Do you Harness when you Genie?

[Aaron S.]

I will put in my 2 cents. I'm in the USA, California. At my venue we own and operate scissor lifts, as well as single man lifts, the Genie AWP series, as well as the Genie Runabout.

I watched that video where the guy was talking about the Genie lift and the Lanyard point. I would disagree that you should tie off to that. Unless they have changed since my lift was built there isn't anywhere on the lift that says that is a tie off point. No decals on the lift. They don't even mention it in the manual. With the runabout they do have a decal and a section about it in the manual. But, they don't RECOMMEND the operator to be tied off, they just say if your employer requires it, this is where you tie off.

 

[mbrown3039]

Ok. Let’s see how much I type here.

I’m going to talk about how it is in the US, since that’s where the OP is.

You are required by OSHA to wear Fall PROTECTION in any boom lift. The reason for this is to prevent you from being thrown from the basket during boom or vehicular movement, not to arrest you from falling over the railings as you climb it (wink wink). You can search the net for videos of people being thrown from lifts while driving. Because this is PROTECTION and not ARREST it can be a waist belt. But keep in mind that if you do wear a full body harness, you still need to comply with your free fall distance limitations, which in a lift can be tricky. The reality is a short 2’ lanyard or a self retractable lifeline is more appropriate that a 6’ lanyard ina lift.

The reason you do not need to use a belt or harness in a scissor lift is OSHA classifies them as moving scaffold, and the railings act as the fall protection. IF you are transferring from ANY lift onto the building structure, you must have 100% tie off, as you will be serverting the fall protection (railings) and exposing yourself to fall risk. This is why in Scissor and AWP style lifts there is an attachment point.

That being said, an employer can mandate you wear PFAS in a lift if they so see fit.

That image I posted is from Genie Industries directly.

OK....that wasn’t to bad. Could have been a lot longer.
Ethan

^^^^ This is spot on for the US. It bears mentioning that you may only tie off to a manufacturer-installed point (i.e., not to the railing or a basket brace or the like) and you can still find older scissor lifts that do not have tie-off points in them. In those cases, you'll have to decided if you're willing to use the lift without a harness or not. MIke

 

[Colin]

First, it is not a good idea to tie off to adjacent struture unless it is to transfer in/out of the lift from/to that structure, and (maybe @egilson1 can confirm) it isn't legal for a worker to do so (other than when transferring) in the USA when in an aerial lift at least (makes sense that it would be true for scissors and masts like AWPs too). Consider what happens if someone decided to move the lift with someone still tied off to adjacent structure. Or consider if you're in a boom and something causes it to go into catapult mode and you're not secured to the basket. Or ask how do you maintain 100% tie-off when moving up/down/sideways? Are you going to get an engineer to certify all these points you're using? Tie off to the lift's provided point, and tie off as a restraint rather than fall arrest. The restraint keeps you from getting too far out of the basket, including when that basket is tipping over. I know a pair of stories about people who have found themselves inside the basket versus outside the basket when the lift hits the ground, and inside is better.

Fall arrest or even a belt and restraint lanyard are last resorts when trying to keep yourself alive. Sometimes people die while dangling from their lanyards waiting for rescue, and you're certainly going to get hurt at least if you go down inside the basket. Don't tip the lift. That's the first thing to focus on, and if you start with the expectation that someone will use the lift incorrectly or otherwise create a dangerous environment that would cause an accident, you're going at it backwards. I bet if everyone on CB weighed in on known instances of improper lift use versus improper personal fall protection use, the latter would tally higher or on par with the former. Start with the safest work conditions possible; assess remaining hazards; train everyone to recognize hazards, inspect the equipment, use the equipment, operate near the equipment, and use the PPE correctly; and also communicate the necessity of personal accountability and make space in every work shift to support that with encouragement and reminders. Don't go first to the worst-case PPE scenario and explain it by saying you expect people to endanger themselves or others. Teach them how to avoid that, verify their understanding, continually encourage a culture that values safety, and trust your people. That's no cliche.

 

[MNicolai]

As referenced in my earlier story, it's not all roses and unicorns just because you're tied off to structure. A lift can have a lot more force and momentum behind it that can fling you like a slingshot or tangle you up like the guy whose leg got snapped when the one-man lift toppled and he was still well within the bucket as it happened.

Lifts don't always go in a direction the operators are prepared for. I watched an electrician who was in a boom lift on a raked floor of an auditorium just after the flooring contractors swept and polished the concrete. A piece of cardboard under one tire of the lift turned that tire into a frictionless pivot point and the entire lift and boom 360'd on him in the center of the auditorium. If he had been tied off to structure it's not as if his body would've been clear of the basket. The lift would've cracked him in half just before pulling him out of the basket.

The most likely issue though is simply that people are forgetful. They may not realize they're still clipped on and once they hit the throttle that scissor lift can stretch them out on their harness. This is surprisingly easy to do in the scissor lifts where the joystick is toggled between up/down and forward/backward movement and someone intending to go up a little higher doesn't realize they're in drive mode and they end up moving forward several feet unexpectedly.

Many here at CB have also used one-man lifts with the outrigger feet floated on the ground and the lift gets pushed around while the basket is elevated. Only takes someone forgetting they are tied off and people on the ground starting to push the lift forward to seriously put the person in the lift at risk and the people on the ground if the lift gets pulled down on top of them.

Much of this discussion is moot anyways, as most people here deal with venues that have suspended battens. Whether counterweight or motorized, these are not suitable to be harnessed to.

 

[gafftaper]

This thread is closed. Non-relevant discussion has been deleted. Some posts have been edited to remove references to deleted posts. We like to have fun around here, but many posts in this thread crossed the line of appropriate behavior from both points of view. ControlBooth does not tolerate aggressive posts or poking the bear and eating popcorn while the Booth burns. CB is an educational environment where it is always safe to ask a question. We do not tolerate trolls or belligerent behavior. I also like to remind people that what you say here is read by many people in the industry. We've had many people over the years ask to have old posts removed because they are embarrassing and potentially damaging to the poster's career. Don't be that person.

We advocate for:
-Creation of safe standard practices
-Personal Training
-Respecting the advice of real experts in our community like @egilson1
-Safe manufacturer approved use of equipment
-Following the rules as laid out by occupational safety law and local AHJs.

@egilson1 or @What Rigger? or any of our other resident safety experts please send Me or @dvsDave a private message if you would like to post anything further on the topic of harnessing into a genie or not and we will add it to this discussion.