Loads, tools and special applications

A MEWP is designed to put people at height with the tools and materials they need, not to move materials around a site. Many incidents begin when a platform is used as a small crane, overloaded with materials, fitted with improvised racks, or used for a job its designers never imagined. This lesson covers how to account for loads, how to control dropped objects, and what to consider for special applications such as glazing, welding, carrying long materials and leaving the platform at height.

Accounting for the load

The rated load on the decal is the total weight of everything on the platform: people, their clothing and personal protective equipment, tools, materials and any accessories. It also states how many people may be on the platform, which is a separate limit. Both must be respected, and both may change with configuration: indoor versus outdoor, extended deck versus retracted, restricted versus full envelope on a boom.

Weights are often underestimated. Workers rarely know their weight with tools and gear, and material weights should come from the supplier's data rather than guesswork. Current machines with load sensing will stop if the platform is overloaded, but that is a last line of defence, and older machines may not have it.

Materials and accessories

Materials must be carried within the platform, evenly distributed, and must not extend beyond the guardrails unless the manufacturer specifically allows it. Long materials such as pipe, conduit and lumber are a particular problem: they overhang, they increase wind area, they can strike structure or power lines, and workers tend to tie them to the guardrails.

Manufacturers offer accessories for common tasks, such as pipe racks, panel carriers, glazing cradles and tool trays. These are approved for specific models and come with their own load limits and often a reduced platform rating. Using an accessory designed for a different machine, or building a homemade rack, is a modification that needs the manufacturer's written approval.

Dropped objects

Tools and materials that fall from a platform injure people below, and the energy involved is larger than most people expect. Toeboards help, but they do not stop items knocked over the rail or dropped while being passed up.

• Tether hand tools to the worker or to a designated point on the platform using tool lanyards rated for the tool's weight, as described in ANSI/ISEA 121 for dropped object prevention.
• Use buckets or bags with closures for small parts, and keep materials below the top of the toeboard where possible.
• Set up an exclusion zone beneath and around the platform, extended for the platform's reach and swing and for the height of work, since objects deflect as they fall. Use barriers and signs, not just tape, in busy areas.
• Pass tools and materials to the platform only when it is lowered, or use an approved method; do not throw tools up to workers.

Welding and hot work

Welding, cutting and grinding from a platform add fire, electrical and fume hazards. Hot work permits and fire watches apply as they would on the ground. The manufacturer's manual usually has specific instructions: attach the welding ground clamp to the workpiece as close as possible to the weld, never to the platform, so that welding current cannot pass through the machine's bearings, cylinders, wiring or hoses; protect hoses and electrical cables on the boom from spatter and sparks; keep gas cylinders off the platform unless an approved holder is fitted; and keep a fire extinguisher on the platform.

Leaving the platform at height

Sometimes workers need to step from a platform onto a roof, a structure or another work surface. This is one of the most dangerous moments in MEWP work: the worker passes through the guardrail line, may be connected to neither the platform nor the structure, and the platform can move as their weight leaves it. The current safe use standards allow exiting at height only when the manufacturer permits it for that machine, the safe use plan covers it, the platform is positioned against the landing as the manual directs, and the worker maintains continuous fall protection, connecting to an anchorage on the landing before disconnecting from the platform. Where the law, the manufacturer or the plan does not allow it, workers must not leave the platform at height.

OSHA's construction rule says workers must stand firmly on the basket floor and not climb on its edge (1926.453(b)(2)(iv)), and Ontario's regulation requires attachment to the platform at all times on boom-type machines. Exiting at height therefore needs careful planning under the law where you work. Often a stair tower, a fixed ladder or a hoist is a safer way to reach the landing.

Glazing, panels and heavy items

Glazing and cladding contractors often need to place panels at height. MEWP manufacturers offer glazing kits, panel cradles and material lifting attachments for some models; these come with their own rated loads, wind limits and often a reduced platform rating, and they may only be used on the models listed. Where the panels are large or heavy, a vacuum lifter on a crane or telehandler with a qualified rigger is often a better method, with the MEWP used only to position the installers.

The example shows why accessories need careful reading: they add their own weight and often change the platform's rating, so the arithmetic must start from the reduced figure.

Supervising materials on platforms

Supervisors can prevent most materials problems with a few habits. Ask the crew how much they plan to carry per trip and compare it with the rating before work starts. Look at the platform as it goes up: materials should sit inside the guardrails, nothing should be tied to the rails, and tools should be tethered. Watch for the gradual creep that happens over a day, when a crew starts with a few items and ends up carrying a full load of fittings, a tool bag, a cordless saw and a box of fixtures. When the job needs more material than the platform can carry, plan a separate way to get it to height, such as a material hoist, a telehandler with a suitable attachment, or staging on the floor above.