Aerial Manlift Dangers
Aerial man lifts are personnel lifts such as scissor lifts, boom lifts, and articulated booms lifts that utilize an articulated boom or a series of linked, folding supports. These machinery allows workers to get up high into previously inaccessible places. In some ways, these kinds of machines have made construction much safer and easier, although, the general safety which comes with the unparalleled mobility of aerial manlifts has implemented a new list of dangers which can accidentally lead to serious injury or even death to unaware operators.
Falls
Normally, falls could occur when workers are unable to wear a safety harness or are unable to correctly secure the lift platform. Falls could happen when someone on the platform acts wrongly and takes part in an activity like climbing the guard rails in order to gain additional height. In addition, mishaps could be caused if the ground-based operator causes the equipment to move in an unexpected motion prior to the worker being correctly secured.
Sometimes employees could fall when the base of the lift is struck inadvertently by a heavy thing. During 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 catastrophic outcome.
Tip-Overs
Unfortunately, boom lifts are easily prone to tipping over. Tip-overs could happen in any type of lift, but are more frequent in articulated boom lifts. Since boom lifts could move both horizontally and vertically, they are capable of changing the overall center of gravity of the equipment. Hence, if the lift is parked on a slope of some type or over loaded, totally extending the boom when it is in the wrong position could lead to a tip-over situation.