Aerial Manlift Hazards
Aerial man lifts are personnel lifts like scissor lifts, boom lifts, and articulated booms lifts which use an articulated boom or a series of folding, linked supports. These machines allows employees to get up high into previously inaccessible areas. In certain ways, these machinery have made construction much safer and easier, although, the general safety that comes with the unparalleled mobility of aerial manlifts has applied a new list of dangers that could accidentally result in severe injury or even death to unaware drivers.
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 a worker on the platform acts wrongly and partakes in an activity like climbing the guard rails to gain additional height. Additionally, 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.
A lot of employees also fall because the base of their machinery is accidentally struck by some other heavy thing. In this situation, the force of the blow below becomes amplified by the lift's length, hence causing the worker to be suddenly catapulted off of the platform. Clearly this hazardous action has terrible results.
Tip-Overs
Boom lifts are susceptible to tipping over. Tip overs are more common in articulated boom lifts, but could occur in any kind of lift. As boom lifts could move both horizontally and vertically, they are capable of changing the overall center of gravity of the machine. Hence, if the lift is parked on a slope of some sort or over loaded, extending the boom completely when it is in the wrong position could cause the machinery to tip over.