Aerial Manlift Dangers
Aerial manlifts are machines which use either a series of folding, linked supports, such as a boom lift or an articulated boom lift or a scissor lift. These industrial types of equipment allow employees to access hard-to-reach areas. In some ways, these machines have made construction much safer and easier, however, the overall safety which comes with the unparalleled mobility of aerial manlifts has implemented a new list of dangers that could accidentally lead to severe injury or even death to unaware operators.
Falls
Falls from a man lift often occurs when employees fail to or are unable to wear a safety harness or cannot secure the harness to the lift. Falls can happen when somebody on the platform acts wrongly and takes part in an activity like for instance climbing the guard rails in order to gain added height. In addition, mishaps can be caused if the ground-based operator causes the machine to move in an unexpected motion before the worker being properly secured.
A lot of employees also fall because the base of their machinery is inadvertently struck by some other heavy thing. In this situation, the force of the blow below becomes amplified by the length of the lift, hence causing the worker to be suddenly catapulted off of the platform. Obviously this dangerous action has terrible outcome.
Tip-Overs
Unfortunately, boom lifts are easily susceptible to tipping over. Tip-overs could occur in any type of lift, but are more frequent in articulated boom lifts. Because boom lifts can move both vertically and horizontally, they are capable of changing the overall center of gravity of the equipment. Therefore, if the lift is over loaded or parked on an incline of some type, extending the boom completely when it is in the wrong position could result in a tip-over situation.