Maneuvering and General Practices

Judgment

Early in the course, we talked about factors that increase the risk while operating a MEWP. We also talked about how operators, in most cases, contribute one or more of these factors. Well, this ties directly into their judgment.

Basically, it boils down to the decisions that they make.

Even if we have a solid safety program and the most extensive and effective safeguarding controls in place, an operator can still make a decision that dramatically increases risk and results in an incident.

Throughout the assessment, you’ll need to consistently evaluate your operator’s judgment and the decisions that they make.

Basically, are they making the best decisions at all times?

For example, if there are two potential routes for the MEWP to travel, and one of the routes has more significant hazards along the way, are they choosing to take that route or the safer route? Did they even bother to check that there was an additional route?

Every good decision that your operator makes will decrease the risk of an incident, while every poor, or even less-than-ideal decision they make will increase it.

Stopping  / Pausing the Evaluation

If your operator makes a poor judgment call, stop the evaluation and ask them why they made that decision. This is important since it will help you to determine how to proceed.

For example, if they say they didn’t know how to make the correct decision, perhaps they didn’t retain the initial training content. In this case, you may want to consider having them complete the MEWP course again, possibly with some assistance.

If they state that they wanted to “take a shortcut”, you’ll need to explain that while efficiency is certainly important, it should never be at the expense of safety.

How you deal with operators who exercise poor judgment will be dependent upon the individual, your workplace culture, and other factors. However, if you observe a trainee consistently making bad decisions, it’s best to pause the evaluation and speak to the trainee’s supervisor or other authority figures in the workplace to determine the best way to proceed.

Pedestrians

It’s obvious that one of the most important responsibilities that a MEWP operator has is to work around pedestrians in the safest possible manner. Basically, operators should never operate the equipment in a way that will increase the risk of injury to pedestrians.

You should pay close attention to your operator’s behavior around pedestrians throughout the entire evaluation.

Here are some of the main things to watch for:

Slows Down and Sounds Audible Warning Devices for Pedestrians When Required

While a MEWP operator should never be traveling at a high rate of speed, the rate of speed should be even lower when operating around pedestrians

Additionally, the operator should activate any audible warning devices around pedestrians where required and even in areas where pedestrians might be located.

For example, an operator must activate the forklift’s horn or other audible devices when traveling around corners and other blind spots where pedestrians may be located.

As mentioned previously, it’s important to pay close attention to your operator’s level of awareness relating to pedestrians throughout the entire evaluation.

Establishes Eye Contact with Pedestrians

Operators should make every effort to establish eye contact with pedestrians in various scenarios. For example, if a pedestrian is walking in an adjacent walkway in the general direction of the MEWP, making eye contact with the pedestrian will help to ensure that they are aware of the MEWP traveling adjacent to them.

In similar cases, pedestrians who are unaware of a piece of equipment in close proximity to them may inadvertently walk in front of the piece of equipment and increase their chances of getting struck.

The risks related to the above will greatly be determined by the specific workplace that the operator is working in. This is why it’s incredibly important to assess the specific work environment and determine what applicable hazards exist and what measures must be taken and communicated.

Does Not Allow Pedestrians to Come Near While Operating the Equipment and Never Allows Pedestrian to Cross Beneath Booms or Platforms

The closer a pedestrian is to a piece of equipment, the higher the likelihood that they can become struck by the equipment or its load/object/boom, resulting in a potentially catastrophic injury.

Throughout the evaluation, your operator should consistently not allow pedestrians to approach the MEWP while it’s in operation.

There are scenarios where a supervisor or other individual may need to speak to the operator. In these cases, the operator should lower a boom or platform into a safe position, stop all functions, and ensure there is no risk for movement when the employee or supervisor approaches. This should be done in accordance with the workplace’s specific procedures and guidelines.

Safety Functions and Devices

As we discussed earlier in the course, MEWPs are designed with safety features and components that help to reduce risk, such as audible devices like horns or stabilizing devices like outriggers. These features are in place for the safety of your operators as well as others on the worksite.

Through the practical evaluation, you must ensure that the operator is using available safety features and devices consistently and correctly.

Platform Positioning During Travel

Monitor the platform or boom position throughout the evaluation to ensure the operator maintains it in the correct position. The correct positioning will vary depending on the MEWP being used, but in most cases, travel should only happen when the platform is in the lowered position, especially for boom lifts.

Controls

Monitor the operator’s use of controls throughout the evaluation to ensure that, not only they’re using them correctly, but smoothly as well.

Trainees should be operating controls smoothly in all directions. Sudden jerky movements will cause dynamic forces to shift the center of gravity of the MEWP potentially resulting in unstable conditions, as you’ll learn a bit later.

Keep in mind that some of these movements may be jerky at first as the operator may be nervous during the evaluation. Giving the operator some time to relax and get comfortable with the controls will usually result in smoother movements and less impact from dynamic forces.

CofG Awareness and Stability

It’s critical that MEWP operators clearly understand the principles relating to “center of gravity” and operate the MEWP in a way that always keeps the center of gravity in the area of stability.

You need to monitor the operator’s CofG awareness throughout every step of the evaluation as stability can be compromised at various points throughout the operation of the MEWP. This includes while traveling in the move and while positioning it prior to and after performing work tasks.

As a reminder, the following factors can have an effect on the CofG and overall stability of the MEWP:

• Sudden movement of the unit or parts of the unit when elevated
• Sudden stopped, especially when elevated
• Overloading or uneven loading of the platform
• Traveling or operating on a slope or uneven terrain
• Changing the weight distribution of the machine by adding attachments not approved by the manufacturer
• Holes or drop-offs in the floor surface causing one wheel or an entire side of a MEWP to drop suddenly
• Operating the equipment in windy conditions.

Make sure you monitor the above factors throughout the evaluation to ensure the operator does not compromise the stability of the machine.

Visual Awareness

Your trainee must maintain visual awareness at all times. If they do not, the risk of striking an object with the MEWP chassis, boom, or lift is significantly increased. And worse, they could strike pedestrians resulting in a fatal incident.

The trainee should look in the direction of travel at all times BEFORE activating controls. Even when they are making small micro-adjustments they must look, without exception, especially when reversing.

Dynamic Forces

Earlier in the course, we talked about dynamic forces. These forces are generated by movement or change of movement and can affect the stability of a MEWP.

Throughout a practical evaluation, you must ensure that your operator is aware of dynamic forces and consistently operates the MEWP in a way that does not negatively affect its stability.

For example, the trainee should be operating the controls smoothly in all directions. Sudden jerky movements will cause dynamic forces to shift the center of gravity of the MEWP potentially resulting in unstable conditions.

Braking and turning must also be done smoothly to ensure the stability of the MEWP is maintained.

As mentioned earlier, some of these movements may be jerky at first while the operator may be nervous during the evaluation. Giving the operator some time to relax and get comfortable with the controls will usually result in smoother movements and less impact from dynamic forces.

Emergency Procedures

It’s a good idea to mock up an emergency scenario during your evaluations so that you can properly evaluate your operator’s ability to deal with an emergency correctly.

Ensure that you do this in a way that does not actually pose a danger to you, the operator, the occupant, and any other individuals in the area.

Emergency procedures should be highly specific to the worksite and equipment the operator will be using. Because of this, we highly recommend creating custom emergency procedures that are aligned with your specific operations and use these custom procedures during your evaluation.

PPE Use

As we mentioned previously, an operator’s PPE use must be consistent.

For example, if they will be operating a boom lift, their fall arrest systems must be worn correctly and secured at all times while they’re in the basket and traveling, including while it’s lowered.

You should be mindful of their PPE throughout the entire evaluation including during the planning period, while they’re traveling in the MEWP, during lifting and lowering, while they’re performing their tasks at a height, and during the final parking and shut down process.