The International Powered Access Federation has published The
Statement of Best Practices for Workplace Risk Assessment and Aerial Work
Platform Equipment Selection. It is an industry initiative to develop an
educational document regarding workplace risk assessment and selecting the most
appropriate aerial work platform (AWP) equipment for the job at hand. It was
developed for use in the US and is based on ANSI standards.
The guide offers some great insight and
directions to ensure your people are safe on your lift or when you are using a
aerial platform to perform a job or job-related function.
This post will focus on Workplace Analysis when selecting the
most appropriate aerial lift equipment to use on your respective job-site.
When selecting the most appropriate AWP equipment, the Statement says that a
workplace analysis must be conducted to determine how the work is going to be
safely accomplished. The workplace analysis should begin by addressing what is
the required elevation needed to reach? Questions to ask regarding elevation include:
- How high does the worker need to reach?
- What is the task that needs to be performed?
- How close does the worker need to be to the work being performed?
The height required will help in selecting the specific size
range of AWP equipment. According to the Statement, be aware that the height of AWP equipment can be
expressed in two common ways — platform height and working height.
- Platform height is the vertical distance from the surface upon which the AWP equipment is being supported to the floor of the platform.
- Working height is the reach of a worker (generally 6 feet) added to the platform height.
Next-what is the required horizontal outreach?
Questions to ask regarding horizontal outreach include:
- How close can the worker get to the work that needs to be performed?
- What is the height of the object that needs to be reached over to access the work?
- What horizontal outreach and height is required to safely perform the work?
- Are there any obstacles on the ground that will determine where to position the AWP equipment?
Don't forget to take a hard look at the required capacity of
the lift, suitable support and driving conditions, hazardous atmosphere
conditions, access to the work area and work located inside.
These Best Practices are part of The Statement that was
launched in February 2013 by the American Rental Association (ARA), the
Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), the International Powered Access
Federation (IPAF) and the Scaffold & Access Industry Association (SAIA).
If you have any aerial lift needs and would like to discuss potential solutions, please drop GET, LLC a line or give us a call.