Want to Hire Access Equipment? Here are All the Types You Should Know

Introduction

For there to be a safe and effective work platform, you need to have the right access equipment. These types of equipment are applicable in many industries but are especially important in construction where accessing heights safely is an absolute must. These pieces of equipment serve the vital purpose of protecting workers from serious injuries.

One of the leading causes of death in the workplace is falls from height. Using the right access equipment ensures that workers will be able to perform their chores safely without worrying about the impending danger.

Access equipment comes in a range of types and form. To choose the most appropriate one for you, you need to take several factors into account. These include the available floor space, height, availability of skilled supervisors, and whether or not there are environmental restrictions.

In this article, we tell you the different types of access equipment and the specific roles that each one plays. By the end of this reading, you will know exactly which equipment to hire for your construction project.

Types of Access Equipment

Edge Protection Systems

These pieces of equipment are best used when the work at hand poses a significant threat of falling off from rooftops. The equipment work by surrounding raised walkways edges and offer a strong barrier. This enables them to prevent falls from heights that might occur from tripping and slipping. When you hire them, you must ensure that they meet specific requirements of New Zealand health and safety rules.

Folding Work Platform

The other name for this is a work platform. The main reason behind their immense popularity for tradespeople such as decorators and painters is their portability.

This type of work platform folds to allow for easy storage. Although they are mostly safe for all types of users, care must be taken to avoid minor injuries.

Podium Platforms

Podium platforms provide access to heights and offer increased levels of safety compared to standard step ladders. They are typically used for changing light bulbs and fixtures, painting walls, plastering at height, and other general-purpose maintenance. Most feature a sturdy step-based tower to prevent falls.

Mobile Access Towers

Mobile access towers have casters to provide increased mobility. Also known as scaffold towers, mobile access towers come in different heights for different projects, and are mainly in cases where a podium work platform cannot sufficiently meet the project height. Mobile access towers are a fan favourite of maintenance personnel and painters who require accessing elevated workplaces safely.

Powered Access Platforms

Motorized and electric work platforms let workers board the equipment on the ground and then be carried up or down in the course of a project. The lifts are built with robust standing platforms, and some even have a guardrail system to allow workers to safely reach out and up as necessary during the project construction. Below, we explain further the most common powered platform types:

Scissor lifts

Scissor lifts have scissoring supports that originate from a powered bed to lower a worker or lift them. Scissor lifts are most commonly used for cleaning building exteriors, fulfilling warehouse orders, and maintaining or repairing heavy equipment that doesn’t support ground-level access.

 Electric hoists

Hoists refer to pulley systems that work with preexisting access platforms or scaffolding platforms. Their job is to facilitate the movement of equipment such as bar cutting, welding, or portable line boring machines through various buildings or stories.

Cherry pickers

In cherry pickers, workers are placed at the end of the boom of the crane to enable them to access a workplace. As good as they are, scissor lifts have great limitations in that they can only move equipment and people vertically and in only two directions. But for cherry pickers, workers and equipment can be moved in a multitude of directions for maintenance, repair, and inspections.

Powered platforms work at elevated heights and can manoeuvre into unusual and tight spaces. If your project requires safe, mobile, and fast access to an unusual space, you will benefit from these powered platforms. 

Ladders

Ladders are undoubtedly the simplest and most common access equipment, and they provide easy and fast access to heights. Although they are effective and quite simple to use, they are not among the safest options for some tasks. It’s why other types of access equipment, for instance, rolling ladders, access towers and podium platforms, are preferred by many as safer alternatives.

Personal Access

These types of work platform equipment are used by people who want to reach elevated heights that have a significant risk of falling. Some of these include suspension equipment and passenger hoists. Some of the most common uses of these pieces of equipment include hoists and harnesses for window cleaning, Commercial Roofing Inspections, and extra safety precautions.

Material Movement

There are times when materials will require to be moved to areas that are more challenging. In such cases, you can count on material movement to help you out. In most cases, material movement equipment moves materials to and also from heights, for example, rooftops. Some of the examples of material movement pieces of equipment are goods hoists, cranes, gin wheels, lorry loaders, and lift trucks, to mention but a few.

Conclusion

When hiring access equipment for whatever project that you have, it’s vitally important to ensure that they not only meet regulatory safety standards but also improve the ability of a worker to do their work.

Universal Hire is the premier work platform and access equipment hire provider in Auckland, New Zealand. We work with stainless steel, aluminium, and other common metals to give our clients durable, secure, and costume access platforms. 

Visit us for a comprehensive variety of market-leading equipment for all sizes and types of projects. Boasting decades of experience in the industry, we can provide equipment for all kinds of industries.

Call us today to speak with any of our knowledgeable and friendly team to guide you on the best option for your specific project.

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