Aerial Manlift Hazards
Aerial manlifts are machinery which use either a series of folding, linked supports, like a scissor lift or a boom lift or an articulated boom lift. These industrial pieces of machinery enable employees to access hard-to-reach places. In certain ways, these kinds of machines have made construction much easier and safer, however, the general safety which comes with the unparalleled mobility of aerial manlifts has applied a new list of dangers which can inadvertently lead to serious injury or even death to unaware operators.
Falls
Normally, falls could take place when employees are unable to wear a safety harness or are unable to correctly secure the lift platform. Falls could take place when someone on the platform acts unsuitably and participates in an activity like climbing the guard rails to gain added height. In addition, mishaps could be caused if the operator on the ground causes the equipment to move in an unexpected motion before the employee being correctly secured.
A lot of employees also fall because the base of their machine is accidentally struck by some other heavy thing. During this situation, the force of the blow below becomes amplified by the length of the lift, hence causing the employee to be abruptly catapulted off of the platform. Clearly this hazardous action has terrible outcome.
Tip-Overs
Unfortunately, boom lifts are easily susceptible to tipping over. Tip-overs can occur in any type of lift, but are more common in articulated boom lifts. As boom lifts are able to move both vertically and horizontally, they are capable of changing the machinery's overall center of gravity. Therefore, if the lift is parked on a slope of some kind or over loaded, extending the boom to full length when it is in the wrong position could cause the machine to tip over.