# Ground man



## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

Do any of you guys use a ground person when you are in a lift? Yesterday, in Seattle, my son came upon two electricians pinned to the steel in a warehouse. It doesn't look good for one of them. The one still breathing said that the other guy had hit his head and fell on the controls and it went up and pinned them both. They did not have a ground man to lower the lift and they were helpless.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

RIVETER said:


> Do any of you guys use a ground person when you are in a lift? Yesterday, in Seattle, my son came upon two electricians pinned to the steel in a warehouse. It doesn't look good for one of them. The one still breathing said that the other guy had hit his head and fell on the controls and it went up and pinned them both. They did not have a ground man to lower the lift and they were helpless.


The silence is deafening.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

I don't. The sound of silence.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

480sparky said:


> I don't. The sound of silence.


Kind of what I thought. Just be careful.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

RIVETER said:


> Kind of what I thought. Just be careful.



Will do.








​


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

Done it many times. You've gained weight, haven't you?


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

RIVETER said:


> You've gained weight, haven't you?


It's all the cash I've made. :laughing:


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

480sparky said:


> It's all the cash I've made. :laughing:


Good for you. Next time, though, extend the boom so you don't have to reach so far.:thumbsup:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

RIVETER said:


> Good for you. Next time, though, extend the boom so you don't have to reach so far.:thumbsup:



The lens hinges down. I don't need it in my face.


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## Legion (Oct 19, 2010)

RIVETER said:


> Do any of you guys use a ground person when you are in a lift? Yesterday, in Seattle, my son came upon two electricians pinned to the steel in a warehouse. It doesn't look good for one of them. The one still breathing said that the other guy had hit his head and fell on the controls and it went up and pinned them both. They did not have a ground man to lower the lift and they were helpless.


Safety foot pedals are designed to prevent just this sort of accidental control operation.

As for your question though, yes.


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## Podagrower (Mar 16, 2008)

We used to have 3 very old scissor lifts (the Egyptians used them to build the pyramids), and the owners were trying to beat every last nickel out of them. One of them had a bad solenoid that would stick sometimes. Imagine driving at a wall and when you let off the control, it just keeps going. Like I said, these machines were old, and had none of todays safety features. There was an emergency stop and an on/off button, but one of them didn't work. We all knew the machines quirks, and planned operation accordingly.

The steel guys that decided to "borrow" our lift one morning, did not know about the machines problems. They started raising it up, and when they let off the controls, it just kept going up, until it hit the bar joists and smashed the bar joist and cage until it burned out the motor. They had to cut a hydraulic line and use a forklift to take it to the scrapyard. No construction workers were harmed filming this recreation, or in the original incident.


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

Legion said:


> Safety foot pedals are designed to prevent just this sort of accidental control operation.
> 
> As for your question though, yes.


I've never seen a scissor lift with a foot pedal.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

mattsilkwood said:


> I've never seen a scissor lift with a foot pedal.



Sometimes it called a dead-mans' switch. If you keel over from a heart attack or bail out over the railing, the lift ceases to move. If you hit a bump and your foot comes up a bit, you get slammed against the railing.

I hate 'em.


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

480sparky said:


> Sometimes it called a dead-mans' switch. If you keel over from a heart attack or bail out over the railing, the lift ceases to move. If you hit a bump and your foot comes up a bit, you get slammed against the railing.
> 
> I hate 'em.


I am not crazy with dead man foot either.

The last lift I have to use it used combation of deadman and steering stick to get around.

Merci.
Marc


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## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

Most of the industrial plants I work at require a ground man in a snorkel lift and tying off in a scissor lift.


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## Bob Badger (Apr 19, 2009)

mattsilkwood said:


> I've never seen a scissor lift with a foot pedal.





480sparky said:


> Sometimes it called a dead-mans' switch. If you keel over from a heart attack or bail out over the railing, the lift ceases to move. If you hit a bump and your foot comes up a bit, you get slammed against the railing.
> 
> I hate 'em.


Yeah, I am pretty sure Matt knows what they are but thank you captain obvious.:laughing:

I have seen very few scissor lifts, even brand new ones with foot pedal deadman switches. A few yes and I agree they can hurt you if you slip off them.


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## Loose Neutral (Jun 3, 2009)

480sparky said:


> Will do.


 Is that really you. I pictured you more old and feable with a straw hat or something. :whistling2:


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## DIRT27 (Aug 25, 2010)

Most of the lifts I have used have a deadmans foot pedal or a squeeze control joy stick. It would be hard to get pinned in the up position with the squeeze control but I could see it in the down position.

Most lifts are designed to prevent this thing from happening. Unfortunately most of the designs are not full proof.

About 50% of the time I do not have someone with me while using a lift and it is really something to think about.


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

At least his son is in Seattle.


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

480sparky said:


> Sometimes it called a dead-mans' switch. If you keel over from a heart attack or bail out over the railing, the lift ceases to move. If you hit a bump and your foot comes up a bit, you get slammed against the railing.
> 
> I hate 'em.


 In a snorkel, yea. I cant recall ever seeing one in a scissor lift, they've either got the squeeze joystick or an enable button on the side of the controler, of course there are the ones that operate with toggle switches also, They suck.


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## DIRT27 (Aug 25, 2010)

My dad used to have a bucket truck with toggle controls, but it had a guard around them so you could not lean up against them.

I hate the dead mans too. Nothing like going full speed in rabbit mode and having you foot slip off.

I remember seeing a plumber with one on his pipe threader. He would jam coupling in it to pretty much by pass the switch. I thought that was pretty intelligent :no: I wonder what the kind of fines the company would get if he got hurt and there was an investigation.


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## nitro71 (Sep 17, 2009)

Reality is that most projects can't afford to have a ground man for lift work. Do I feel unsafe without a ground man while running a lift. Nope.


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## Wiredude (May 14, 2010)

We always send out a ground guy when we use a lift on site-lighting, etc. We didnt' used to untill we had a lift malfunction and one of our service techs was stuck up in the air, in a rainstorm.


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## Legion (Oct 19, 2010)

DIRT27 said:


> I hate the dead mans too. Nothing like going full speed in rabbit mode and having you foot slip off.



Speaking of sudden stops with aerial lifts...

A few months ago, I received an incident report from another facility where a worker was injured quite severely while using a mobile boom. The worker was going full speed in rabbit mode through an empty parking lot with the boom down but extended 'about' twenty feet (sorry, I can't recall the exact amount reported). One of the tires struck a small pot hole, small enough that it wasn't even visible on the security footage. That small drop, destabilized the rig enough that being amplified through the boom to the basket, the employee was actually catapulted out! 

Thankfully he was wearing a full body harness and lanyard that was tied off. Unfortunately, even the six feet of the lanyard was enough to allow him to fly a bit into the air and come down hard on the boom... six feet out, than fall off the side and was left dangling in the air, with the danger of suspension trauma from the harness.


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## superdeez (Sep 13, 2010)

480sparky said:


> Sometimes it called a dead-mans' switch. If you keel over from a heart attack or bail out over the railing, the lift ceases to move. If you hit a bump and your foot comes up a bit, you get slammed against the railing.
> 
> I hate 'em.


You hit the railing, and whatever happens to be the most needed/most expensive tool in that bucket takes a swan dive to the ground and shatters.


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