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Posts tagged “spiderlift”

One of regular arborist clients called us in to assist with making an unstable, storm damaged tree safe. A large part of the tree had already snapped off and fallen onto a house, stone wall and fencing causing some damage, leaving the rest of the tree unbalanced, fragile and too dangerous to climb. They needed and requested Selina’s assistance to help stabilize the tree enough to allow it to be climbed safely. 
Broken limb from tree fallen onto house, stone wall and fence.
Selina, High Reaching Solutions Platform Basket 22.10 EVO Hybrid tracked spider cherry picker, was requested as the tree was located in a very awkward position, which could ONLY be accessed via a steeply banked field. On first seeing the steepness of the field, it was necessary to assess a safe route for Selina, as obviously we didn’t want her to tip over or get stuck getting in or out. Tracking her across the slope was out of the question as there was a high probability of her losing at least one track, if not both, due to side pressure load. After walking the route, we decided the best (and only) option, was to track her up the slope at an angle until we reached a ‘relatively’ level area, then across a few meters before descending, again at a slight angle, toward the tree. 
Photo showing steepness of slope in field.
 
Selina, tracked spider entering sloping field.
Selina, tracked spider cherrypicker driving up steep slope in field.
Narrow tracked spider access platforms are designed and known for being able to get into tight and awkward spaces, this is their specialty! As spider platforms have developed and got larger, one of the main design additions is the multi-positioning settings for the outriggers, or legs. 
 
Outriggers are needed as, from the beginning, the spider platforms have been designed to be light in weight, not only for ease of transport, but primarily so they can also be used in areas where 'traditional' wheeled access platforms are physically too large and heavy. The outriggers also allow the spider platform to self-level, which means they can set-up on slopes/inclines whilst keeping the chassis of the machine horizontal, enabling a safe and sturdy structure to work from. 
Selina, our Platform Basket 22.10 EVO, using her adjustable leg settings in this situation and utilizing her 10m of outreach to allow contractors to gain access to a roof to carry out repairs. There was not enough room in the garden for a smaller tracked spider to get their outriggers down. 
Tracked spider cherry picker set in middle of fence reaching over roof.
 
The latest addition to our fleet, LOTTIE, a lithium/diesel 20.95 hybrid tracked spider has had her first outing. Although not doing a glamorous job of clearing gutters and down pipes, it is essential work to maintain the integrity of every building. And what a beautiful building and setting this is for Lottie. 
 
She certainly impressed our client with her smooth and sturdy operation. Using her radio remote controls enabled our experienced operator, whilst working from the ground, to manoeuvre our client in the basket to wherever he needed to be safely and efficiently by allowing all-round visibility. 
 
Lottie, tracked spider on lawn clearing gutters.
 
Lottie, tracked spider on gravel at the front of the house clearing the gutters.
 
 
After working on gravel at the front of the building Lottie was moved steadily around the property. When at the rear, plywood boards were used to protect the lawn and with Lotties' superb outreach, she only needed to be placed in one position to reach all of the guttering, which helped to speed up the work. 
 
High Reaching Solutions good friends at Tracked Access Platforms, based in Bradford, asked if we could assist one of their clients on a gutter cleaning and repair job in York. They needed Scarlett Grace, our Platform Basket 13.80 Hybrid narrow tracked spiderlift as she was small and able to set-up and operate in a confined area. With a working area of no more than 3 meters wide they thought Scarlett Grace would be ideal as they had taken into account her negative tail-swing, dual tracking speed, outrigger footprint of less than 3 meters and of course her lithium batteries to negate noise echoing between the buildings. 
Tracked spider gutter cleaning
 
Adam Smith, an excellent carpenter in Scarborough needed to work at height safely on one of his jobs in Scalby village. He needed to replace some rotten wood on a gable end of a house which entailed cutting out the old rotten wood before replacing it with new oak on this listed building. He didn’t want to use scaffolding as this was a straight forward and relatively quick job for him so decided on a cherrypicker for speed and security. 
 
He came to High Reaching Solutions through recommendation and after we surveyed the site we suggested that Scarlett Grace, our Platform Basket 13.80 Hybrid tracked spider would be the ‘lady’ of choice. Her light weight, easy manoeuvrability and quiet lithium batteries would be ideal in this peaceful village location. The house he was working on is opposite a local landmark, a K6 telephone box, newly refurbished by local decorating company J.W. Decorating - Scarborough which now contains a Defibrillator instead of a phone, great idea to conserve heritage and benefit the local community at the same time. 
 
History shows us that working at height had to evolve to become quicker, cheaper and more importantly safer. This entailed moving on from old wooden ladders, wooden gantries and trestles and of course, hanging from ropes. No…not the around the neck type but around the waist or siting on a sling. 
 
We have now progressed to strong alloy ladders, alloy or steel scaffolding, rope access technicians (with purpose made equipment) and of course access platforms. 
 
Most are self-explanatory, but what is an Access Platform? Simply put, an access platform is a temporary work platform attached to the end of a boom and is manoeuvred into position via a system of hydraulically operated arms/booms. 
 
They are known by different names, here are a few; 
• Cherry Picker - used by most as a basic description of all access platforms. 
• Scissor Lift – a four wheeled vertical platform known by some as a 'flying carpet'. 
• Boom Lift - a general term for four-wheeled self-propelled boom type machines. 
• Spider - a term used for a tracked access platform with outriggers. 
• Trailer Mounted – a road towable platform that can be towed behind a car. 
• Truck Mounted – a platform which is fitted to a vehicle chassis. 
• Vertical Boom - a term used for stock pickers or manlifts. 
• MEWP - Mobile Elevated Work Platform, the descriptive term. 
 
Many maintenance and facilities companies come up against obstacles which they have to overcome in order to do their work safely and efficiently. High Reaching Solutions were approached by one such company, Aegis Fire & Security. They had a multitude of obstacles to overcome which included working from a mezzanine walkway as the floor was crammed with machinery, fenced of exclusion zones, electrical conduits, pipework, storage tanks etc. Basically the floor area was totally covered except for marked pedestrian walkways, hence the installed mezzanine walkway. 
Aegis Fire & Security needed to work at height safely and work from the mezzanine walkway as mentioned to install their fire and security system. This created another problem as parts of the walkway were very narrow and this combined with a weight limit meant there were very few options. Scaffolding the work area from the floor had been looked at, but the complexity, scale, time constraints, high possibility of damage to machinery and equipment during the build and disassembly and the very high cost meant this really wasn’t an option. They had contact a few very well-known companies within the access industry before being recommended to us by one of them, Promax Access
 
One of High Reaching Solutions regular clients, N Dean Tree and Garden Services of Malton, North Yorkshire, had the task of dismantling a very dangerous tree which was unsafe to climb and so requested the services of ‘Selina’, our 22m tracked spiderlift to help them do it safely. The tree was rotten in the centre and was in danger of falling and although situated in a garden the tree was awkward to get to and no other form of cherrypicker could get close enough to do the job. Nick has used ‘Selina’ on many occasions and found her controls precise and easy to use, along with her adjustable track settings to get through narrow gates and her adjustable leg settings enabling setting up in tight and awkward areas very beneficial. Being only three tonnes in total weight which is spread over the area of the tracks whilst travelling and then over the footprint when her legs are down gives a very low ‘point-loading’ and therefore leaves very little evidence that she was even there, which is a bonus for all concerned. 
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