Aerial Platform Safety Stats and Facts

FACTS

  1. According to OSHA, the top hazards associated with aerial lifts are falls, electrocutions and collapses or tip-overs. 
  2. Half of the falls from boom lifts involve being ejected from the bucket after being struck by vehicles, cranes, crane loads, or falling objects, or when a lift suddenly jerked.
  3. Two-thirds of the deaths from collapses / tipovers of boom lifts occurred when the bucket cable or boom broke or the bucket fell; almost one-third were due to tipovers.
  4. Half of the boom lift electrocutions involved body contact with overhead power lines, mostly involving electricians or electrical power installers and repairers. Over one-third of the electrocutions involved an overhead power line contacting the lift boom or bucket.
  5. In most of the caught between deaths, a worker was caught between the bucket edge and objects such as roof joists or beams while repositioning the bucket.

STATS

  • An average of 26 construction workers die each year from using aerial lifts. This is 2 to 3% of all construction deaths. On aerial lifts, the major causes are falls, electrocutions, and collapses or tip overs.
  • Electricians had the most deaths (25%), followed by construction laborers (15%), electrical power installers and repairers (13%), painters (8%), and carpenters (5%). 
  • The causes of scissor lift falls were unknown for over half of the fall deaths; in one-fifth of the falls, the worker was ejected from the scissor lift, mostly when the scissor lift was struck by an object. The rest of the fall deaths occurred after removal of chains or guardrails, or while standing on or leaning over railings.
  • Three-quarters of the tip overs of scissor lifts resulted in fall deaths; for the rest, workers died from being struck by the falling scissor lift. About two-fifths of the tip overs occurred when the scissor lift was extended over 15 feet, mostly while driving the lift.
  • 25 % of aerial lift deaths are due to scissor lift accidents, which typically occur from falls related to being struck by an object and tip-overs from driving with the lift extended.