The Many Benefits of Work Platform Lifts
There is an increasing demand by manufacturing companies to provide their personnel easier and safer methods to access hard-to-reach work areas. This is especially true when the work being accessed is raised off the floor and outside an operator’s normal ergonomic power zone. Or, the work may be extremely large, heavy, or restricted that it cannot be moved between workstations. In either case, it is much more efficient to bring the worker to the work rather than bringing the work to the worker. Industrial Work Platform Scissor lifts have been used to position material, tools, equipment and/or personnel in such applications for over 50 years.
Flexibility in Design
Flexibility in design to customize for unique applications is one of the greatest advantages to a work platform.
Fixed, Adjustable or Mobile
Not all applications are the same. At times, a fixed (stationary) platform is required, other times the operator needs variable positioning to the work being accessed, and/or the lift to be moved between workstations.
Platform Size & Configuration
Offering more flexibility, work platforms can be customized to fit special application requirements that may call for an oversized platform or a unique shape. Whatever is needed to provide the ideal workspace and surface.
Shuttling / Sliding Platform Extensions
There are applications involving a part that needs to be accessed that is some distance within the reach of personnel and moving the work platform lift is not an option. The solution is to design the platform with the ability to extend, slide, or shuttle to give the operator a walking surface out to the work area that is safe and functional. This is also an important design feature for many operations that need to make sure the platform doesn’t come in contact with the product being worked on.
Onboard Workstation
A work platform lift can serve as an onboard workstation for applications requiring the operator to use computers, hand tools, weight scales, or other devices that necessitate the immediate availability to these utilities in their production processes.
Multi-Functional Controls
Controls play a critical part to the efficient and safe use of work platform lifts. They can be designed to perform a wide range of tasks from a single operator interface. These can range from simple pushbutton operation that control the raising and lowering of the lift to advanced Human Machine Interfaces that control more complex functions such as indexing and repeatability.
Safety Features
Today’s work platform lifts have a wide range of design features available that can protect the safety of your personnel, as well as improve overall productivity.
- Guardrail system to enclose the worker around the perimeter of the work platform.
- Personnel access gates with gate status switches to prevent lift movement should a gate be in any other position than fully closed.
- Slip-resistance surfaces prevent falling.
- Emergency manual lowering valve located at ground level – to lower the platform in the event of power outage.
- Locking methods for mobile work platform lifts in a stationary position.
- Protective Skirting serves as a barrier to prevent inadvertent contact between personnel, and the moving work platform lift.
- Lift-In-Motion Audible/Visual Alarm to warn personnel within the lift operating zone that the lift is moving, or about to move.
- Safety harnesses for applications where operators/riders are expected to perform work over an open, unguarded edge of the lift due to size/orientation of the work.
Work Platform Lifts are a longstanding and popular method of increasing worker productivity and safety. They offer no limits to how these lifts can be customized to fit any work access application. Autoquip has been manufacturing custom work platforms for decades following safety parameters set by ANSI MH29.1 and providing personnel protection design features that are recommended for the unique operating environment or application.
For more information on the advantages of Autoquip’s Work Platform Lifts visit: https://autoquip.com/applications/work-platforms/