Scissor lift storage

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Setscrew

Member
Location
Las Vegas, NV. USA
I'm storing a scissor lift inside an electrical room with switchgear, is there any code requirements other than keeping three feet away from the panels that I need to know. I keep the lift parked more than three feet away from the switchgear but I keep getting written up for code violations saying I shouldn't park it in there .

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
An electrical room is not a storage room and although you do not indicate the voltage of the switchgear, nor the construction of the room, this would potentially impede the safety of workers who need a "continuous and unobstructed way of exit" and could also allude to accessibility issues.
 
Coppersmith said:
Is the person writing you up giving you a section number of the code you are violating?
Click to expand...
No, I wish I could find one though so I could give him a reference. I thought it was 3' clearance.
d383e99e6f77ccc3f3fbea1db80cc838.jpg


Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
ken44 said:
An electrical room is not a storage room and although you do not indicate the voltage of the switchgear, nor the construction of the room, this would potentially impede the safety of workers who need a "continuous and unobstructed way of exit" and could also allude to accessibility issues.
Click to expand...
I agree with that. Although I have seen some restaurants that have closets with electrical panels in them and as long as they keep three feet away it seems to be okay and that is the code right 3 ft away? I believe the electrical equipment is 600 volts or less I'm going to send you a picture and it's just seems like there's plenty of room to be able to work on anything.
b447969f557dc4690370febe291b97a0.jpg


Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
This subject is a bit of a sore spot for me because I deal with it everyday and it has great capacity to threaten the health and well being of those that I am in charge of and I don't want them hurt because of things that can easily be controlled (or so it would seem). As it is, someone has already moved a ladder between your lift and the switchgear making it further inaccessible and impeding upon the work space and limited approach boundary. However, it does look like you could move the ladder and lift to the far wall and put them parallel to the far wall and you would be okay. Because you are an electrician, I would trust you more, the problem is when a janitor or other unauthorized personnel looks into the room and sees that it looks like it is okay to store stuff, then we have a problem because they are not qualified or authorized to be around such equipment, but they may not even know better-too many variables.
 
ken44 said:
This subject is a bit of a sore spot for me because I deal with it everyday and it has great capacity to threaten the health and well being of those that I am in charge of and I don't want them hurt because of things that can easily be controlled (or so it would seem). As it is, someone has already moved a ladder between your lift and the switchgear making it further inaccessible and impeding upon the work space and limited approach boundary. However, it does look like you could move the ladder and lift to the far wall and put them parallel to the far wall and you would be okay. Because you are an electrician, I would trust you more, the problem is when a janitor or other unauthorized personnel looks into the room and sees that it looks like it is okay to store stuff, then we have a problem because they are not qualified or authorized to be around such equipment, but they may not even know better-too many variables.
Click to expand...
Yeah it is only maintenance Personnel that have access to the room but I do see your point thank you.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
Setscrew said:
Yeah it is only maintenance Personnel that have access to the room but I do see your point thank you.
Click to expand...

with "storage" propagating like crabgrass, if you put one thing
in an electrical room, pretty soon you have people leaning a
sheet of plywood up in front of the switchgear as a safety precaution
so that when they stack boxes in front of the gear, nobody bumps a
lever....

:huh:
 
Setscrew said:
I'm storing a scissor lift inside an electrical room with switchgear, is there any code requirements other than keeping three feet away from the panels that I need to know. I keep the lift parked more than three feet away from the switchgear but I keep getting written up for code violations saying I shouldn't park it in there .
Click to expand...

my other post notwithstanding, if i were in your
situation, it appears that there is unused space
against the far wall, that is completely beyond
the extents of the switch gear. what i'd do, is
park the lift parallel to the wall, tight up against
it, and then i'd paint a bright safety yellow box
around that location, and stencil in front of it
"Scissor Lift ONLY".

the clear delineation of the parking area might
be enough to satisfy the fire department, etc.

while you are at it, mark off clearly 3' in front
of that housekeeping pad, and mark it
"SAFETY ACCESS"
 
Fulthrotl said:
my other post notwithstanding, if i were in your
situation, it appears that there is unused space
against the far wall, that is completely beyond
the extents of the switch gear. what i'd do, is
park the lift parallel to the wall, tight up against
it, and then i'd paint a bright safety yellow box
around that location, and stencil in front of it
"Scissor Lift ONLY".

the clear delineation of the parking area might
be enough to satisfy the fire department, etc.

while you are at it, mark off clearly 3' in front
of that housekeeping pad, and mark it
"SAFETY ACCESS"
Click to expand...
That's a pretty good idea, it's our risk management team so maybe I can run that by them and see what they say, thank you.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
Fulthrotl said:
my other post notwithstanding, if i were in your
situation, it appears that there is unused space
against the far wall, that is completely beyond
the extents of the switch gear. what i'd do, is
park the lift parallel to the wall, tight up against
it, and then i'd paint a bright safety yellow box
around that location, and stencil in front of it
"Scissor Lift ONLY".

the clear delineation of the parking area might
be enough to satisfy the fire department, etc.

while you are at it, mark off clearly 3' in front
of that housekeeping pad, and mark it
"SAFETY ACCESS"
Click to expand...
That is about all you can do, unless you are a member/employee, etc. of the facility in question and are trying to enforce some safety policy. Those of us who are contractors can only install the gear in a manner that it doesn't have any fixed items in the workspace. Even when we are working on/around the gear we may temporarily violate the workspace at times, but if we have good safety policy we don't violate workspace when equipment is opened with live parts.

If you had a rule that nothing ever goes in that workspace how do you get new circuits into the gear if you can't bring in the scissor lift a ladder, etc. or even set up wire racks or use tuggers to pull new conductors? How do you sweep the floor without the broom entering the space?

Some like to push rules to the extreme and not use any common sense.

Some places of employment are getting better at keeping such spaces open- some are worse then your average dwelling when it comes to storage around electrical equipment. Insurance carriers are likely who is making them keep spaces open when you do run into that. OSHA mostly only comes into play after an incident has occurred, or if the right person in management hears of other incidents and decides they are not letting that happen in their place.
 
Fulthrotl said:
with "storage" propagating like crabgrass, if you put one thing
in an electrical room, pretty soon you have people leaning a
sheet of plywood up in front of the switchgear as a safety precaution
so that when they stack boxes in front of the gear, nobody bumps a
lever....

:huh:
Click to expand...
Is the lift the lift storage permanent?

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
 
Setscrew said:
That's a pretty good idea, it's our risk management team so maybe I can run that by them and see what they say, thank you.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Well, your idea worked. I told them what I wanted to do ( according to your suggestion ), and they said that would work out just fine. I was ready to show them the code but it wasn't even needed. So thank you very much.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top