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Safety Center is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization founded in 1934 whose mission is to reduce injuries and save lives by providing safety education and training. We accomplish this mission by promoting lifelong safety and health through a variety of community and professional programs. 

  

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Vol 12, Issue 7          

July 2012

Greetings!  

 

Are you or your employees required to have Aerial Lift training? Unsure? Rob Vetter of IVES Training Group puts your mind to rest this month with his article on Aerial Lift training and federal/state regulations. 

  

Our July Points to Ponder series continues the discussion of loss causes that may be generated by management and supervision. Bob Lapidus suggests ways to identify and communicate potential safety problems with the use of tools and techniques such as Job Safety Analysis (JSA) or Job Hazard Analysis (JHA). 

    

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Aerial Lift TrainingArticle
Aerial Lift

Who Needs Aerial Lift Training? You Do!        By Rob Vetter, Director of Training

IVES Training Group 

 

I was at a safety meeting at a client's site recently when the topic of aerial lift operator training came up, particularly as it relates to aerial boomlifts and scissor lifts. As I listened to the conversation between various employees, supervisors and managers, it became apparent to me that everyone seemed to think that the training of aerial lift operators was optional. When I asked them what had lead them to such an assumption, they answered "because there's nothing in the regulations about it." 

 

Of course, this is completely untrue but it is certainly not uncommon to hear that kind of logic, which seems to be based on a show me where it is written philosophy of deciding if something needs to be done. I won't go into the level of detail in this article that I did at that meeting but the following is the condensed version of it.

 

Although it is true that federal OSHA regulations and many state regulations have very little in content that speak to aerial lift operator training, there are industry standards and of course manufacturers instructions, that require operators to be trained. In fact, with respect to industry standards, ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard ANSI/SIA A92.5 (boomlifts) and A92.6 (scissor lifts) not only contain requirements to train operators but offer a substantial amount of detail on what the content of such training should/must be.

 

This is significant because in the absence of specific regulations (like aerial lift operator training requirements), regulatory authorities (like OSHA) often turn to recognized sources of reliable information like ANSI and of course manufacturer's to help them determine what they feel employers should do or should have done. To be clear, compliance with A92.5 and A92.6 standards is not mandatory in the strictest sense of the word but for an employer to choose not to follow such credible, well established and referenced industry standards, would be very unwise. Especially when every manufacturer of aerial lifts for use in the United States builds their units to ANSI specifications and requires users of the equipment to follow the safety information (including operator training) found in ANSI standards. Here is a brief excerpt from ANSI/SIA 92.5 and 92.6 that will give you some idea of how comprehensive they are in relation to operator training:

 

Only personnel who have received general instructions regarding the inspection, application and operation of aerial platforms, including recognition and avoidance of hazards associated with their operation, shall operate an aerial platform. Such items covered shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following issues and requirements: 

  1. The purpose and use of manuals
  2. That operating manuals are an integral part of the aerial platform and must be stored properly in the weather-resistant compartment when not in use
  3. A pre-start inspection
  4. Responsibilities associated with problems or malfunctions affecting the operation of the aerial platform
  5. Factors affecting stability
  6. The purpose of placards and decals
  7. Workplace inspection
  8. Safety rules and regulations
  9. Authorization to operate
  10. Operator warnings and instructions
  11. Actual operation of the aerial platform under the direction of a qualified person, the trainee shall operate the aerial platform for a sufficient period of time to demonstrate proficiency in the actual operation of the aerial platform. 

Finally, lest we forget, there is a section 5(a) of the OSDH Act otherwise known as the General Duty Clause, which states:

 

Each employer shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.

 

I'm no lawyer but I would be willing to wager that allowing someone with no training to operate an aerial lift at height constitutes a "recognized hazard."

 

Rob Vetter is the Director of Training for the IVES Training Group out of Blaine, Washington. IVES has been a valued partner of Safety Center Incorporated for over 30 years and continues to offer the most professional and comprehensive Train the Trainer programs for users of forklifts, aerial lifts and loaders available today. 

 
Click here for a list of upcoming training programs. On-site training focused on your specific equipment is also available.
Points to Ponderpsi

Loss Causes: Not Creating or Communicating Expectations, Policies, Procedures or Rules  

By Bob Lapidus, CSP, CSMS 

 

 

Have you ever been blind-sided?  

  1. You thought you were doing what you were supposed to be doing and then out of the blue someone tells you that you are not doing it right.  
  2. Founded on all the information you had been given, you made a decision.  Then you are informed it was an incorrect decision based upon other information you had not been given. 

In such cases, you were blind-sided.  You had not been given everything you needed to know.  Expectations, policies, procedures or rules had never been created or the ones that had been created were incorrect or else they had not been communicated.  You were just supposed to know what to do as if somehow magically you could read someone else's mind.

 

It's like being hit over the head by a two by four.  Not only do we feel stupid, but we may have caused something bad to happen.  Many accidents have been caused by an employee who had not been given the correct expectations, policies, procedures or rules.

 

Hindsight is a wonderful reactive tool to use to identify our mistakes, but what we need to have is proactive foresight, the ability to anticipate potential problems.  To achieve such wisdom takes critical thinking and time to seek potential issues that could cause a mishap.  We are looking here at knowledge, skills, judgment, conditions, and actual practices.

 

Job Safety Analysis (JSA) or Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) are two techniques to identify potential safety problems associated with a given task.  Each one lists the steps involved in a single task, seeks to identify hazards involved in each step, and establishes actions that should be taken to eliminate or at least minimize the associated hazards.

 

In some cases, tasks are changed to improve the safety of the work to be performed.  The order in which a task is performed must be ascertained.  Proper personal protective equipment is selected.  Any information needed to do the job safely is integrated into the task such as information from Safety Data Sheets.

 

Rather than being blind-sided, employees are fully informed as to how the job is supposed to be done efficiently, productively and safely.

 

Nothing is perfect.  Errors can be made when analyzing a task, but the system is continuous.  As work is performed, the analysis is improved upon and every attempt is made to eliminate identified problems.

 

Employees are initially trained on how to do the work.  At least annually they are given refresher training to assure they still are doing the work as designed.

 

Preventing being blind-sided enables everyone to do their work with correct knowledge, skills and judgment leading to a safe work experience. 

 

The ideas for Points to Ponder articles come from Safety Center's 12-day Safety Management Specialist Certificate (CSMS) program, and from Safety Center's short course entitled Safety Management for Employees-Who Supervise.  Check out these course descriptions at www.safetycenter.org or contact Quen Cach in the Northern California office at 800-825-7262 or Gayleen Grigoreas in the Southern California office at 909-625-9650.

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A12 Aerial Lifts

Aerial lifts provide an easy means to reach work sites above the ground by supplying a level platform to stand on, but they are not accident proof. 

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