Three questions to ask before choosing access equipment

While our cherry pickers, hoists and truck-mounted access platforms are clearly designed for outdoor use, we also offer access equipment that can be used indoors. Our scissor lifts are ideal for use in warehouses where workers need to access high shelves and transport heavy goods vertically. Meanwhile, our work platforms and PAV lifts are great for carrying out ceiling repairs and maintenance in offices and similar spaces. However, if you plan on using access equipment indoors, you need to be very careful. We’ve come up with a list of simple tips to help you and your employees minimise risk and avoid causing damage when using access equipment in a building’s interior.

1. There’s no need for speed

Access equipment is heavy and can be dangerous if it bumps into a person or structure at speed. The risk of this is obviously higher in an enclosed environment than outdoors, so it’s important to move interior access equipment around slowly. Where possible, avoid operating your access machinery at its maximum speed. Simply slowing down can help you stay in control and avoid collisions.

2. Think about the equipment’s weight limit

All access platforms have weight limits. However, smaller access platforms that are designed for interior use obviously have lower weight limits than larger exterior ones. It is therefore very important that you make yourself aware of your access equipment’s weight limit and avoid overloading it. Overloaded access equipment can become difficult to control and may even overbalance, so don’t risk it!

3. Always look around you before moving access equipment

Of course, you should always look around you when operating access equipment outdoors, but it’s even more important to do so when operating it indoors. It’s almost impossible for people to get out of the way of moving equipment in an enclosed environment, so just look around you and make sure nobody’s in the way before you move your interior access equipment.

Here at Rapid Platforms, we pride ourselves on the safety of our access equipment. Provided you follow the advice we’ve given in today’s blog, you should be able to use scissor lifts, PAV lifts and other interior access platforms without any unnecessary risk.