Hoisting Personnel
Employers may not use cranes and derricks to hoist employees, unless:
- the erection, use, and dismantling of conventional means of reaching the work area, such as a personnel hoist, ladder, stairway, aerial lift, elevating work platform, or scaffold, would be more hazardous, or
- the erection, use, and dismantling of conventional means of reaching the work area is not possible because of the project’s structural design or worksite conditions.
Use of Personnel Platform
A personnel platform is not required for hoisting employees:
- Into and out of drill shafts that are up to and including 8 feet in diameter;
- in pile driving operations;
- solely for transfer to or from a marine worksite in a marine-hoisted personnel transfer device; or
- in storage tank (steel or concrete), shaft, and chimney operations.
Pre-Lift Meeting
A pre-lift meeting must be held before the trial lift to review the applicable requirements
of Section 1431 and the procedures that will be followed. The meeting must be attended by the equipment operator, the signal person (if used for the lift), employees to be hoisted, and the person responsible for the task to be performed.
Trial Lift and Inspection
A trial lift with the unoccupied personnel platform loaded at least to the anticipated lift weight must be made from ground level, or any other location where employees will enter the platform, to each location at which the platform is to be hoisted and positioned.
Where there is more than one location to be reached from a single set-up position, either individual trial lifts for each location, or a single trial lift, in which the platform is moved sequentially to each location, must be performed; the method selected must be the same as the method that will be used to hoist the personnel.
Immediately after the trial lift, a competent person must visually inspect the equipment, base support or ground, and personnel platform to determine whether the trial lift has exposed any defect or problem or produced any adverse effect. Any condition found during the trial lift and subsequent inspection that fails to meet a requirement of this standard or otherwise creates a safety hazard must be corrected before hoisting personnel.
Proof Testing
Prior to hoisting employees on the personnel platform, and after any repair or modification, the platform and rigging must be proof tested to 125 percent of the platform’s rated capacity. The
proof test may be done concurrently with the trial lift. Personnel hoisting must not be conducted until a competent person determines that the platform and rigging have successfully passed the proof test.
Hoisting Personnel near Power Lines
Hoisting personnel within 20 feet of a power line that is up to 350 kV, and hoisting personnel within 50 feet of a power line that is more than 350 kV, is prohibited (except for power transmission and distribution work).
