Important Inspections You Must Do on a Bucket Truck
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A bucket truck is now an essential piece of heavy machinery. It is often employed on job sites that demand operating above ground, including forestry, construction, and utility maintenance. They offer a platform from which employees may be lifted to suitable heights. Though they are secure when used correctly, they pose many accident dangers if safety rules aren’t strictly carefully, such pieces of equipment are in use.
Read on to look at what a bucket truck is, its uses, and what crucial inspections you must do on a bucket truck. After all, you will need to plan ahead to find a good mechanic, a great bucket truck specialty place, and so much more!
What Exactly Is a Bucket Truck?
As the name implies, a bucket truck is mounted to a vehicle. It can also be mounted on a van, which is known as a bucket van. It is also called boom truck. Various bucket trucks are designed to transport supplies and goods to workers. They are used in various sectors, including vegetation management, electric utilities, lighting and signage, and telecommunications.
Unfortunately, since there are so few producers of boom trucks, they might be rather costly. Fortunately, a boom truck is substantially less expensive to rent.
What Are Bucket Truck Uses?
Bucket trucks have a variety of applications. They are used regularly in a variety of sectors both as private trucks and commercial trucks. Its uses may include:
Window Washing
Office buildings with five stories may have their outside glass cleaned by bucket trucks with booms of sixty feet or more. Window washers may use these vehicles to clean windows that would be unreachable without ladders.
Hanging Decorations
A bucket truck is used for hanging everything from banners on the field of your preferred local team to Christmas decorations in the central business district of your city.
Maintenance of Power Utility and Telecommunications Lines
A bucket truck is often used to raise employees to telecommunications lines and power utility. Employees are secured from the hazardous, high-voltage lines they must operate using specially insulated vehicles.
Exterior Painting
Some painters use a bucket truck, such as window cleaners, to access high-building exteriors. These trucks allow painters to reach 5 stories to paint building exteriors.
Tree Trimming
Bucket trucks are commonly seen on roadways during large thunderstorms loosened, and fallen tree branches imperil power lines. Employees trimming trees near power lines use specifically insulated bucket trucks to secure themselves from the potentially dangerous high-voltage wires they will most likely come into contact with during their operation.
Fire Rescue
Some fire vehicles are equipped with a bucket, making them bucket trucks! These carefully constructed trucks enable firefighters to reach towering structures to create fires and rescue individuals from unreachable locations.
Inspections You Must Do on Your Bucket Truck
Because the platform of a bucket truck might be raised to very high levels, there is an additional element of risk that most other heavy equipment does not have. Here are some of the crucial inspections you must do on your bucket truck:
Workplace Inspection
Once the vehicle is approved, the following daily examination must be at the workplace site. Safety advice includes examining the ground for slopes, holes, bumps, and trash—Park on sturdy ground. Before operating the vehicle, check for overhead obstructions, such as wires.
Moreover, always use push chocks and emergency brakes beneath the tires. Place the cones around the workplace to indicate where the bucket truck is. Remember the minimum operating distance from electric lines and keep it in mind when using the boom.
Tip Over Prevention
It is another safety danger associated with large machinery transporting aerial components. However, thoroughness can eliminate the chance of significant worker harm or damage to equipment.
Ascertain that the outriggers are on sturdy, level ground. Never stretch the boom beyond its safe operating limits. While the bucket is lifted, do not move the truck. Also, do not overfill the container.
Everyday Inspection
Before using a bucket truck, it should be inspected every day. Check for flaws, cracks, fractures, leakage, and other issues using a checklist. Check the tire pressure, for instance.
Inspect the truck’s undercarriage and boom system for fluid leakage, among other things. Check the hydraulic and weld operations for proper functioning. Check that the lights are working properly and that no parts are loose or missing. If you uncover any abnormalities during your daily inspection, immediately contact your supervisor.
Fall Protection
For various reasons, any equipment with an aerial lift must be handled with caution. Maintaining at least three contact points is critical: two feet and one hand or two hands and one foot. Outside stairs should not be damp enough to cause workers to slip during rainy or snowy weather.
Additionally, note that individual fall protection devices must be inspected regularly to ensure that they are in good working order. Protection equipment previously deployed during a falling event should not be utilized again unless properly examined to verify that it is not damaged.
Electricity Safety Tips
To prevent electrocution, consider electrified electricity lines and other conductors even when they are not in use. While the bucket may be insulated, coming into touch with a live electrical circuit might endanger the operator. Insulated flying platforms cannot protect the employee if there is phase-to-ground contact.
Conclusion
Maintaining the integrity of all aspects of your equipment is critical to the safety of your workers. It is essential to perform regular boom truck repair and maintenance or replace any components that are not up to safe operating requirements. Furthermore, having a regular mechanic’s shop capable of dealing with the numerous systems that your aerial lift employs is required to ensure safe functioning.