Here’s a quick rundown on the topics we’ll cover this month:
- Aerial lift inspection requirements
- What’s Wrong With This? answer and new photo
- Operator documentation tips
- Ask Bob question on manually-propelled aerial lifts
- Some links to other interesting articles
- Details on a Minnesota OSHA fine totaling $28,500
- Upcoming trade shows
Required Aerial Lift Inspections
Often, when delivering aerial lift training programs, we get out to the equipment and find that its required inspections are not up to date. This is bad news. We can’t proceed with any aerial equipment without verification of current inspections. Does your company use boom or scissor lifts? Do you know when they were last inspected and how often they need to be inspected? Keep reading, we’ve got the answers…
Under the ANSI/SIA Standards A92.5 and A92.6 section 6.6(2) and the manufacturer’s requirements, equipment owners/users need to make sure that aerial lifts have had a frequent inspection at “3 months or 150 hours” (whichever comes first). This inspection must be performed by a person qualified as a mechanic on the specific type of aerial equipment or one having similar design characteristics, per ANSI/SIA A92.6 and A92.5 section 6.6.
Also, annual inspections need to be performed per ANSI/SIA A92.6 & A92.5 section 6.7; “The owner of an aerial platform shall ensure that an annual inspection is performed on the aerial platform no later than thirteen (13) months from the date of the prior annual inspection. The inspection shall be made by a person(s) qualified as a mechanic on the specific type of aerial platform or one having similar design characteristics. The inspection shall be in accordance with items specified by the manufacturer for an annual inspection. The owner shall not place the aerial platform into service until all malfunctions and problems have been corrected.”
For aerial lift users in Ontario, Canada, the above may not be applicable with respect to ANSI standards, however the applicable CSA Standards contain very similar requirements. Section 5.3.2 Periodic Inspection states “This inspection shall be performed after 200 h of use or after a period recommended by the manufacturer, whichever comes first.” Section 5.3.3 Annual Inspection states “This inspection shall be performed annually or after 700 h of use, whichever comes first.” The CSA standards go a step further by also requiring “structural” inspections of critical components to be carried out under the direction of a professional engineer 10 years after the machine’s date of manufacture and every 5 years thereafter.
Frequent and annual inspections need to be done within the time frames referenced in the ANSI and/or CSA standards but they may also have to be done more frequently if the unit is used in severe conditions that cause the parts to wear more quickly than they would under “normal” conditions. In addition, an inspection would also have to take place under the following circumstances:
- Electrical contact – such as with energized power lines.
- Shock load – sudden, intense loads on critical parts like those encountered when the machine tips over or parts of it impact or collide with fixed or solid objects, or absorb a fall arrest load.
- Damage or failure due to overloading and/or overstressing.
- Any situation where actual or even potential damage happens due to something that could possibly weaken any part of the machine or cause the unit to become less stable.
- A change of ownership happens, unless the previous owner can provide the complete service history of the machine including maintenance and service records.
Stay safe and in compliance by keeping your aerial equipment up-to-date on its inspections!
Rob Vetter
Director of Training
IVES Training Group
What’s Wrong With This?
Take a look at the photo below and see if you can spot what this operator is doing incorrectly. We’ll share our answer in May’s newsletter.
Answer to Last Month’s WWWT?
Last month we showed a photo of a person climbing up an elevated forklift mast and a second photo of him standing on the forks.
The regulations surrounding this may differ, depending on where you’re located, so check your local regulations for more details. First of all, manufacturer’s do not allow their machines to be used to elevate personnel without a proper platform and regulatory authorities reference manufacturer’s requirements. Secondly, many jurisdictions mandate compliance with ANSI B56.1 which (in section 4.17 Elevating Personnel) states:
4.17.1 Only operator-up high lift trucks have been designed to lift personnel. On these trucks the requirements of paragraph 4.17.2 shall be met for the protection of personnel. If a work platform is used on trucks designed and intended for handling materials, the requirements of paras. 4.17.2 and 4.17.3 shall be met for the protection of personnel.
4.17.2 Whenever a truck is used to elevate personnel, the following precautions for the protection of personnel shall be taken:
a. Comply with the design requirements in para. 7.37 of this Standard.
b. Provide protection for personnel in their normal working position on the platform from moving parts of the truck that represent a hazard.
c. Make sure required fall restraint means, such as guardrails or personal fall protection systems, are in place and properly used (see 7.37.1(d)(1)). For personal fall protection system configurations, see Table 1.
d. Be certain that the lifting mechanism is operating smoothly throughout its entire lift height, both empty and loaded, and that all lift limiting devices and latches, if provided, are functional.
e. Provide overhead protection as indicated to be necessary by the operating conditions.
All components of the personal fall protection system shall be inspected and maintained in accordance with the schedule and requirements found in Section 6 of ANSI/ASSE Z359.1-2007 Safety Requirements for Personal Fall Arrest Systems, Subsystems and Components.
Trainer’s Corner
When conducting operator evaluations, have each operator’s graded theory test and the evaluation form for that operator all together on the clipboard. That way, when the evaluation is done and the operator is debriefed, you can privately review any incorrect answers the operator may have given on the theory test and make sure he/she understands why it is incorrect. Weather and general conditions permitting, you could also have each operator’s Compliance Folder on hand and ready for the Operator Certificate Wallet Card inside of it to be signed.
Ask Bob
Q: Our company has a Liftpod, which is a push around aerial work platform. I’m not exactly sure how to approach operator training for this type of equipment. Would it be treated the same as a regular scissor lift course? Does IVES have operator training materials for this type of equipment?
A: That piece of equipment is categorized as a manually-propelled elevating work platform and falls under the requirements of ANSI A92.3. For training purposes, you can treat it as a modified scissor lift course. Many of the same core principles apply to both types of equipment, so unless you have operator training materials designed for this type of equipment, you could use our Scissor Lift operator training materials in combination with the manufacturer’s operating instructions. You will need to make some modifications to your lesson plan, but it’s definitely a good place to start.
We have a free lesson plan available for download on our Member Dashboard. Here’s how to get it:
1. Click “SIGN IN HERE” on the top right hand side of our website
2. Enter your email and password
3. Click “Downloadable Materials & Updates”
4. Under the Lesson Plans and Procedures section you will find the “Manually-propelled Elevated Work Platform Outline”
Interesting News Articles
- Forklift gives dinosaur a lift…more
- Former safety manager sentenced to 78 months in prison for major fraud…more
- Florida man killed by front-end loader at construction site…more
- Crane industry officials question OSHA’s new operator certification requirements…more
- Report questions safety of Texas construction industry…more
- Upcoming inspection blitzes in Ontario, Canada…more
Busted!
Three months after a construction worker in Fort Snelling State Park was crushed to death by a backhoe, the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited the worker’s employer with two violations and $28,500 in fines. The construction firm is appealing the citations.
The night before the victim died, he told his wife that he “had a bad feeling about the job” and did not want to go into work the next day.
Both violations were classified by OSHA as “serious,” which means “death or serious physical harm has resulted or would reasonably be expected to result from an employee’s exposure to a violation of a standard,” according to the OSHA Workplace Inspections manual.
A $3,500 fine was given because OSHA found that some workers were not provided with life jackets despite working over or near water. The other, larger $25,000 fine is a fatality penalty for violation of what’s known as the “general duty clause,” a provision dealing with wrongdoing that is not proscribed by a specific regulation.
“Say I saw you at a work site and you’re standing on a bunch of cardboard boxes, well that’s just not safe but there isn’t a specific standard that says, ‘Don’t stand on cardboard boxes,’” explains James Honerman, communications director at the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.
The construction firm is appealing, so Minnesota OSHA’s formal investigation is not finished. The department will meet with the firm and settle on the violation and penalty, Honerman said. More information will be disclosed upon completion of the investigation. [Source: Mendota Heights Patch]
Upcoming Events
We will be exhibiting at the following trade shows and conferences:
- May 7-10. Region VI VPPPA Chapter Conference
- June 24-27. ASSE 2013 Annual Conference & Exposition
- August 26-29. 29th Annual National VPPPA Conference
- September 10-13. Georgia Safety Conference
- September 29-October 4. NSC 2013 Congress & Expo
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