Scaffold tower or cherry picker/scissor lift

[Stuart Miller]

I usually use a scaffolding tower as they are usually quite cheap. You are able to change the position of the boards to different heights so should cope with doing bottom and top.
Cherry picker usually requires that you have a certified operator, especially outside in a public place, and I never get around to doing a training course.

[David Hammond]

We have our own 7m tower, so use that mostly.

Cherry pickers are great, but I’ve found the baskets quite small, and when working with a large panel can be difficult. As Stuart says a cherry picker has it’s down sides, such as parking etc.

When I looked at hiring a tower they were only available for 1 week, and there’s transport/storage.

You ‘should’ be able to prove yourself competent working with any method at height (PASMA/IPAF) althougb you can hire them without the qualifications. It’s of things go wrong you find yourself with HSE breathing down your neck.

[Martin Cole]

Without knowing location, sign size etc, scaffold would be the best option as 3-4mtrs is not very high.

Next option is scissor lift, straight up and down. Ground must be completely flat though

[Martyn Heath]

Personally would do these off ladders. 2 people, 1 either end. Job done. 6m is my limit i think on ladders.

[Phill Fenton]

quote Martyn Heath:

Personally would do these off ladders. 2 people, 1 either end. Job done. 6m is my limit i think on ladders.

I once went to fit a small sign onto a brick wall about 2M above ground level. I decided to do this with a ladder and submitted a method statement and risk assessment. After all, even building a small tower has it’s own risk – the boards can be quite heavy and can cause injury if not handled correctly so a ladder at such a low level was the sensible solution for what was a small lightweight sign.

A few days later I went to fit the sign and arrived on site to be grilled by a H&S officer belonging to the company in question who proceeded to tell me my method was unsatisfactory. I said that this should have been brought up when the method statement was submitted and not now after I had driven for half an hour to do the job. I made it clear I was quite prepared to leave the sign with them to arrange their own fitting and would have walked off site had they not relented and decided it could go ahead after all under the supervision of one of their employees who’s job it was to hold the bottom of the ladder (whilst wearing a hard hat in case I accidentally stood on his head) :awkward:

I honestly believe there is a greater chance of injury in putting up a scaffolding tower than there is of working off a ladder at such a low height. Unfortunately we have a H&S culture that often defies common sense.

[Colin Crabb]

And I hope you’ve taken your H&S course on how to use and ladder, and remember if your required to stay up da’ ladder for more than 30 minutes, you should consider using alternative equipment… :yikes:

[David Hammond]

Provided you can justify your means of access should HSE stick their noses in for any reason you’ll be fine.

However I think they frown upon the, using ladders is quicker, or it was cheaper than hiring a machine.

We’re quite lucky that the HSE make most of the information freely available.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/

[Chris Chadwick]

Hi Peter

I would suggest scaffold for a job if this size. As stated above the cradle in a cherry picker is quite small compared to that if a scissor lift. You can get companies that will drop off and errect it on site for you.

Ladders are only best used for work where you are not up for longer than 30 minutes.

We use AFI for any scissor lift and cherry picker hire. I would suggest finding a local company for scaffold tower hire as this is usually the cheapest option.

Hope this is it use.

[John Lyus]

We have our own scaffold with a trailer so that makes it easy. However it is always a dilemma what to use. The scaffold is cumbersome, and takes about 20 mins to put up and take down.

Years ago I built a mutli-purpose frame on my ute (pick-up for you guys). That has been brilliant. It allows me to reach to 5m, and work at 4.5m. It has two levels good wide tops (600mm each). It also gets used for lashing signs upright for delivery. In the photo you can just see the top level. Of course the HS powers would probably deem it illegal as it has no rails around it. You will notice the angles on the frame which allows a pallet to loaded by forklift. The whole thing is removable by one guy in about 5 mins. It has saved me a lot of hire fees.

[Alex Crosbie]

If it’s a simple sign and you won’t be up there long then a two man lift from ladders should be acceptable at that height but if you feel that it won’t be in any way safe then don’t do it.

If the option for a scissor lift is available then I would go with it, as long as you have someone that knows how to use it, our local hire companies survey every job for free to work out which is the most suitable means of access and which machine is right for the job.

With a scaffold tower they take time to erect and take down, correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve always felt the riskiest part of using a scaffold tower is getting the signs up the outside of the tower, if a sign is dropped then I’m sure health and safety would be interested to know why you opted for a tower over an access platform. I employee a health and safety consultant and the only scenarios that we felt a scaffold tower was of use would be for internal staircase jobs and fitting flat cut letters.

On my rough maths a scissor lift is around £130 including delivery per day.

A scaffold tower is £110 for a minimum of 1 weeks hire.

We would complete most jobs in under a day.
However the time it takes to put up a scaffold tower and take it down would increase our time to do the job and therefore outweigh any cost savings. (I appreciate if you have lots of fitting jobs week in week out then buying your own scaffold may well save some cost)

There have been jobs I’ve gone to and been finished fitting the signs before I’d have had the scaffold tower up.

[Peter Johnson]

Thanks to everybody that has given advice.

Since my initial question, one of the customers has asked for a few extra, smaller signs to be installed at the same time, so I have decided to opt for a scissor lift.

The main reasons behind my decision (in case nay one is reading this in a similar situation and might be interested) are as follows;

1. There are several signs to install at different intervals along the front of the building. One of the signs is in 3 separate pieces, each piece being 1.2m wide. This would require either a very wide scaffolding platform to allow for the installation in one go, or would require the tower being ‘moved along’ for each section. Either that (if it is on rollers) or dismantle the tower and then reconstruct it in the next position.
2. The smaller signs they want fitting are at a significantly different height to the other 2 main signs. This would then mean I either have to construct the tower high enough for all installations and adjust the platform height accordingly, or construct the tower for the lower height first and then add the extra after.
3. As mentioned earlier, the signs are all at different intervals all along the front of the building. This would then mean that at various points during the day, the tower would again have to be ‘moved along’ to reach each individual installation point and I think it would be more inherently hazardous to move a high platform tower that many times rather than just lower a scissor platform, move it along and then raise the platform to height required.

It does cost more to hire the scissor lift, but the benefits and advantages, compared to using scaffolding, seems to far outweigh the extra cost.

So, once again, thank you to everyone who offered advice.

[Neil Somers]

You can usually get ex rental scaffolding cheap as hire shops tend not to hire it out too often.
Also Homebase sell an expandable set that is in 3 different sections. It’s really good but not so cheap if you buy all 3.

[Robert Lambie]

I have been installing signs etc going on 28 years now… A cherry picker is by far the safest and fastest way to install signs at anything over 17ft. Not only that, you are reducing the possibility of damage to the sign itself.

Downside is cost, but is it really when you take all the above into consideration? Number 1, being your safety!
Do not get me wrong, I have my fair share of mishaps over injuries over the years, cherry-picker included! but still…

7/10 access companies will now ask for an IPAF licence for the hire of a cherry-picker and around 4/10 for scaffold hire. So it is worth the investment to have a licence for them.

The bottom line is the cost is passed to your customer. If its £250 per day, we charge £300 per day or suggest the company order it themselves to gain the discount. Regardless, you must stipulate what type you want delivered or you will end up some some faulty contraption which belches smoke! :awkward:

[Kevin Mahoney]

I was charged £60 a day for a 12 metre niftylift the other day, hydraulic stabilisers set up in minutes, fitted 4 6 metre x 1.5 metre trays in under 3 hours. I’ll use that for anything I can from now on. Guy showed us how to use it for 5 minutes as we haven’t got the license yet, but it seems every install we do lately is a bit of a pig for ladders or towers so the test seems a no brainier to me.