How high have you been with aerial work equipment?

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How high have you been with aerial work equipment?

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480sparky

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
In reference to this thread, I just thought it would make an interesting poll.

Scissors, articulating, boom truck, bucket truck......... just as long as it's 'legal'. :roll:
 
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hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
65' is the highest I've been in bucket truck and boom lift, though I have been on top of tower cranes, I put a strobe light at the very top while it was still operating. The building was next to a hospital, and one night the crane operator and a life flight helicopter pilot came eye to eye, so they decided they better put a strobe up there.
 
Smart $

Smart $

Esteemed Member
Location
Ohio
Reminds me of the time I was assigned a Grove 120' boom lift to do a job needing not more than 10' of elevation (strap a section of vertically-run conduit on a single-story building's outside; a 10 minute task at most, normally). I was told all step ladders were in use on a 1,000 man plus job. On top of that, it took 30 minutes to drive the lift from its assigned parking location to the task location, and 30 minutes to drive it back after task completion (oh... and almost forgot the ten minutes of walking each way between locations)... the short (walked) route was shut down due to excavation and the only other route was around the facility.
 
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busman

busman

Senior Member
Location
Northern Virginia
Occupation
Master Electrician / Electrical Engineer
Not at all unusual to be lifted all the way to the highest yardarm in a bucket by a shipyard crane. Don't worry, they can't spell OSHA, so it's OK.

Mark
 
K8MHZ

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
85 feet up in a 105 foot man lift over hydrogen tanks at a power plant.

45 feet up while driving one in a warehouse. The corners were so tight we had to extend the lift nearly all the way up to get around the corners. It takes a while to get used to the shake while you are over 4 stories above the concrete. That was on my first job as a first year apprentice.
 
cowboyjwc

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
Rented a boom lift once and the guy said that the nice thing about the lift was that you didn't have to lower it to drive it. My brother and I were in the basket and we were only up about 30' so we drove across the warehouse and when the thing stopped and the bucket bounced about 3' up and down is when we realized was that just because you can drive it with the bucket up doesn't mean you should.:)
 
mxslick

mxslick

Senior Member
Location
SE Idaho
Highest I have been is 35' up on scaffolding while rigging a screen.

I don't count this, as it is not what I would call "work equipment" but I was 90' above the stage floor in a live performance theater walking on the scenery grid. Even though it is all steel and the gaps were only 2" wide I was scared shirtless as I HATE heights. (Which is why I didn't take a lineman's job with my local POCO.)
 
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dbuckley

Senior Member
Location
Canterbury, New Zealand
A tad off topic, but as you guys may be aware, Canterbury in New Zealand (where I live) was whacked by a 7.1 quake a week or so ago. We're still getting several aftershocks in the 4.x range a day. [seismograph drum and List of recent quakes] I drive a desk these days, and it shakes about gently, and my wheely chair stays put...

I'm seeing guys in bucket trucks and cherry pickers fixing up buildings and stuff. And up scaff, and on big ladders. And balancing on roofs.

I can't quite imagine how much one would cr*p oneself if one were aways up high and the bucket starts bouncing around in an aftershock, with, of course, stuff falling down around one...

Scary.

Normal programming will now return.
 
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hurk27

Senior Member
Location
Portage, Indiana NEC: 2008
dbuckley said:
A tad off topic, but as you guys may be aware, Canterbury in New Zealand (where I live) was whacked by a 7.1 quake a week or so ago. We're still getting several aftershocks in the 4.x range a day. [seismograph drum and List of recent quakes] I drive a desk these days, and it shakes about gently, and my wheely chair stays put...

I'm seeing guys in bucket trucks and cherry pickers fixing up buildings and stuff. And up scaff, and on big ladders. And balancing on roofs.

I can't quite imagine how much one would cr*p oneself if one were aways up high and the bucket starts bouncing around in an aftershock, with, of course, stuff falling down around one...

Scary.

Normal programming will now return.
Click to expand...


Back in 1985, I was working for a bridge assembly plant in Chicago Heights, Il. I was walking crane rails about 80' up when the New Madrid fault caused the building to shake, I dropped to my knees and held on, I had thought a crane had hit the end of the line blocks, but shop supervisor said no one is up in the cranes as it was lunch time. then he played the new bulletin over the radio, well still had to get to the crane to fix a pickup shoe that went bad, funny thing was no one else felt it down on the ground, but standing on a rail about 1' in width with two rail on it, is hard enough with out it shaking.

But after that I have been up on towers, hanging over tall buildings, and even up on lifts as high as 150', (the one for the football field lights) which wasn't to bad, I just hate when the wind kicks up and your chasing the work all over the place, or trying to hold the bucket to keep it close to the work.
 
sii

sii

Senior Member
Location
Nebraska
Not in a lift but 160' on top of grain elevators. Amazing view though.

Highest I've ever been in a lift is 60'. I had never been in any type of lift other than a scissor lift until we had to rent a boom lift last summer. Worst part was as they are outside unloading the thing off the truck, I'm on lunch in my office reading about a guy who tipped one over and was killed about 200 miles from here.:-?
 
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wireguy8169

Senior Member
Location
Southern Maine
Had a job we could not get a lift to and so we were lifted in a basket by a crane and put into place, and it was windy as all get out, the basket spun a bit but if I walked in the opposite direction it stopped :grin:. That was 120+ft.
 
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