Boom Lift

Posts Tagged ‘training’

Scissor lifts are large machines that are used to move heavy loads to different places at one time. These are used in warehouses or on building sites and can heft anything from small boxes to large machines. These are so large that when not utilized properly they can cause accidents that can involve accidental injuries.

The Occupational and Safety Health Administration expects that any employee who is going to use  this needs to first become certified and have. This training might be provided by the employer and done at the workplace or through online classes. Numerous employers will pay between $20 to $100 for the online classes because they are able to be taken from any computer and at any time of the day. This prevents it from cutting into the job.

During this training the employee will be taught how to operate the lift, how to interchange the battery, and what safety precautions must be taken before, after, and during usage. This will help them to recognize when to spot problems and how to prevent accidents at work.

Every individual will be expected to do a number of tests concerning everything they have been taught and to sit through interactive presentations and videos. All of these things will assist to give them all the knowledge they require to operate it properly in a short period of time.

When the online lift training is completed OSHA will take a peek at the scores and observe if you passed it or failed. When you pass you will be sent a certificate that you will present to your employer and any other business to show that you are qualified. The test must be finished sixty days after you register for it. If not than you will need to pay extra and retake the whole thing.

Just like painting the Forth Bridge, a website is never finished! It needs constant tuning and adjustment – adding new content, pruning old content, adding new features as your business changes (see http://www.webgineers.co.uk/ar/10/You.com-owner%27s-manual). But, every so often, among all this routine maintenance, there will be a major upgrade; a seismic shift that lifts your site – and your business – into a whole new gear.

Done right, these upgrades can really turbo-charge your company, opening up new opportunities and leveraging your existing business. But you’ve got to get it right – the difference between a small, static website and a large, industrial-strength e-commerce site is as great as the difference between a pushbike and a truck – get it wrong, and you’ll crash and burn!

The first, key question you’ll need to answer, before beginning an upgrade is: who is going to do it? Are you going to use your own employees, equipment, and expertise, or are you going to use professionals? Are you going to Homebrew, or Outsource?

In order to take that decision, you’ll need to consider the following ten questions.

1. What’s the objective of the website?

Before a programmer hits a single key, you need to understand your commercial objectives, and how your new website will deliver them.

You wouldn’t buy a vehicle, or lease a building, without knowing why you wanted it. Whenever you begin any technical work (even fitting out a shop) you create detailed specifications before you start. The same is true of your website. You need to plan it out before you start. So who will do that planning?

* Could you do it? Do you understand the technology, and what it can deliver, well enough to plan out all that development?

* Your programmers? Do they understand business well enough to understand where you’re going? (Then, why are they programmers?)

If you’re planning a building, you’d hire an architect to turn what you want into something that can be built. It’s just the same when you’re planning a new website; you need a technical architect. What a technical architect does is:

* Understand your commercial objectives, and work with you to make sure you’ll get what you’re expecting,

* select the best mix of technologies to fulfil those objectives, and

* plan how the various components will fit together.

The technical arcitect is the person who understand both your business and the technology. He’s the person that makes sure that, in the end, you get exactly what you wanted at the start.

2. Who is going to manage the development?

Even with a decent plan, somebody has to make sure the experts are all pulling together. Just as an orchestra needs a conductor, so a team of developers needs a project manager.

Have you ever watched programmers working? Lots of pounding on keyboards, screens full of hieroglyphics, the occasional whoop of joy or curse of frustration. But, more than anything, it’s quiet. Programming is solitary work. Programmers don’t talk to each other. It’s just in the nature of the job that its man against the machine, wills locked in battle. They don’t instinctively work as a team. And they often get lost in the details!

To keep them all on-track, to keep them all working on what you value, requires a specialist manager. Frequently the technical architect will project manage – he should: it’s his design that they’re building, and he’ll be best-placed to resolve the snags that inevitably crop up.

But without a project manager, you’ll have to brief and manage and monitor your programmers all by yourself. That’s worse than herding cats – at least you can see what cats are doing!

3. What skills will be needed to build it?

All programmers are not the same. There’s a dizzying array of tools, technologies, and techniques out there, and nobody is expert in them all. When you hear programmers talking among themselves, it sounds like alphabet soup!

Your mission (should you decide to accept it) is to figure out who to hire to build your website. Assuming you’ve got a good design from the technical architect, you’ll need to know which developers have the right mix of skills, not only to build your site, but to keep managing it into the future. Who will be worth their salary over the coming years? For how long will the best contractors stick around?

Of course, you don’t have to accept that mission at all! It’s true that no individual is expert in everything, but there are development companies who – pretty much – are. It’s their problem, not yours, to find the people, and keep them up-to-scratch and up-to-date. They’ve already done the hard work of building a team and developing the skills – and they’ve now got a body of expertise that would cost you a small fortune to put together.

And you don’t even have to pay them a regular salary!

4. What equipment do I need to run it?

Websites live in computers; if your website is on 24/7 then so must your computer. It’s got to stay on through maintenance upgrades, power outages, software crashes, hard-disc corruption, network failures, hacker attacks, and the cleaner tripping over the power cable.

So, you’ll need, besides your computer; high-speed leased lines (broadband won’t do!) uninterruptable power supplies and generators, air conditioning, firewalls, redundant disk arrays, automated backups, secure cabinets, fall-over routers and a duplicate of all the above to fall-over to. An industrial strength website isn’t cheap!

Unless, of course, you get somebody else to handle all that for you. If you put your website inside somebody else’s computer, inside somebody else’s data centre, they provide all the safety and security you would ever need. Instead of buying loads of expensive capital, you pay a monthly rent. You no longer need to worry whether your website is working, or safe – they guarantee it!

5. How do I manage my people, and how do I know I can trust them?

I.T. is a notoriously fast-moving field, so if you hire your own developers and administrators, they will need constant retraining. But that causes problems for you:

* What if you pay for all their training, and then they quit for a better paid job? (Then again, what if you don’t train them, and they stay?)

* How can you tell whether the training they’re asking for is to make you look good on your website, or to make them look good on their CV?

* And, after you’ve provided the training, they’ll need to practice and develop their skills. Whose website do you think they’ll be doing that on?

If you outsource your web development to a specialist company, you won’t have any of these problems. Interestingly, neither will they:

* Here at The Webgineers, we develop well-trained, highly-experienced people. Training is part of the package we offer! But training is not enough – we keep our trainees under close supervision – more like apprentices than students.

* The developers want current skills and stimulating work, and an outsourcer can provide that in bucketloads.

Outsourcing is better for you, and better for the programmers.

Sidebar:Content editors

If you’re going to employ only one person to handle your website for you, who should it be? Programmer? Network engineer? IT administrator? No, no, and no. Your first hire should be a content editor.

You need to keep your website’s content current, to make your site sticky both to search engines and to human beings. Constantly-changing content is the best way to do that. If your editor is part of your company, living and breathing your business just as you are, then the content will stay vital and interesting.

Often, content editors also handle PR.

sidebar ends

6. Who is going to maintain it?

It takes a particular sort of person to plan your website. It takes another sort of person to build it. But it takes another person again to keep it tuned-up and on-form. That’s maintenance.

A good technical architect will make sure that every website has Administrator Control Panels built into it – special pages which your content editors use to update the content week-by-week, even day-by-day. But, where does new content come from? Who takes the photographs, draws the illustrations, and writes the words?

Lots of content is available for free on the web (you may even be reading this article through a syndication service). A good editor will be able to find that material and adapt it for your site. But much of it will need to be specially prepared. Frequently, good editors aren’t outstanding writers or photographers – and outstanding is what you have to be to stay in the game. Sooner or later, you will need to commission original content.

Bear in mind, when you approach content originators such as writers and photographers, that creating for the web is quite different from creating for other media. Screens are harder to read than paper, and peoples’ attention spans are much shorter. You can’t accurately control colour, and you have only minimal control over layout (see, http://www.webgineers.co.uk/ar/9/Designing-for-accessibility).

Remember: you’re looking for great web writers, not great novelists!

7. How good does my security need to be?

Generally speaking, as soon as you appear on the Internet, you’re a target for all kinds of spammers, hackers, and other ne’er-do-wells. Some of them are hacking for pure fun (and will do no more than embarrass you), some are vandals who simply enjoy causing damage, and then there are other, more sinister characters who are in the game professionally (yes, there really are professional hackers!)

Sidebar:Beware!

While you need to have your security taken care of, it’s possible to overdo it! Lots of people try to lock down every corner of their system, and in doing so make it awkward for their visitors, and unusable by their staff.

Too much security is as bad as not enough!

Sidebar ends

There are all kinds of things that they’re after – free email relaying, your customers’ financial records (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2008/03/11/kurt_internet_fraud_feature.shtml, for example), or your own login details.

So, yes: your security needs to be good. It needs to be very good. And to make it good enough, you need to understand:

* what the hackers are after,

* why they want it, and

* how they go about getting it.

The whole issue of security is one of the most rapidly changing parts of the Internet, and it really takes an expert to stay on top of it all. The extent to which you’re not up-to-date is precisely the extent to which you’re vulnerable.

The best security, of course, is designed-in. If you construct your site without weak points, you’ll never have to strengthen it afterwards!

8. How can I be certain I’m complying with the law?

The trouble with the Internet is that it’s very good at telling you the facts, but sometimes it’s not very good at telling you what you need to know. For example, if you ask Google “What are the laws about running websites?”, you’ll get drowned in pages and pages of interesting cases, but no actual strategy.

Here in the UK, there are laws that control all websites, and you need to make sure your website sticks to them. Just for starters there are

* The laws about libel and defamation,

* Laws about Copyright and other controlled rights,

* The Data Protection Act,

* The Disability Discrimination Act,

and, if you’re using your site to sell products or services, you’ll need to comply with

* The Distance Selling Regulations

* The EU e-commerce regulations

* The Sale of Goods Act

* The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, and

* The Consumer Protection Act,

and that’s without thinking about any special laws that might apply to your particular industry (such as Financial Services, Estate Agency, medical or pharmaceutical supplies, or whatever).

To be fair, most of the laws are common-sense and reasonable, and not particularly onerous to stick to – so long as you know what they are.

9. What business am I in, anyway?

What do you do for a living? Do you manufacture something? Do you sell stuff? Do you provide a service? Whatever it is, chances are (if you’re read this far) that you’re not in the business of building and running websites. That means every minute you’re working on your website, you’re not doing the job that really makes you money. For you, building a website isn’t part of running your business, it’s a distraction from running your business.

It’s worse than a distraction, because not only would you be stepping out of the the thing you know how to do, you’d also be stepping into competition with people who really do make websites for a living – the people who your competitors have engaged.

Building a high-quality, high-strength website is a specialist job. You’re going to bet your business on the result, so it needs to be right. As you’ve just seen, it takes a team of skilled people to build an industrial-strength website: technical architect, project manager, programmers, graphic designers, and writers. Just like your other specialist suppliers (your legal work, your accountancy, your printing, and your one-off manufacture, for example) it’s just common sense that you’d want to entrust the job to professionals.

IPAF is the International Powered Access Federation; it is dedicated in promoting safe usage of powered access machinery through effective training courses. Its worldwide stance has meant the organisation has become an authority in all training issues surrounding powered access machinery, operating in many countries globally. Set up in 1983, this year sees IPAF celebrating its twenty fifth year as a non-profit organisation that strives to create safer working procedures for all powered access workers. By creating training guidelines, its work has been fundamental in strengthening the safety aspects of powered access operating.

IPAF performs this important role by regulating training operators and ensuring they meet strict standards of operation. It is currently estimated that almost seventy thousand operatives undergo training in around three hundred training centres in any one year. The result of training is a certificate in the form of a PAL card or Powered Access License. It is not just a top down organisation however; with such a wide base of members, it is through feedback on working procedures that members can influence future legislation and improve the way in which powered access is performed.

IPAF have been recently working toward training all operators to enter into their ‘Clunk Click’ campaign. Reminiscent of the seatbelt campaigns during the eighties and nineties it sets out to ensure that operatives wear a full body harness whenever they are working at height. Training also ensures that this harness is secured to a suitable anchor point at all times. The campaign can be seen as a clear response to a number of fatalities where boom lift workers were catapulted from their work stations due to a lack of suitable harness equipment.

Legally, IPAF has to constantly keep itself, and it’s licensed training centres up to date with current legislation. Most recently the Work at Height Regulation (2005) and the Construction Regulations (2007) have meant an overhaul of the training programs, this work was undertaken meaning that legally defined responsibilities can be easily met for operatives. Having a global approach however means that IPAF must incorporate a number of diverse regulations from different countries in order to comply. It is through a multi-lateral approach that the body have achieved training programs that meet all relevant government legislation.

For those who run a boom lift business, IPAF training will become an even more important element to operation. The new corporate manslaughter act of last year will, according to legal expects work towards protecting conscientious managers while simultaneously punishing those who run dangerous working methods. The act came into effect last month and ensures that managers make relevant provisions and ensure safe working methods are maintained at all times. More precisely this is maintaining equipment extensively and ensuring work areas are safe. If these responsibilities are neglected and a death does occur, an investigation of the company managers will ensue. The findings of the investigation will deem if the company is at fault and whether charges of corporate manslaughter can be levelled.

It is due to these strict health and safety regulations that IPAF has been able to lead safety standards in its field. Without the work of this organisation there is little doubt that the powered access operator would be at more risk. If you are a business manager that regularly utilises boom lifts and other powered access lifts, finding a nearby approved training facility is essential if you do not wish to fall foul to current legislation. Ultimately the organisation is trying to make the working world safer, your responsibilities as a manager are to heed their recommendations and ensure that accidents are kept to a minimum.

TP 9000ALSD Training Video Part 2

TP 9000ALSD Training Video Part 1

When you are looking to make big money using any kind of marketing to generate wealth, it pays to have the guidance of an expert. While there are a lot of MLM marketing “gurus” in this world, there is no question that one expert who tops the list is Robert Blackman. Lifting himself by the bootstraps and recovering from some pretty tough mistakes as he learned the ropes of MLM marketing, Blackman has become a very wealthy man using hard fought and earned market knowledge and skills that his background has given him.

Like any guru, one of the things Blackman now seeks to do is pass along all he has learned to people like us who are just learning how to tap the wealth that can be had in MLM marketing. It pays to take some time to get to know the very unique company that Robert Blackman has started called MLM Mastermind.

There is a lot to be learned by taking advantage of what MLM Mastermind has to offer. MLM marketing is like any business where there is a lot of money to be made because there are those who will “get it” and others who will go bust trying their hand at this kind of business because they failed to listen to the voices of those who have trod this path before.

Blackman’s company exists for the purpose of providing a business vehicle for Robert Blackman himself to continue adding to his already substantial wealth through MLM Marketing. But is also is a business entity that is at the disposal of those of us who want to pick Blackman’s brain about what he knows about making MLM marketing work so we can enter this area of business with a jump start ahead of the competition.

If you decide to do business with MLM Mastermind, you become both a customer and a student of one of the masters. Is MLM Mastermind going to make money from the relationship with its customers? Of course. That is the way business works. But like any legitimate business, MLM Mastermind’s services will make you far more than you will spend using their services. Those services include providing you with valid leads that will lead to real sales as well as offering training materials that are not just theory. They are books and training programs that have grown out of real world experience.

The MLM marketing field is full of as many get rich quick and scam artists as any other field of marketing. That is why it pays to align yourself with someone who knows what they are talking about and has already made their fortune doing what they want to teach you to do. The very same skepticism and sense of caution that makes you a good business person is evident in the orientation materials for MLM Marketing. They advise against the idea of sudden wealth and promote a program of long term growth of wealth that coincides with the long term growth of your downline network and the customer base to support that business.

The very fact that the training and sales materials from MLM Marketing are based on the real world and emphasize the building of a solid business based on a solid product and the building of a long term network and marketing base can help lower your suspicions that this business is just another scam artist. Its worth checking out MLM Marketing. And if after reading the materials on their web page and some of their training programs, you still are unsure, you can always pull out. But you might just stick with Blackman’s program and find yourself earning big money because of it. And that is what we are all in business to do.

“Give me a lever long enough and a pedestal to stand upon and I will move the word”.  An archaic man once stated with acclamation.

As a principle in life one must take advantage on the opportunities that presents itself which is of prime importance when opting for success towards your personal mission.

Looking back to basic science, Leverage is a process that allows you to move a maximum object by exerting a minimal force.  I’ll paint you a word picture to exemplify my point.

A fulcrum acts as a base or foundation on which a lever or flat plane is placed on top of it. It may be viewed as a seesaw with one end longer than the other. All the while the cumbersome object is placed on unto the short end of the lever. Pressure is then applied on the longer end in order to lift the said object.

To successfully lift such a cumbersome load is more dependent on the length of the lever rather than the amount of pressure applied. The main principle in effect is “the longer the lever the stronger it is while expending less force at the same time.”

This can be directly applied with prime contention in life and business as an indispensible tool. Give the three basic parts, the fulcrum which is you. The lever is your team and finally the object to be moved which can be an obstacle or a project at hand.

A team consisting of like minded individuals with tenacious devotion in achieving a common goal whilst guide by a mentor or a coach is quite suitable for success. It is a widely known fact that in a relay a team can run the miles faster than one person can. A mentor presents a team with limitless wisdom and solidifies the bond within your members and would deem you to be destined to be world renowned.

Another integral part of your lever is your network. If you have multiple contacts that have multiple associates, you have the distinct network of associates spanning various professions that can be tapped in. Within your vast network lies a key associate that will be able to open countless opportunities to a more worthwhile success. And all it takes is one key contact the possibilities are endless.

I’m quite sure you’re familiar with the term “Six degrees of separation”. It is primarily based on the concept that you know somebody who knows somebody who then know someone… so on and so forth. With this particular theory in mind it indicates that there are only six steps of separation between you and anyone else on the planet.

Here’s one prime example to take note of. Looking back I spoke on the platform and had the privilege worked with a man named Brian Holloway who is a former professional football player. And guess what, Brian’s father worked for the government so Brian is a close associate and confidant of Presidential adviser Colin Powell. So I’m three degrees of separation away from the President of the United States who is the most powerful political figure on earth.

Hence the power of a network culminated via my life training. If you have been living life as a Lone ranger you are greatly depriving yourself of potential prospect for success through the strength and leverage that relationships alone can bring. If you can accomplish countless projects by yourself imagine the grandeur of having a network it is a treasure trove of untapped potential waiting to be utilized.

Make it your personal mission as part of your skills training in your life business to plant seeds by helping out others. The law of reciprocity will open up prospects for you, remember the longer and stronger the lever the more leverage you will have. You’ll be able to accomplish immeasurable projects at an unprecedented rate if you have a network.

Another instance of leverage is invoking a leverage income. It is of vital importance to have multiple streams of income, which can either be a Passive income and Residual income.

A residual income is the culmination of crafting a bankable commodity one time but getting paid for it multiple times. Take for example a movie, once a Hollywood production company wraps up the feature they will be paid continually every time someone watches the movie regardless of the medium be it in the Movie Theaters, cable, satellite TV, online streaming or movie rental.

Network marketers have a firm grasp on the fundamentals and highly value the propagation of a residual income. Once they have a client who goes on an auto ship program they get paid every month for the order.  They would have the prospect of maximizing the gains by building a team and receive a stipend on team sales every month.

Through utilizing other people you would be able to leverage your income which reverberates all throughout your network.

Another notable example is in Real Estate, when you rent out a property you will be paid rent for each succeeding month which you can then use to pay the mortgage. Basically they are buying you a home that will ultimately appreciate in value later on. This demonstrates the utilization of their money to buy you a property. That’s leverage! It is the leverage of using other people’s money via capitalization on your investments, of which Global conglomerates take advantage of now days.

The other form of leverage is via utilization of other people’s knowledge

This is evident on the hit TV show the The Apprentice. Hundreds of thousands are enticed to try out an audition to be Donald Trump’s apprentice. Most of the finalists left high paying positions and risked it all to get the chance to work for Donald Trump. Through his coaching and mentoring on life and business they are know for a fact that they would be able to acquire the knowledge and leverage this for the rest of their lives.

It’s a just a matter of risk when we are on a personal mission in life and business, we need to continually refine the skills in our repertoire through life training and skill building whilst leveraging the coaching abilities of a mentor.

Since 2005 new Work at Height Regulations have been in effect as a way to improve safety in all manner of industries that use mobile access machinery, the scissor lift and scaffolding. Part of these regulations have been created to make sure that the person using powered access machinery has had a suitable level of training. By ensuring there are always workers with training when people are using access machinery, it is hoped that safety will be increased. The scissor lift falls into the powered access machinery category, being referred to as a mobile elevated platform or MEWP for short.

MEWPs are used in a large variety of industries, allowing workers to reach inaccessible areas speedily and safely. The contemporary scissor lift has been designed with guard rails that actively work towards preventing falls and dangerous situations. This type of machinery can also be used in interiors and exteriors meaning it is a far reaching mobile access solution. In terms of the usability of the scissor lift, painters and decorators regularly use them, as do maintenance workers such as electricians who need to access wiring in large halls or auditoriums. It is hoped that by the release of the Work at height Regulations 2005 that the safety in all of these industries will be improved, allowing workers to perform their roles safely and effectively.

Training courses are in abundance when it comes to the use of the scissor lift. With effective training operators are given the knowledge to select thee right lift for the job, part of this process includes taking account of the maximum height of the lift, how large the platform is and the amount of safety equipment affixed to the platform. It is not just the government however that have strived to making the use of powered access machinery safer, IPAF and independent body of manufacturers and users has recently embarked upon a ‘clunk, click’ campaign. This campaign resembles the road safety variant of the same name and attempts to put safety issues at the forefront of all workers’ minds that utilise mechanised lifting solutions. IPAF are also working in conjunction with government ministers to further develop the safety procedures for working at height to create a safer working environment.

As previously stated having training means that the selection of the right equipment is assured. This thought process must first assess the height of the job as a machine that only reaches with the worker at full stretch will not be suitable. In addition, training enables operators to make an assessment of the working area. Factors such as nearby doorways, any external weather condition, such as high winds, and the surface the machinery is to be placed upon should all be taken into account. Once again having suitable knowledge to recognise the risks posed by oncoming traffic or overhanging hazards is essential.

As a part of the Work at Height Regulations, training is considered a legal necessity. As an employer it is important to ensure all staff members working on access equipment have had training, otherwise legal penalties can become an issue. None of these developments should be begrudged however, with accidents costing thousands in compensation, as well as the human costs of debilitating injuries or even death, the response of the government to make the use of powered access machinery is an understandable and required response.

The Work at Height Regulations (2005) have worked hard to increase the safety of all workers who work on scaffolds or powered access machinery. Parts of the regulations ensure persons working on items such as the scissor lift have had suitable training. By making sure all those using machinery have had adequate training, safe working procedures are followed meaning that all work in a safer environment. The scissor lift also falls into the mobile elevated work platform category or MEWP.

MEWPs make working at height easier for a variety of different industries allowing them to reach work areas quickly and easily. The modern scissor lift also has guard rails which are put in place to ensure workers do not fall and injure themselves. Additionally they can be used inside and out. Uses for the scissor lift vary greatly, from painting and decorating large rooms where ladders are not safe, changing electrical fittings in halls and amphitheatres and repairing brick work at height. Thankfully the Work at Height Regulations ensures that no matter what the uses, workers carry out their tasks in a safe and responsible manner.

Part of adequate training allows operators to choose the right scissor lift for the job, this not only concerns the height at which the lift can reach, but also the size of the platform and the safety equipment on the lift. IPAF, a body set up to create regulations and safe working methods for powered access machinery, is currently involved with a ‘clunk click’ campaign. The work of IPAF campaigners is to ensure that those working at height have suitable harnessing equipment and are secured to the scissor lift at all times. This campaign is working in conjunction with the government’s health and safety executive so safe working practices are adopted in all industries using MEWPs.

When choosing a scissor lift there are various considerations that must be made. The first of these considerations is the height of the job; understandably the lift must reach to a height that allows workers to carry out the job safely without stretching too much. Additionally adequate training will give workers the knowledge to look at the conditions and deem whether work will be safe. These conditions include the surface the platform will be placed upon and if working externally, any weather conditions that could be deemed as unsafe. As well as concerns with conditions, training ensures operatives will be able to recognise any other hazards such as overhanging features that may impede the operation of the scissor lift, or if working by a road, which traffic measures will need to be taken to ensure collisions do not happen.

Legally defined training is essential for at least one of the persons operating a scissor lift. Part of this training will include how to cope in the event of an accident. Tasks such as looking after injured workers when they have had a fall are essential. Falls can seriously injure and hence having the first aid knowledge of what to do means that the safety of workers is enhanced. In addition to medical training, courses normally include information on how to check over machinery to see if it is safe as well giving the knowledge of how to make more detailed assessments of the operability of a scissor lift.

Thankfully the work of IPAF and the government has made scissor lift operators safer. Working at height is always a risk no matter how many safety principles are instilled in operatives. By having the knowledge to reduce these risks and cope in emergencies the working at height environment has been made safer.

Although the reputation of safety is a key component to your business in the construction world, there is nothing more important than keeping your workers safe. Providing proper boom truck training and ensuring that everyone employ safety measures each and every time they use your company’s boom trucks is pivotal to ensuring that no one gets hurt on the job.

Apprenticeships for Boom Truck Operators

Most Canadian provinces now require that boom truck operators fulfill a mandated apprenticeship training program. For example, in Alberta, any boom truck operator who is operating booms, including telescoping booms and articulating booms possessing lives lines, capable of swinging, hoisting, and booming up a down with a capacity greater than 5 tons or booms without live lines with a lifting capacity greater than 8 tons are required to have their certification.

What if the Boom Truck Falls Below the Apprenticeship Guidelines?

As boom truck operators set up, service, and operate hydraulic booms, it is necessary that they are very knowledgeable about the trucks they are working on, regardless of the size of the truck. The complexity of the pedals and levers to rotate the crane and raise and lower the loads is enough to make anyone think twice. Boom truck training is a must, regardless of the size of the boom, the truck, or both.

The best sales companies also employ staff to liaise with new clients and to train their workers to use the equipment safely. A strong relationship with the repair team at your sales company can also help: if your staff has questions or doubts about a boom truck, consulting the repair people should be the first step, rather than the last one.

As well, the American Public Power Association has safety training DVDs that are geared specifically for power utilities. There are other companies that have produced safety videos, so for basic knowledge for new workers, your company can order a volume that introduces basic boom truck training.

The Best Steps to Avoid Accidents

Accidents and deaths can occur from improper boom truck training or, worse yet, no training. The best ways to avoid accidents are:

- Boom truck training, including regular updates and refresher courses
- Rigid maintenance schedules
- Warnings issued and followed up on for workers who are not following proper safety procedures
- Ensuring new equipment, be it purchased, leased or rented, is checked over by the company’s maintenance crew, rather than just relying on another company to make sure it is safe
- Experienced operators and linemen, and for those who lack experience, ensuring they have proper supervision
- Not overworking your staff with too much overtime, no matter how tight the deadlines can be, and ensuring that lighting and weather conditions are satisfactory
- Checking load restrictions each time the machinery is used

With vigilance, proper boom truck training, adequate supervision for new workers, and steps to ensure that the boom truck is in working order, your company can bank on a reputation of safety. This reputation will benefit your company in the marketplace and with potential employees.