Types of Man Lifts
Designed specially to vertically lift workers to higher areas, scissor lifts are common in the construction business to help transport or lift employees form one place to another. Man lifts are power-driven and provide special handholds and platforms or steps to provide safe transport. The type of construction work being performed will decide exactly which kind of man lift would be used in a project.
Electrically Insulated Man Lifts
According to Man and Material Lift Engineering, the man lift most preferred for working in close proximity to electrocution hazards are electrically insulated man lifts. The electrically insulated man lifts offer protection to personnel against accidental electrocution. These type of machinery follow the American National Standards Institute A92.2 Category C, 46kV Rated. These electrically insulated man lifts provide fiberglass insulated booms, fiber optic control cables and are operated on nonconductive hydraulic hoses which serve to reduce ground fault.
Scissor Lifts
Scissor lifts are a special kind of aerial man lift that is meant to transport workers vertically to difficult-to-reach areas. The scissor lift derived its name due to the scissor type of design of the folding supports which could raise and lower the platform. In order to raise the lift, each one of the folding supports is opened in order to extend the platform to higher heights.
The scissor lift will either be powered manually or hydraulically. The hydraulic powered system does not rely on power, however enables the scissor lifts to descend with just a release of hydraulic pressure. Because the potential of mechanical malfunctions preventing the platform from descending to the ground suddenly is eliminated, hydraulic systems make safer scissor lifts at the end of the day.
Capacity
The man lift has a large range of weight capacities, with several man lifts capable of holding a lot of individuals, while some models can only hold a single individual. Scissor lifts and platform lifts are more beneficial for transporting a lot of individuals, as boom lifts have less space located in their bucket.