift safety program. So always inspect a lift before using it:

• Look for obvious damage, such as cracks or fluid leaks.

• Test the controls to ensure normal operation.

• Check the tires, battery, and fluid levels.

• Test the backup alarm and any horn or lights.

• Ensure the guardrails are mechanically secure.

You also need to inspect the work area. Look for, and resolve, these problems before proceeding:

• Holes, slopes, steps, bumps.

• Boxes, debris, or equipment in the way.

• Energized equipment in the tip-over zone or drop zone.

• People in the tip over zone or drop zone.

• Poor lighting.

And, of course, overhead lines. Where these are present:

• Determine the overhead clearance, accounting for unevenness in the grade.

• Ground the lift.

• If the lift has a boom bucket, ensure it’s an insulated one.

• Where possible, position the lift to one side of two overhead lines rather than between them.

De-energization may be necessary; perform an assessment such as that in Informative Annex F of NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace. If the line must be de-energized, simply opening the relevant breaker is insufficient. The de-energization must be verified with equipment rated for the voltage, and the person doing the verification must be qualified to work at the voltage.

Once the de-energization is correctly verified, one more step must be performed, or that line could still kill you. Backfeed from an improperly connected generator (or other source), for example, could re-energize the line. So the line must be grounded, and there is not a “wing it” way that is reliable. Only a person qualified in grounding the types of lines that you have in your situation should ground any of your lines.

Setup

Once an aerial lift is at the work area, you need to be thinking of the same kinds of safety measures that apply when erecting scaffolding or placing a ladder. For example, you must cordon the work area (including fall and tip over zones) using cones, red tape, signs, or other approved means.

The lift requires additional safety measures that scaffolding and ladders do not, such as these:

• Set each outrigger on a level, solid surface; if outdoors, you may have to remove gravel. Use plywood or pads, as needed. Always set the brakes.

• If the surface is sloped, you may be able to use wheel chocks to prevent rolling. But wheel chocks can do only so much; don’t push your luck on a slope.

Operation

Many of the injuries and fatalities with aerial lifts occur due to incorrect operation, even when all other safety requirements are met. Your first line of defense is don’t operate a lift unless you are qualified on it.

Follow these tips:

• Have at least one other person as a safety watcher / signal person.

• Observe the clearances around and above the lift before driving it or extending the platform.

• Drive the lift only when the platform (or boom) is completely lowered and there are no passengers, unless the lift is designed for being driven with a raised platform (or boom).

• Observe the vertical and horizontal reach limits. Don’t try to extend these in any way, or you risk falling from the lift or tipping it over.

• Observe the load limit. To do this correctly, you must account for everything that will be on that lift. This includes the workers and their personal tools, any power tools, portable lights, any old parts you will be taking down, and any new parts you will be taking up.

• Don’t try to make the lift do double duty as a crane, and don’t carry any loads that are larger than the lift in any dimension.

• Set the outrigging and/or blocking before raising the platform. Failure to do this magnifies the risk of a tip-over.

• To avoid tip overs with a boom lift on an incline, operate the bucket only if your outrigging is approved for such use.

• Raise the lift only if you can see the area above it has no obstructions. People have sustained neck injuries by lifting themselves into the ceiling or an overhead pipe.

• If operating outdoors, account for the wind conditions to reduce the risk of being blown over while the platform is raised.

• If at elevation and the platform begins to sway, lower the platform rather than risk a tip-over.

• If it’s a boom lift, look along the intended path of the bucket before moving the bucket.

Aerial lifts often have two sets of controls, a feature that (among other things) facilitates rescuing an incapacitated solo occupant who is at elevation. Generally, only the person(s) on the platform should operate the lift (using the upper set of controls) unless there’s an emergency.

There may be non-emergency situations in which operating the lower controls is helpful. But don’t “try to be helpful” by operating the lower controls without express permission from the person(s) in the lift; always ask first.

PPE

Wear whatever personal protective equipment (PPE) is needed for the job, as if there is no lift. For example, the lift won’t provide eye protection or protect you from electrocution (remember that list of the four main fatality causes).

Once you’ve determined which non-lift PPE you need, then determine:

• Which kind of fall protection you need (e.g., harness and lanyard).

• What PPE you need for overhead line work, if you’re working on or near overhead lines.

Working From the Lift

Following these simple rules while on the lift will reduce your chances of falling to almost nil:

• Before going up, ensure the access gate is closed.

• Do not tie off to anything outside the lift. If in a bucket, tie off to the boom or the bucket.

• Never use the guardrails as steps or seats, and don’t lean over them. If you can’t reach the work area with your feet on the floor of the lift and your body inside the rails, re-position the lift.

• Don’t use a ladder on a lift.

• Don’t use boards to extend the working platform; this changes the geometry of things in a dangerous way.

Keep in mind fatalities are preventable. Attention to basic safety practices will make you a safe aerial lift user instead of a potential accident victim.

Lamendola is an electrical consultant located in Merriam, Kan. He can be reached at [email protected]