One of the biggest challenges facing commercial and industrial painters is accessibility. But no matter how difficult or tight the access, the commercial painting or industrial painting project needs to get completed.
Most often, when a a typical citizens hears the phrase “difficult access,” they might initially think about heights. And most of the time, that person could be correct.
Heights are one of the largest challenges painters face. Are you painting a ceiling with piping, duct work, and conduit in the way? Or do you need to access the exterior of a building that’s sitting in front power lines? Do the surface sit above an unstable surface?
These are all considerations that need to be assessed. It’s easy to think that a ladder can reach anything. But the ground that the ladder is sitting on needs to offer stability. And if it doesn’t, then a lift should be considered.
And there are a variety of lifts to help reach those heights.
Scissor lifts are the most common. They’re typically seen in plants, where the ground is level and solid. They’re great for reaching areas that are directly above your head. But their one set back is that they can’t extend, or articulate, to access areas further away.
And as the picture demonstrates, accessing heights directly above you can be simple when there are no ground obstructions.
However, it becomes a different story when there are ground obstructions. And those obstructions might not include Lancaster, PA Fencing. But they could include pallets, equipment, machinery, and other objects that are anchored into the concrete. And in situations like these, you’d want to rent an articulating lift.
As the pictures demonstrates, it would be impossible to use a scissor lift in this situation. So, a 120′ articulating boom lift was called for the job. And in this specific situation, a jib was on the end of the unit. A jib allows the lift to bend around an object. This is important in case 360 degrees of accessibility isn’t available.
But access isn’t only limited to heights.
Sometimes equipment being painted doesn’t offer the easiest access. And although height isn’t an issue, squeezing into tight, dirty places is not the simplest.
And for these situations, it’s critical to ensure that the equipment isn’t operating. So it’s important to carry an industrial temperature gun so that you can check the surface temperatures of the equipment before crawling around them.
But once it’s assessed that the area is safe from a temperature perspective, it’s important that the painter communicates with the facility to know that the equipment should be locked out.
Locking out equipment is vital for safety. It ensures that dangerous machinery or equipment can’t accidentally start while being worked on.
And once the machine or equipment has been safely locked out, then the commercial painting contractors can safely access the equipment without worrying about their health or safety.