Ottawa Aerial Platform Training

Ottawa Aerial Platform Training - Aerial jacks can accommodate various odd jobs involving high and tricky reaching places. Often used to complete regular maintenance in structures with elevated ceilings, trim tree branches, raise heavy shelving units or fix telephone cables. A ladder might also be used for some of the aforementioned tasks, although aerial hoists offer more security and stability when properly used.

There are several versions of aerial platform lifts accessible on the market depending on what the task needed involves. Painters sometimes use scissor aerial hoists for instance, which are categorized as mobile scaffolding, of use in painting trim and reaching the 2nd story and above on buildings. The scissor aerial lifts use criss-cross braces to stretch out and enlarge upwards. There is a platform attached to the top of the braces that rises simultaneously as the criss-cross braces lift.

Cherry pickers and bucket trucks are another variety of the aerial lift. Normally, they contain a bucket at the end of an extended arm and as the arm unfolds, the attached bucket platform rises. Platform lifts use a pronged arm that rises upwards as the handle is moved. Boom lift trucks have a hydraulic arm which extends outward and raises the platform. All of these aerial platform lifts require special training to operate.

Training courses presented through Occupational Safety & Health Association, known also as OSHA, embrace safety techniques, system operation, upkeep and inspection and machine load capacities. Successful completion of these education programs earns a special certified certificate. Only properly qualified people who have OSHA operating licenses should drive aerial lift trucks. The Occupational Safety & Health Organization has established guidelines to uphold safety and prevent injury when using aerial lift trucks. Common sense rules such as not using this apparatus to give rides and ensuring all tires on aerial lift trucks are braced so as to prevent machine tipping are mentioned within the rules.

Unfortunately, statistics reveal that in excess of 20 aerial hoist operators die each year while operating and just about ten percent of those are commercial painters. The majority of these mishaps were caused by inadequate tie bracing, for that reason several of these could have been prevented. Operators should make sure that all wheels are locked and braces as a critical security precaution to prevent the device from toppling over.

Other rules involve marking the encircling area of the device in a visible way to protect passers-by and to ensure they do not approach too close to the operating machine. It is imperative to ensure that there are also 10 feet of clearance between any utility lines and the aerial lift. Operators of this apparatus are also highly recommended to always have on the appropriate security harness while up in the air.

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