Lifts: Reaching for Productivity

Part 1: How to Select the Most Appropriate Lift

Part 2: Six Factors To Consider When Specifying Aerial Lifts

Part 3: Aerial Work Platforms: Matching the Lift to the Application

Part 4: Lift Features Include Air Compressor, Generator, Safety Systems

Part 5: Checklist for Specifying Lift Equipment

Checklist for Specifying Lift Equipment

By Thomas A. Westerkamp - November 2009

Whether the maintenance task at hand involves one-time use of lift equipment or a longer-term commitment, selecting the right product requires managers to answer a series of important questions:

How many technicians does the equipment need to lift for the task? How much material?
What load capacity, platform space and utility access does the task require?
How far vertically and horizontally do technicians need to reach?
Do they need to reach over and down or rotate materials or components?
How will operators transport the lift? A wheeled or tracked self-propelled unit? Trailer? Pick-up truck? Forklift?
Will the lift operate and be stored in one location?
Will operators need to move the lift over uneven surfaces?
Does the task call for a lift with leveling capability or load analysis?
How wide and high are access points?
Does the task call for alternating current or direct current electricity, or gas, propane or diesel fuel?
Will technicians need to work over immovable objects, such as ramps, steps, auditorium seats, or roofs?

One proven specification strategy is to overlay the various lift-equipment options on a site plan to determine the vertical and horizontal coverage each lift under consideration provides without frequent relocation.

In the case of large jobs — for instance, if using a telehandler requires off-loading at a building-perimeter staging area and using other means and more time and labor to move material to the job — it might pay to use a self-erecting crane with the necessary reach and lifting capacity to move the material to the point of use from a single set-up position.