Weekly Safety Meeting – Aerial Lift Fall Protection

Falls from high places can cause serious injury or death. Aerial lifts are most often used in general industry and construction when erection of scaffolding or staging is impractical. We use boom supported personnel platforms and bucket trucks, cherry pickers, for those situations. Worker injury or deaths can occur when the boom fails, there is a tip-over. Falls and even ejection can occur when this equipment is not properly operated.

To prevent these dangerous outcomes, employers must take measures to properly ensure a work environment that is safe by providing properly designed equipment; the equipment must be maintained adequately, the employer must provide proper supervision and training on fall protection and job task analysis. Finally, the employer must ensure prompt rescue is in place should a fall event occur.

Safety Work Practices

To protect workers from falls we should adopt safe work practices such as the following:

ALWAYS DO THESE THINGS:

• Always tie-off where possible, wear a body harness designed for your body weight with a lanyard as short as possible, attached to a recognized engineer-designed anchorage point providing an adequate attachment point;
• Always operate and maintain this aerial lift equipment according to manufacturer’s instructions;
• Always place stops to prevent the aerial lift from driving off when the lift is operating near open edges during its positioning and movement; and
• Always recognize the turning or swing radius of our aerial lift as it moves, providing safety cones or caution tape, to ensure the aerial lift is clear of contact with nearby structures as well as other traffic and workers. The problem is if a lift gets caught on an object or lines, it may cause an ejection when it comes loose.

NEVER DO THESE THINGS:

• Never attempt to move any aerial lift with workers already elevated in position.
• Never allow a worker to operate any aerial lift equipment without receiving the organizations approved training to safety operate this equipment.
• Never get between structures and the lift When we are operating our aerial lift in an elevated position. This location is dangerous and could crush a worker.

• Never lift, push, or move objects with our aerial lift; this action could cause collapse, tip-over, or ejection.
• Never exceed the load capacity with the combined weight of the worker, tools, and light materials. The extra weight may cause a collapse or a tip-over to occur.

While operating your aerial lift, it is important prevent tip-overs. Tip-overs can be prevented by setting the brakes, using wheel chocks, checking the tire pressure, extending outriggers, ensuring the lift is level (front/back/sides), never operating the lift in high wind conditions, or operating under power lines.

WITH AERIAL LIFTS…YOU HAVE TO STAY TIED IN!