New Online Resources for Aerial Lift Safety

Aerial lifts are used frequently at construction, warehousing, and many other jobsites and can pose potentially fatal hazards to workers.
Aerial devices include boom-supported aerial platforms, such as cherry pickers or bucket trucks, aerial ladders, and vertical towers.
The major causes of injuries and fatalities are falls, electrocutions, and collapses or tip-overs, such as the one that killed Kevin Miranda in Taunton, Mass., on Aug. 18, 2015.
In that incident, Skyline Contracting and Roofing Corp. was fined more than $100,000 after OSHA inspectors found that the aerial lift was positioned on unleveled ground and determined that the company had not trained Miranda to recognize this hazard.
NIOSH’s new aerial lifts webpage includes a Hazard Recognition Simulator designed to help you acclimate to aerial lift operation. Additional resources on aerial lift safety are available from OSHA.