tackling trouble areas Handling Hard To Reach Areas By: Jeff Ford Inside and out, boom lifts effectively and ef-ficiently meet overhead challenges, safely placing people and materials in hard-to-reach spaces that might otherwise be inac-cessible. Common on construction sites, they also improve productivity when used as part of plant and facility maintenance programs. Boom lift basics: What they are, what they do and how they should be chosen. I What They Are Generally speaking, a boom lift is a piece of equipment designed to take workers to elevated heights, moving vertically and hori-zontally, depending on the model, for plant maintenance, retooling and changeovers, warehousing, inspections, remodeling and general contracting. The variety of tasks they can help perform is matched only by the various styles and sizes of booms that are available to end us-ers, beginning with how the lifts are powered. Electric-powered boom lifts tend to en-compass the smaller, more compact units. Usually powered by a rechargeable bat-tery pack, these units do not need to be plugged into a power source, increasing freedom of movement around a job site. The fact that these booms operate quietly without emitting exhaust fumes makes them the boom of choice for indoor applications. Their platform heights range from 30 to 60 feet. Larger combustion-powered booms us-ing gas or diesel fuel offer platform heights as high as 150 feet and lend themselves to commercial construction and other outdoor applications. Boom lifts provide safe access to different areas inside and outside a facility. Different Configurations In addition to power sources, boom lifts vary by configurations. When especially far horizontal reach is required, end users frequently turn to tele-scopic booms. Using hydraulic cylinders, these lifts slide straight out, like a telescope, to provide ad-ditional length. They also have the ability to rotate 360 degrees, although their tail swing can limit rotation in crowded job sites. The other major category of booms is ar-ticulating boom lifts, named for the joint or knuckle that enables the boom to bend and reach up, over and sometimes even around obstacles, including machinery, assembly lines, shelving, ductwork, partitions, etc. Like telescopic boom lifts, articulating booms can rotate 360 degrees, but their horizontal reach is usually not as great. 38 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • October 2013 Image courtesy of JLG Industries Inc.
CMM – Archives October 2013: 38
