Cheap MEWP advice

[Chris Wills]

If your in the market and see a MEWP advertised cheaply, take a step back and think WHY and not but its cheap!

 

Many used ones available are sold for a reason and that is, they are near to there life limit before a major strip down is required and full inspection before being rebuilt and put back into service. As all stated in manufacturers service manual.

Some machines this will be on going and others could be mandatory every 7-10 years.

Any reputable service company when working to LOLER regs. should know this but there are plenty that think there above this or simply don't know.

 

Also many of the vehicle mounts you will find are from new, very close or above there max GVW. So when transporting 2 x guys and tools, you will be overweight and VOSA now another goverment money making agency are fully aware of this.

 

Myself, i'm a service engineer and fully aware of the above and this older guy recently brought in for inspection and a minor repair a vehicle mount and was horrified when we told him what was required, i showed him what the manual stated and he eventually agreed to the additional repairs but it cost him a small fortune to his cheap purchase.

[tommytopsoil]

Sound advice.

The heavily regulated and enforced lifting/access industries cross over into many other areas of work and unfortunately much of the information required fails to cross with them.

 

Unfortunately,the lack of information and product knowledge that is passed on with much used equipment can lead to a certain degree of trial and error on the part of its new owners, not just in practical terms but also in the theoretical/planning side of things and as well as being a red flag for the enforcement authorities it is also very dangerous and often leads to injury/death.

 

I am sure Chris will back me up that every day somewhere in the world at least one crane or item of powered access equipment tips over/fails/is involved in an accident due to poor maintenance/bad planning/operator error.

 

Please be aware of what you are getting into.