Two advantages of hiring licensed individuals to operate your elevated work platforms

If you need to use elevated work platforms (such as scissor lifts, telescopic boom lifts and cherry pickers) for your construction project, it's important to make sure that the people you hire to operate this equipment have valid EWP licences. Read on to find out why.

It's safer

Accidents involving elevated work platforms can result in injuries and fatalities. As such, it is crucial to ensure that the person operating this equipment during a construction project has the expertise required to do so in a safe manner.

A person who has completed the training and the tests required to obtain an EWP licence will be better placed to operate an elevated work platform safely.

EWP licensing courses offer participants detailed information and practical advice on how to prevent injuries and accidents from occurring when using this type of equipment.

The leaders of these courses will, for example, demonstrate how to check the equipment for faults that could potentially endanger the operator or other construction workers.

They will also teach course participants about the importance of operating the equipment in a safe environment (that is, an environment which is free from hazards, such as overhead power lines, that could potentially cause an accident).

Finally, course participants will be taught how to handle the equipment itself safely. For example, they will be taught how to manoeuvre the equipment correctly on gradients, so that it doesn't topple over, and will be taught about the precautions they can take to avoid falling to the ground when they need to stand inside the equipment's platform.

It's more efficient

It is crucial for those who undertake construction projects to ensure that the work is carried out on time and in an efficient manner. Delays of any kind can result in increased costs and additional paperwork.

If you want to keep your construction project on schedule, it's worth hiring individuals with EWP licenses to operate your elevated work platforms.

The reason for this is as follows; people who have received the training needed to get this license will have a better understanding of how to avoid making errors which could affect the speed with which they complete a specific task.

For example, they will know what type of ground conditions the equipment can be used in and thus will not make the mistake of driving the equipment across, for instance, wet, muddy soil (which could result in the tyres getting stuck and the equipment having to be towed by another vehicle).

Their training will also ensure that they avoid using the equipment in a way that could lead to it being damaged and needing time-consuming repairs.

For example, a person with an EWP license would know not to operate the equipment if its hydraulic fluids were too low, as this could result in the hydraulically-powered boom collapsing to the ground midway through an operation and sustaining major damage.