The safe use plan and site assessment

The current MEWP standards make planning a formal duty. Under CSA B354.7, the user, meaning the employer that directs the work, must prepare a safe use plan before a MEWP is used. The plan does not need to be long for simple jobs, but it must show that someone has looked at the task, the site and the people, chosen a suitable machine and controls, and planned how to get a worker down if something goes wrong.

A good plan is also the supervisor's best tool. It records the decisions that prevent the five fatal events from lesson 1, and it gives the crew something specific to check against on the day. A plan that sits in a binder in the site office and is never discussed with the crew does neither.

What the plan should contain

The site assessment

The site assessment is the part of the plan most often skipped and most often behind serious incidents. It should be done by walking the actual route and work location, not by looking at drawings alone. Take a tape measure, a level or inclinometer app, and a camera.

• Route in: how will the machine get from the delivery point to the work area? Check doors, ramps, floor loading on suspended slabs, curbs, cables and hoses, other traffic and overhead clearance.
• Ground or floor: is it level, firm and able to carry the wheel or outrigger loads? Look for backfilled trenches, manholes, floor drains, recent excavation, frost, mud, soft asphalt on hot days and floor openings covered with plywood.
• Overhead: list everything the platform or boom could contact, including steel joists, sprinkler pipes, cable trays, door headers, tree branches, signs and power lines. Measure the clearance where the platform will be raised.
• Nearby: walls, racking, guardrails at mezzanine edges, glass, machinery, vehicles and pedestrians that the machine or its swinging tail could strike.
• Environment: indoor air quality for engine-powered machines, lighting, weather exposure, wind tunnels between buildings, temperature limits for batteries and hydraulics.

Slope is stated in two ways and they are easily confused. Manufacturers often give drive limits as a percentage, where 100 per cent is 45 degrees, and tilt limits for elevating in degrees. A 25 per cent slope is only 14 degrees. Always convert before comparing.

Selecting the machine

Selection follows from the task and the site. The supervisor should be able to explain in the plan why the chosen machine suits the job. Typical reasons include:

• reach and height: the platform must reach the work without the worker leaning out, standing on rails or using a ladder on the platform;
• capacity: the rated load, in the configuration and environment used, must exceed the weight of all people, tools and materials;
• ground: the machine's wheel or outrigger loads must be within what the ground or floor can carry, with mats if needed;
• environment: indoor or outdoor rating, emissions, noise, non-marking tires, size for doors and aisles;
• hazards: an insulated aerial device for work that cannot avoid energized lines, secondary guarding where entrapment risk is high, a Group A machine where a boom is not needed.

Briefing the crew

Before work starts, the supervisor or a competent person should brief everyone involved: operators, occupants, ground persons and spotters. Cover the task, the hazards found in the site assessment, the controls, the fall protection to be used, the wind limit, the exclusion zone, communication and the rescue plan. Ask the crew what they see that the plan missed. The people who will be on the platform often know about a soft spot in the yard or a duct that has been moved since the drawings were made.

When to review the plan

A safe use plan is not a one-time form. Review it when the task, the machine, the crew or the site changes; when weather changes, especially wind; after any incident or near miss; and at a set interval on long jobs. Many employers combine the daily review with the field-level hazard assessment or job hazard analysis described in HSE-230, so the crew checks the plan against conditions every shift.

A one-page plan for routine work

Many jobs repeat: re-lamping, sprinkler inspection, painting, sign maintenance. For these, employers often use a one-page safe use plan form that the supervisor completes for each location, with a fuller plan only for complex jobs. A good one-page form has short prompts for each element of the plan and space to record the machine, the people, the hazards and the rescue arrangements.

The form is only useful if it reflects what the supervisor actually saw. Pre-filled forms copied from job to job, with the same hazards listed regardless of location, are a warning sign that the site assessment is not being done. A quick way to test a plan is to ask the crew one question about it, such as where the manual descent control is or what the height limit is; if they cannot answer, the plan has not reached them.

Complex jobs need more: multiple machines, work near power lines, work over public areas, work on slopes or soft ground, exiting at height, or tasks that push close to a machine's limits. For these, a written plan with drawings, calculations and sign-off by a competent person, and sometimes an engineer, is appropriate.

Planning for several machines at once

On larger jobs, several MEWPs may work in the same area, sometimes with forklifts, telehandlers or cranes nearby. The safe use plan should show where each machine will work and when, how their working areas are separated, and who coordinates them. Booms working side by side can swing into each other, and a scissor lift raised in an aisle can block another machine's route or a fire exit. A simple site sketch with work zones, routes and parking and charging areas makes the plan much easier to follow than a written description alone, and it helps other trades see where they must not go while the platforms are up.