Scissor lifts and using a harness ???

[Davebones]

We have a scissor lift that goes up to 25 ft . It has 42" rails and we have never used a harness when working in it . Safety has started talking about making everyone use a harness if they are in the lift . Just wondered how many people out there are requiring harnesses while in a scissor lift ????

 

[iwire]

OSHA considers scissor lifts 'mobile scaffolding' and does not require the use of a harness in one.

That said some employers require it.

 

[petersonra]

OSHA considers scissor lifts 'mobile scaffolding' and does not require the use of a harness in one.

That said some employers require it.

Most of the companies that we do business with would require a harness

 

[iwire]

Most of the companies that we do business with would require a harness

Glad I do not work there.

Very few of the locations we go will require that. Might as well require a harness on scaffolding.

 

[luckylerado]

Army Corps of Engineers work requires a harness while in a scissor lift per their safety guideline EM-385-1-1.

 

[petersonra]

Glad I do not work there.

Very few of the locations we go will require that. Might as well require a harness on scaffolding.

It is not like it is a major hassle to wear your harness while on a lift. Some of them have a rule the harness is only required while the lift is in motion. Kind of pointless to be hooking up and dehooking. Might as well just hook up and leave it be.

I can't recall any that require it on scaffolding, but there might be some. I don't pay real close attention to such things since they do not affect me.

 

[zbang]

It is not like it is a major hassle to wear your harness while on a lift.

A bit of a hassle when the attachment point is at one end of an 8' platform and you want to work at the other. (And most lanyards are 6'.) That said, I'd grumble but do it anyway.

It's also a lot less hassle if you have a comfortable harness; I can wear mine all day and hardly notice.

 

[Coppersmith]

Glad I do not work there.

Very few of the locations we go will require that. Might as well require a harness on scaffolding.

I've worked several places where you are required to wear a harness while on scaffolding. The local phosphate mines require a harness if you are more than 4 feet off the ground. Silly since you would hit the ground before your lanyard got tight.

 

[luckylerado]

I've worked several places where you are required to wear a harness while on scaffolding. The local phosphate mines require a harness if you are more than 4 feet off the ground. Silly since you would hit the ground before your lanyard got tight.

If they are enforcing a lanyard policy at 4' instead of requiring a retractable then they need to re-visit their fall protection plan. Nonsense, why bother.

 

[petersonra]

I think some of these places just don't want to deal with exceptions so they make blanket rules so people don't have to think about it.

One place I have been lately just installed some kind of restraint system so their operators could walk along the top of some equipment where it was impractical to put something safer. so now the operators have to wear their fall harnesses to do equipment inspections. The harness is attached to a cantilevered beam that kind of follows them around. I am not entirely sure just how it works since it appears the leashes they use for them are long enough that one could hit the ground before one got to the end of the leash but I have never seen them actually in use.

 

[infinity]

I work on scissor lifts quite often, sometimes for months at a time and find the harness thing stupid. I will not wear one unless it's forced upon me by someone who's enforcing insurance regulations that have little to do with actual safety. If OSHA says that a harness is not required for a scissor lift that's good enough for me, when did the insurance companies take over the construction industry?

 

[iwire]

It is not like it is a major hassle to wear your harness while on a lift.

And you know this from your years of lift experience?

It is a huge pain in the neck, take it from someone that can spend 40 hours a week on one for weeks at a time.

 

[iwire]

I work on scissor lifts quite often, sometimes for months at a time

Exactly, it's not like once in a while. Depending on the asigment it can be a long period

 

[jimdavis]

My employer's policy is that we have to wear a harness if the lift has a tie-off point. Same with the other large EC's around here. I have noticed that when we get lifts delivered to the jobsite the delivery driver usually dons a harness just to unload it.

 

[petersonra]

might be a regional thing too. once one company in an area starts doing things it sometimes prompts others to do it as well.

 

[Jraef]

I did a lot of catwalk work on cranes at Boeing, we were not required to tether up as long as we were inside of the rails, but on or above the rails, yes. Scissors lifts did not require being tethered, but were limited to 10 or 12ft extension (IIRC). JLGs though were 100% tethered. I was test driving a bridge crane once and hit a guy in a JLG when he was 120ft up in the air (I couldn't see him from my carrier carriage, he was not supposed to be there during testing). The JLG teetered and wobbled but didn't fall over (lucky for him) but it did toss him out (unlucky). His harness saved him but he hung there for an hour or so until the Fire Dept. ladder truck with a long enough ladder got to him. I was right there with him the whole time, but they would not allow me to attempt to pull him into the crane carrier with me.

Paperwork on that cost me two days of work, although, I was billing them by the hour...

 

[big john]

I'm surprised he didn't have serious suspension trauma after hanging in a fall arrest harness for an hour.

It's often really important to rescue someone quickly for that reason; those harnesses are not designed to leave people dangling.

 

[Jraef]

I'm surprised he didn't have serious suspension trauma after hanging in a fall arrest harness for an hour.

It's often really important to rescue someone quickly for that reason; those harnesses are not designed to leave people dangling.

He wasn't in good shape when they finally got him down. The problem was that he was at a height that required special equipment. I have no idea why they didn't just lower the JLG, but they were adamant that I not try to help him either so I assume it was a procedural thing. I had already helped get him upright and holding onto my carrier cage before they called me on the radio to tell me to stop, so at least he was somewhat upright and it was kind of like he was sitting in a bos'ns chair. But yeah, he was miserable and scared to the point of shaking so I think he was in shock. I think he wet himself too, I probably would have.

 

[wtucker]

Part of the reason they do that is because they assume that people on scissors lifts, sooner or later, will climb on the guardrails to get extra height. If guardrails are the primary fall protection, users lose that protection when they climb on the guardrails.

The other part is that manufacturers are now adding fall protection anchorages to scissors lifts and recommending that users wear personal fall protection. I think there's something about personal fall protection in the current ANSI standard (a voluntary standard) on scissors lifts.

 

[just the cowboy]

Just went thru training

Just went thru training

I just went thru sissors lift training, and the same questions were asked.

Answers
If the lift has tie points you must use them.
If the lift don't it is grandfathered in.
If your body leaves the plain of the lift, example reaching over the side you need them.

This was a OSHA certification class.

I don't want to be strapped in a sissors lift when moving, if it gets hit or falls over I want that last chance to grab something and not have the lift drag me down with it.

Cowboy