Safety Tip of the Week – Aerial Platform Safety

Jobsites are not always at ground level. Sometimes workers need to use aerial platforms, aerial ladders, articulating boom platforms, vertical towers, or ladder trucks to reach their work.

All work has hazards and risks involved in it, but when you work at an elevated height, extra training and attention to safety procedures is a necessity.

Safe work practices: 

• Make sure that workers who operate aerial lifts are properly trained in the safe use of the equipment.

• Maintain and operate elevating work platforms according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

• Never override hydraulic, mechanical, or electrical safety devices.

• Never move the equipment with workers in an elevated platform unless permitted by the manufacturer.

• Do not allow workers to position themselves between overhead hazards, such as joists and beams, and the rails of the basket. Movement of the lift could crush the worker(s).

• Maintain a minimum clearance of at least 10 feet, or 3 meters, away from the nearest energized overhead lines.

• Always treat power lines, wires and other conductors as energized, even if they are down or appear to be insulated.

• Use a body harness or restraining belt with a lanyard attached to the boom or basket to prevent the worker(s) from being ejected or pulled from the basket.

• Set the brakes and use wheel chocks when on an incline.

• Use outriggers, if provided.

• Do not exceed the load limits of the equipment. Allow for the combined weight of the worker, tools, and materials.

  Vertical Lift Operators…No Need For Speed…Safety First!!