Engineered To Lift Episode 8
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Naveen: [00:00:00] What'd you do for, uh, Labor Day weekend, Eric?
Eric: Oh, mostly clean my garage. Well, you know, that housework that does- never goes away.
Naveen: Yeah.
Eric: Two lawns to mow, and it was the opportune time. The weather was nice, so I got 'em out of the way.
Naveen: Yeah. Virginia, I hung out with the kids. We did a, from Virginia to New York City, we did a day trip with my daughter.
Eric: Ooh. Yeah. That must've been good.
Naveen: We- Where'd you
Eric: go in New York?
Naveen: We woke up at, like, 4:00, 4:30, drove. We were in New York City by 8:30. We parked, like, a block away from Times Square.
Eric: Oh, nice.
Naveen: Yeah, we got free parking all over. It was really nice.
Eric: Wow.
Naveen: She wanted to go to Barnes & Nobles, couple things in the city, Times Square, and then we were done by, like, around 2:00.
Then, uh, before you hit the tunnel, Holland Tunnel, we parked there, and then we just window shopping in SoHo neighborhood. Ah, nice. It was good. She's turning [00:01:00] 15. I know the numbers- Oh, boy ... escape me all the time. We're
Eric: getting older.
Naveen: I know, right? And then birthday gift, I just wanna have a trip to New York City.
I said, "All right
Going in this week's episode, welcome to Engineered to Lift, our podcast talking about all things aerial lifts, engineered to order aerial lifts. So I'm Naveen Venta, president and CEO of Bailey Cranes. I have Erik Niemi, our VP of engineering, with us.
Eric: Welcome, everyone.
Naveen: Welcome to this week's episode. This is gonna be about electrocution still leads powered access deaths.
So last year, 76, it's hard to believe, 76 people died working from powered access platforms. That's the worldwide [00:02:00] IPF could confirm, and it's down about a quarter from the year before, even after being down. The machines are getting safer as they should be. The industry spent 15 years engineering the tip over out, the crushing out, the overload out.
But here's the thing, the leading cause of death last year wasn't any of those things that the industry has been engineering around for the past 15 years. It was electrocution. A boom touching the power line. Twenty people, most of them here in the United States, unfortunately. And the industry's answer to that one has been a training poster and a distance table.
You gotta be this far off from the power lines, and then here's the poster, keep looking at it, but that doesn't do anything to all these mishaps. So this episode is we are gonna discuss about why the machine got safer, but the job still didn't, how we engineer around that problem. Going into the first topic, Erik, would you please talk us about a boom touches [00:03:00] a distribution line?
What happens next?
Eric: Well, as we all know, electricity's almost instantaneous.
Naveen: Yeah.
Eric: So if it touches the steel portion of the boom, it finds a path to ground quickly. And oftentimes it fries the controls in the machine. Uh, the machine can't handle that kind of voltage. I mean, you're talking, uh, residential minimum, like 220 VAC or 440 VAC.
Naveen: That's industrial.
Eric: Wow. And it- that's just typical apartment building or housing complex or house. Now, when you start talking bigger industrial, you're talking, what is it? 1440 and higher. So the voltage goes up, which means it can jump a farther arc, and it's much more violent and oftentimes deadly.
Naveen: Wow.
Eric: Um, so the machine instantly is cooked if it touches the boom.
The worst is if the operator in the platform touches it. If they touch a [00:04:00] live line and it goes right through them to a path to ground, that's where most of the, the deaths have occurred, is the operator was moving and he backed into a line or put his arm up to swipe a line out of the way, not knowing that it was live.
Naveen: Given the capacity of the, some of these baskets, they could be up to two people.
Eric: There could be three people- Yeah ... in the platform on some lifts, depending on the, on the size, and is it a scissor lift? Is it a boom lift? And how big is it? And how far are they reaching? Man, it could, it could take out a, a whole crew- Wow
real quick. Not to mention the man at the ground.
Naveen: Sure.
Eric: If someone goes in to rescue it-
Naveen: Manning the control, yeah ...
Eric: after the power has touched the boom, they don't know it's live, and they go touch the machine, they're a better path to ground than the tire. So it takes out another person, that they're trying to save their buddies and-
Naveen: Yeah
Eric: coworkers. That's the unfortunate side.
Naveen: So none of the variables in the environment are negotiable, unfortunately. It is the live wire. That's what they have to work [00:05:00] around. The only thing that we can, anyone can do is modify the machine to be able to be as safe as one could be.
Eric: Or ensure that the power is off.
The power utility has to come in and stop all routes of power to that location where they're going to be working near the power line. Okay. That's the other option. And ensure that it is off. Test
Naveen: Even when it's off, they can't use a regular machine. You still have to use an insulator tool? Well- How does that work?
Eric: That's the gray area.
Naveen: Okay.
Eric: Because you said that the line is off.
Naveen: Okay.
Eric: But is the line really off?
Naveen: Yeah.
Eric: If you treat power outlets like they're always live when you're working with electricity, don't be the path to ground. Don't have it come through both arms, cross your heart. That's my rule, is don't go in with both hands unless you've disconnected the main power.
Naveen: Hmm.
Eric: Pulled the breaker, pulled the fuse, disconnected the line, something of [00:06:00] that nature.
Naveen: But sometimes, uh, removing, I mean, turning the power off is not always feasible. If they have to do a very short amount of work, or it's gonna take an extended amount of time, and then one of the offices is there, it's not always feasible.
Eric: That is true. That is why, uh, most utility companies, uh, have insulated boom trucks.
Naveen: Yeah.
Eric: Instead of standard aerial lift platform, boom lifts, scissor lifts, they have, uh, insulated boom trucks which are f- uh, fiberglass or other composite material that is the boom structure so that it can't be a path to ground.
Even then, they oftentimes, if it's the utility, they shut it off anyway.
Naveen: Okay.
Eric: Just to be safe.
Naveen: Unfortunately, counting the numbers, it's, it's, it's very... These are all preventable. Two years ago, 100 people. Last year, 76, even though if it's down 25%. Entrapment reports down two-thirds, so. The overturns are cut by more than half.
That didn't happen by [00:07:00] accident. 2018, there was a design standard, put tilt sensing and load sensing on new machines. And the OEMs put secondary guarding on the booms. The machine's own failure modes, the engineer, industry engineered them down. But electrocution was not one of the considerations, right?
Eric: No.
No, it wasn't.
Naveen: Okay.
Eric: Un- unfortunately not.
Naveen: Is that because of the market size? This is not a huge market that they have to-
Eric: Most construction sites, you're not working around high power wires or- Yeah ... even low power wires of 110 VAC. I see. They're typically not there. You're building the building. There's no power there yet-
Naveen: Mm, okay
Eric: to worry about that's overhead. Most of them are now underground for that particular reason. Yeah,
Naveen: you're right. You're right.
Eric: They route power underground now. There isn't telephone poles right next to the building.
Naveen: Mm. Okay.
Eric: Or power poles.
Naveen: They get all kinds of sensors, electronics in these machines. It can tell it's out of level, it's tilting, it's too close.
We can put collision [00:08:00] warning sensors. I guess there's nothing that can tell that the power is live, right?
Eric: Right. Yeah. There's- On the machine that it's- There's... I don't know of any kind of sensor that can detect, uh, a power line being live- Live power line ... from a distance.
Naveen: Yeah.
Eric: Can't check it without touching it.
That's the key problem.
Naveen: We have built insulated boom lifts and scissor lifts over the years.
Eric: Quite a few.
Naveen: Okay.
Eric: Quite a few. I've been involved in probably a dozen different projects with multiples, multiple machines being delivered.
Naveen: Usually who are the customers generally? Utilities?
Eric: Utilities are one. Uh, another one is tree trimming.
There's a large number of accidents that have happened because they were up in a tree and didn't notice the power line and touched it. That unfortunately happens. That's attention to detail-
Naveen: Yeah ...
Eric: on the job site, uh, making sure that the power is off or using the proper equipment.
Naveen: Okay. So [00:09:00] incidentally, this morning I was grabbing coffee and then I saw one of the tree trimming lifts with a man lift on it, but nothing is insulated on it.
Eric: No, no insulation whatsoever. So
Naveen: everything is, yeah.
Eric: They're supposed to stay away from the power line per the standard. It's a 10-foot radius-
Naveen: I see ...
Eric: on standard wire.
Naveen: Is, is that what the regulation says?
Eric: Yep, it's 10-foot minimum, and as the power goes up, the distance that you have to stay away from it increases.
Naveen: I see, I see. There's- The envelope increases.
Eric: Yeah, I don't have the exact standard reference for you, but it's under part of the A92 standards.
Naveen: I see. For
Eric: ANSI. Is
Naveen: this, is this OSHA, OSHA?
Eric: OSHA, uh, let's say American National Standards Institute, ANSI, developed the distances and the standard. OSHA accepted that as standard and made it part of the federal code.
That chart is out there and you're supposed to follow it. Not everyone does or is aware that there's a power line where they are going to [00:10:00] be working, or that I'm just gonna go up and cut these couple limbs and-
Naveen: Yeah, it's gonna be quick,
Eric: yeah ... it's gonna be quick, and well, the electricity's
Naveen: faster. Before you know.
Yeah, exactly. Uh, drawing some parallels for this insulated boom with our Explosion proof, I guess. We build machines for rooms full of, like, explosive environments, if you wanna say gas, but... And nobody says train the operator harder. They say certify the machines FM certified. That's what they ask. But why doesn't, like, electricity get the same treatment?
Eric: I, I can't say that it doesn't get the same treatment, but they're, are they using the right equipment for the job is the question. Should it be an insulated boom? Are you working around a power line and you need to get closer than 10 feet to it? The answer to that is yes, you should be using the right product for the job.
An insulated boom would be key. The equipment is there, it's just the... I don't know if it's convenience or speed that they're gonna be doing the job. "Oh, I'm just gonna be up there quick. [00:11:00] We already have this lift on site. I don't have to go get another one."
Naveen: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. What the trade-off is, I don't know. It's...
But people do die from these accidents.
Naveen: Unfortunately.
Eric: Unfortunate.
Naveen: Yeah. So let's go through the very high level. Give us a gist of, let's say you get a request from the customer, "I need an insulated boom lift to work around power lines." What would be typically the process look like when we build one?
Eric: Okay, the first question I ask is what level of power are you working around?
Naveen: I see.
Eric: Is it just standard house wiring? Is it, uh... What's the standard? 49 kVA, 69 kVA? Is it 100 kVA? Are you gonna be wearing gloves? Are you going to be handling the wires? What are, what it, what is the actual job? What are you going to be doing around that power line? And that helps us determine as to what level of protection that it needs to be
Naveen: I guess this is a common thread in [00:12:00] all our explosion-proof clean room on this.
We have to find out what is the ultimate goal. The fact that they need a FM certified lift or a clean room lift or a insulated lift is not the end goal in itself. They need it to accomplish something
Eric: What is the environment- Sure ... that you're working in?
Naveen: What is the end goal, and then we walk back from
Eric: Then walk back, work, work back from there with the engineering Okay For sure
Naveen: So we've determined all of that with the customer.
We've come to an agreement this is what they need after a mutual consultation. So what does the process of building one look like?
Eric: Based on the kVA rating of the power that they're gonna be working around, we then determine how much insulation section do they need. Is it the entire boom? Is it just a section at the platform to separate the platform from the base machine so that it isn't a path from when they're working in the platform and they- they're working on the wiring, it doesn't give them a path to ground.
And there's standards you have to follow [00:13:00] for the amount of fiberglass you need or other composite material, and it has to be non-conductive and it has to be rated as such. So there's a few suppliers out there that make those boom sections, those buckets, those liners for the buckets, the gloves, the boots, uh, all of the protective materials.
So you have to determine based on that high voltage, what is your prevention for that path to ground
Naveen: I see
Eric: And we have to go through testing as well
Naveen: Yeah
Eric: So we take the design and determine, do all the calculations. Yes, we think this works, but when we actually go to build the machine, we actually have to have it tested, and there's companies out there that can test your insulation performance Perform
Naveen: the specific test, yeah.
So on a typical boom, boom lift, we change some of the booms to what material? Fiberglass?
Eric: It's usually fiberglass
Naveen: Even the bucket is fiberglass?
Eric: Yep Okay Even the bucket, the bucket, there's [00:14:00] a liner in the bucket. There's a section of the boom that's a given length of non-conductive fiberglass
Naveen: I see
Eric: If there's any wiring, we have to eliminate the wiring and make it Bluetooth or- Oh,
Naveen: that's right.
Eric: Yeah, yeah Fiber optic is another option. Okay.
Naveen: But the- So was fiber optic before Bluetooth? There was just a Bluetooth?
Eric: Yeah, fiber, fiber optic is the OG-
Naveen: I
Eric: see ... the original of, uh, insulated boom sections. They would run, obviously, fi- uh, glass fiber-
Naveen: Oh,
Eric: okay. Yeah ... is non-conductive, and they have to have special rated cable- I see
has to be tested, and it, it was a unique challenge to make fiber optics worth- Bluetooth is a much better option because, well, it- Sure. Yeah ... it's open air.
Naveen: Yeah. Yeah.
Eric: But now that presents a problem with, or a challenge with the controls. Now you have to separate the platform controls from the base of the machine with Bluetooth and still handle all of the communication that goes between them.
So that was the challenge with fiber optic. It's [00:15:00] still a challenge with Bluetooth, and I'm sure there's other options out there. Radio control might be another option, but, um, Bluetooth seems to be the, the path moving forward, seems to be the, uh, the leading contender.
Naveen: So radio controls and Bluetooth, which one is more susceptible to interference, I guess?
Eric: Oh, radio control is much- Yeah ... more susceptible.
Naveen: Yeah.
Eric: Obviously, you've got radio waves, and you can interrupt that with a-
Naveen: Yeah. Yeah ...
Eric: with a simple transformer-
Naveen: Yeah ...
Eric: being close. Bluetooth is pretty much non-interruptible-
Naveen: Okay ...
Eric: for the most part. When you talk about hazardous environments, well, we automatically assume that the room is full of an explosive gas.
Sure. It's an automatic assumption.
Naveen: Yeah. Class 1, Div 1 means it's hazardous- It's,
Eric: it's there ... all the time. It's always
Naveen: there. Occasionally, it might not be, but that's not what we go with. You're
Eric: right. Right, and that's where the engineering controls can come into play, that we can design around it so that we contain the spark, so that there isn't an ignition source.
It can't get outside of the machine [00:16:00] and ignite the environment. That isn't the case with electricity. It's not inside the machine.
Naveen: Oh, I
Eric: see. I see. It's an outside source, so depending on where you touch the machine, that's where it comes into play, where, how close are you going to be? What is the voltage?
That's the significant challenge, the difference in the challenge. If you just assume that everything is high power, now suddenly you're in a full utility, utility truck boom that's fully insulated And that is not cost-effective for certain applications. It's hard to get a full truck boom that can reach 110 feet into an area where you only need to reach 40.
Naveen: And the terrain also plays a role.
Eric: Yeah, the terrain also plays a role. I- if you're trying to get on over rough terrain around the outside of a building or semi-soft ground, not... It's firm- Yeah ... and can hold the weight of the machine, but it might not be able to hold a boom truck [00:17:00] that's- Yeah ... significantly heavier.
I mean, you're talking 20,000 pounds more.
Naveen: Okay.
Eric: To, for a boom that reaches 110 feet versus I only need to reach 40. Now, they do have smaller trucks, but now the terrain really becomes an issue because how do you get over off, off of the concrete along to the compacted earth around the building?
Naveen: So, Eric, well, I mean, boom lift seems to be the common du jour more than scissor lifts.
Would you mind, like, giving us an illustration- Sure ... with this one, please, and then using- Sure ... this as a boom?
Eric: Um, just say that this is a live wire. I'm not holding a live wire, but it's near the platform. So if this boom is not insulated, this is the platform where the operator would be standing. There's a small boom section, then to your articulating boom down to the ground over at the table, okay?
So if this boom is not insulated, you're supposed to be 10 feet away minimum. From the center of the wire, it's a [00:18:00] 10-foot radius to any point of the boom. That's the minimum. The, whether this is 110, 220, 440, doesn't matter. Minimum is 10 feet. When you get s- over a certain voltage, let's say it's, uh, 10,000 volts, then you have to be a- another certain amount of distance away from that wire It, it, it goes up as the power in the wire increases, you have to be farther away- Envelope increase
to prevent an arc. It's the path from the wire to the conduc- conductive part of the boom.
Naveen: Okay.
Eric: So what we do typically for a boom lift, so that they can get closer than 10 feet to the wire, is we put an insulated section in between the platform and the main articulating structure. That prevents the path to ground.
That is the part that has to be tested and certified and calculated, that it has to be a minimum length.
Naveen: But [00:19:00] along with, we also change the basket itself,
Eric: fiber. We change the basket itself so that the operator doesn't have a path, say he, there's another phase-
Naveen: Mm-hmm ...
Eric: behind him or off to a, off to the side so that-
Naveen: They
Eric: accidentally bumped in, yeah
the bucket doesn't touch it and make the operator part of the ground.
Naveen: Okay.
Eric: So it's insulated from a couple- Oh, I got you ... of different standpoints. That is where we come into play here. So we can change that section of the boom to be insulated along with any hydraulic hoses. Those are electrically insulated hoses.
They're non-conductive, certified, tested, along with the fiberglass section, certified and tested. So it's a unique challenge, often based on platform capacity, but we've worked through a lot of that, and, uh, we've been building them for years.
Naveen: So thank you for the illustration, Eric. That was really helpful.
But we talked about all the details, so we've been doing this [00:20:00] for a long time. If you have to work around power lines, if there is any chance of being around this, please reach out to us. If a truck mounted bucket lift makes more sense, something like a Versa Lift is a common one. Yeah,
Eric: Versa Lift has a, has number- Yeah
of different products meant for utility work.
Naveen: Yeah. If that makes- Specifically ... more sense, we'll steer you their way, and then this might be a more economical option. But sometimes you might need an actual boom lift to accomplish your end goal, and then we can work with you to design exactly what we want.
So with that, I'm gonna close the episode. We wanna circle back to where we started about how the machine got safer because the industry decided the machine's own failure modes, whether tip over, crashing, overload, they're all engineered down. Electrocution is what's left because Honestly, the market size is not that big.
So before the lift shows up, if you have, uh, to work around power lines, find the lines, call the utility, get them [00:21:00] de-energized or covered to the best that you can. Put one person on the ground whose only job is that wire. Treat it like a permit. If you do that much, and if you have to ask for insulated boom, we are ready to here to help you.
That brings our episode to a close. Is there anything else you wanna add, Eric?
Eric: No. Just, uh, stay safe. Um, that's the key. Treat them all like they're live.
Naveen: Yeah. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll catch you in the next one.
Eric: Thanks everybody.
Naveen: Stay informed, stay protected
