I've been told variously that to use a scissor lift on a construction site that:
1. All operators need to have a certification card; and
2. That OSHA has no specific requirements regarding scissor lifts.

Can anybody shed light on which of the above is correct? If certifications are required, where do you get them? United Rentals wants an arm and a leg to do a "Safety Training/Certification" program. RSC has offered a much more affordable program, but we're still not sure we need this. If scissor lifts fall under the category of scaffolds (29 CFR 1926.451), do we need more than a "competent person" to inspect them prior to each shift?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

We just use the ones on site, hell nobody ever says anything but go ahead.

We generally use scissor lifts provided for or rented by the customer. When we rent them, the customer is charged that amount. I just have to make sure that the tech who is driving is good at driving one--which I do. Safety is the first consideration. However, no license or certification is needed in our area.

In machine shops, when we service or put in paging systems or put in new wire runs, sometimes the customer puts a tech in a "cage" made for one of the fork lifts. Then one of the customers fork lift operators drives our tech around. I feed cable, carry my clip board and watch everything very carefully.

We especially like the "Personal" lifts that are much smaller that the normal scissor lifts. We rent those, but generally, they're sort of hard to find quickly--alot of people like them, I guess.

I do the same with ladders. We have 4 ft and 6 ft ladders, but the customer provides anything longer than that--or we rent them--and charge back.

We own ladders up to 32 foot, I just cant see asking to use other peoples equipment.

As far as lifts go, we were certified to drive them because the unions wouldent let us if we werent. Here in Texas we do exactly as Russ unless there is not one on site, then we will rent one but we have never been asked to provide any sort of qualification. It may be different were you are though

We just use the ones on site and my son
drives really well

Never had a problem other then last guy left
It with a dead battery

Yeah, we always use what is there unless they don't have one then we rent one.

Had one job we had to rent one that would go 50 foot. That thing was as big as a small car.

Put a little pressure on the rental stores, tell them their competition will do it for free.

Most of the union shops around here won't let you use a lift at their site without proof of a training certificate. The rental shops here offered the course for free (it was instructed by one of the manufacturers, Skyjack) and the rental store provided the meeting room and coffee/donuts for the night. It was a one night course for scissor lift and a 2nd night for cherry picker (boom).

We also had to go and get a certificate for "fall arrest" to know the proper use of a 5 point harness and tying yourself off.

Now they want us to have a "confined spaces" certificate for working in that environment. It just never ends!

I never felt comfortable about using another trades scissor lift unless the GC on the job site suggested it themself . Conversely I never refused another trade the use of ours if we where not using it .

I will make arrangments with the electrician or GC to use a lift thats on site. Several times I have gone in after hours or weekends when lifts are free rather then rent another. Only cert. required are from business only.

same here in east texas. we can rent. no cert needed.

if needed for a short time and 1 is there on site, most of the time we borrow it.

if needed for quite a bit then we TRY to talk the customer into renting it otherwise we'll do it and bill it back (with a very small surcharge to cover our time to arrange it)

only rented one once , no questions asked seems like there is alwys one on site or we let the customer rent it

like merritt Ill tryu to do it after hours , really I perfer it becouse if we can get a key we can work alone , spread tools and cable out without having to worry about it .

We normally have the customer rent one and use one of their maintenance guys to drive us around, about if they don't have a body to spare we just drive the lift ourseleves. We have never been asked if we were cerified.

Got a certification for business insurance purposes. It saved a few bucks. It was not required by anyone.

where did you get the cert and how much was it ?

Paul, my insurer never mentioned this as a possible savings. I have some clients that are starting to ask about whether we have certifications. From reading the OSHA regs, it appears that there is no "standard" and that we could effectively do our own training and certification, so long as it's documented. Where did you get your certification?
Bill

never having had any training I always bring the lift down befor moving it more than a couple of feet .

is that necessary or is it ok to move the lift in the extened postion ?

We got our cert through the lift distributer. I think it was about $100 a person. They sent a guy in for a 4 hour training class, then we took one of the dumbest tests I have ever taken. The training guy insisted that it always needs to be lowerred to move it, period.

Well that's a new one! How on earth are you supposed to pull wire through the girders of a plant without moving it in the air? As a safety feature the lifts are designed to only move at a slower speed while the deck is raised. Some scissor lifts even have stabilizer bars that flip down while the deck is up. These side bars take up space between the bottom of the lift and the floor as a safety. This way if you accidentally drive into a hole, it will only bottom the lift out rather than tip. Good feature to look for when you rent.

I always lower it , just makes sense

go up to the rafters , push 36'stick accross the rafters . go down move 30" back up etc .

the weight that high just seems to me to have the potenial to tip