Mechanics Power Up on Safety
Body shop employees use the LiftPod by JLG to
maintain boom trucks more safely and efficiently
The body shop employees at a Midwestern facility of a national
energy provider are responsible for keeping a fleet of eight boom trucks in
tip-top shape and ready to respond in an emergency. From general maintenance
and repairs to inspections, the mechanics often have to work on the booms at
heights of up to 14 feet. However, because much of the work on the booms
requires the use of two hands, the garage foreman at the body shop was tasked
with finding a safer alternative to the unstable extension ladder they were
using.
Speed, Space, Safety
and Savings
The garage foreman contacted Roger Beckley of Herc-U-Lift to
discuss several requirements he needed to meet in finding a replacement for
their extension ladder. “Our shop is very small, and many of the personal lifts
we looked at were simply too large to use in our facility,” said the foreman.
“Cost also was a consideration, naturally. We needed a reasonably priced,
easily mobile product that would allow us to safety use both hands to get the
job done right the first time.”
Beckley
brought a LiftPod®
portable aerial work platform to the facility for the body shop team to try.
“Before I even managed to get myself out of the truck, the garage foreman had
assembled the entire LiftPod himself,” said Beckley. “It couldn’t have taken him more
than 30 seconds.”
Success
“The LiftPod is the perfect solution for us,” said the
foreman. “Because the base is small and fits directly under our trucks, we can
get much better access to the boom we’re working on without taking the truck
outside. And the enclosed work platform allows us to more safety use both hands
to operate the grease gun used on the pivot points.”
The LiftPod breaks down into three lightweight components,
permitting the body shop team to easily transport it in their pick-up truck for
trips between two different facilities that they run. “It also stores easily in
the corner of the shop and doesn’t take up too much space, which is really at a
premium in both locations,” said the foreman.
Sharing Success
The body shop team is now using the LiftPod for everything
from performing ongoing maintenance on the trucks to fixing the baskets that
the electricians stand in to repair power lines. “We only need an 18-volt drill
to power the LiftPod, so we’ve even been able to take it out for field service
requests to repair burst hoses on the booms,” said the foreman. “Tasks that
used to take us over 30 minutes now only take us 10. And because we’re in an
enclosed basket, we have minimized concerns for slipping or falling. We also
don’t have to waste time moving the truck outside – or bundling up to face the
bitter cold.”
In fact, the body shop team liked the LiftPod so much, they called
the garage foreman at another facility to recommend it. “He ended up buying one
for his shop as well. He saw the same value we did. The LiftPod makes our work
so much more efficient, as well as safer and easier to do. It really is the
ideal solution.”
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