Homemade manbasket

[hosscartwright]

My company has an elevated, homemade(inhouse) manbasket that OSHA has cited them for using to raise men up with. The citation stated that it obviously was NOT built according to ANSI standards and would have to be disposed of. My company has found a PE that is going to come in and "certify" the basket is built to ANSI standard. My real concern is that it is not just a standard height basket, but built elevated some 6 feet ABOVE the forks.

The frame is painted, ends are capped, welds are ground down.
My argument is there is no way to tell the the material type, weld type, bevels, etc etc.

I am strongly considering challenging the validity of his "certification" since it is certainly unethical and possibly even illegal.

Anyone have any thought or comments as to whether they agree or disagree with my stance?

All help and opinions are greatly appreciated.

 

[plasgears]

Go back to the stds, and try to comply. You may end up with an approved design with mods to your present design.

I had a confrontation with an American car mfr over limo reinforcement against side collision. They spelled out the design and we were obliged to comply. It was a case of conforming with their engineering design. I think they field tested the reinforcement before publishiing.

 

[Compositepro]

Why do you think the P.E. is wrong and you are right? He is a licensed professional and legally liable. A man basket does not have to be pretty to be safe and functional. The structural loads are very low. Why are you concerned?

 

[hosscartwright]

Thanks for the replies.

Compositepro, I never said he was wrong OR that I was right.

My concern is the man basket was built by a couple of maintenance guys several years back before I arrived. They did not use a set of prints or a drawing, they were not supervised by anyone(let alone someone competent enough to determine if their work was properly executed), it was fabricated out of odds and ends pieces of scrap steel(some used), and has since been painted a couple of times. Hence, no way to determine grades of steel, bevels, weld depth, etc. Also, neither of them were certified welders.

I will also add this is no ordinary man basket. It stands almost 10' high and is accessed by climbing up the front frame work. Therefore, if 2 men stand to one side while working, 500+ lbs will be placed across a lever arm of some 8-10 feet or more in length.

Considering ALL the welds were ground down, there is no way to determine, just by visual examination, the structual integrity of the basket/platform.

Hence, my concerns considering this frame work is raised some 30' high by a forklift.

 

[BillPSU]

I am surprised you could find a PE who would certify a basket made of unknown material and construction process. This obviously is an attempt to avoid spending some money on an approved basket. I would swag the cost of the PE to certify the basket is higher than the cost of replacing the basket. If it isn't, someone is not paying the liability insurance.

I used to work in the aerial device manufacturing industry and we would never use an unapproved platform. We did build some aerial device platforms for specific machines but most of the platforms were fiberglass buckets. The majority of the machines were used by electrical utility companies with energized power lines.