NiftyLifts Enlisted for London Tower Bridge Maintenance

Contractors working on maintenance for London's Tower Bridge used four AFI niftylift booms, based on the machine's dimensions. Pyeroy Limited hired the four boom lifts from UK rental company AFI Uplift, as part of their fourt hand final stage of a three year long maintenance contract.

The booms were used by Pyeroy's Special Projects Division to apply a coating of protective paint to Tower Bridge.

The road across Tower Bridge was closed to traffic each night to enable Pyeroy to paint underneath the arches of the North and South towers. AFI specified the niftylift HR12 boom for the protective coating work because weight and size were important considerations - when the machines were not in use they were stowed on the bridge's pedestrian footpath, which also had weight and width restrictions.

Weighing 3330kg and 1.60m wide, the HR12 boom has a working height of 12.2m.

Pyeroy Infra-structure Services Director Brendan Fitzsimons said that the booms were chosen due to the constraints on equipment size, as larger equipment could not have been stowed away safely. "We used the AFI boom lifts on Tower Bridge to remove old paint and apply a protective coating," sai Fitzsimons, adding "they gave our contractors the reach necessary to work safely and efficiently on the arches of the bridge."

Tower Bridge was built in 1894 and took eight years to complete. It involved five major contractors, 432 construction workers and over 11000t of steel to provide the framework for the towers and walkways.

AFI Uplift have 18 depots nationwide, including Birmingham, Hull, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Peterborough. The company has a rental fleet of over 4,300 pieces of equipment, ranging from boom lifts, scissors lifts, linde forklifts and mast lifts. They deal in new machines from JLG, niftylift, Upright, Skyjack and Haulotte.

BOMAG Raises Prices

One of the world's leading companies in the compaction and road rolling industry has announced a price rise. The German compaction equipment manufacturer bomag have stated that they have been forced to implement a price increase of 3% across its range of rollers and compactors. The company says that the price hike is due to higher material costs.

In a statement released by BOMAG, the company said that it had no choice but to pass on the increased cost of materials and components. The company also believes that this could be first of further price increases on their equipment.

In its statement bomag said it was "responding to cost increases for certain component groups, such as drives, rubber parts, NE metals and plastics, and which are expected to increase further over the next few months."

BOMAG are the world leaders in compaction technology, and have recently released innovations like the Asphalt Manager II system, which is an update to its already widely used and popular Asphalt Manager feature. AM has proved valuable to many road builders in efficiently compacting asphalt with other layers of aggregates.

Customers are expected to be disappointed by the price increases, as a difficult economic climate has put pressure on many users of road rolling and construction equipment.

The company have pulled no punches in saying further increases could be coming, and are unapologetic about the measures they are taking to balance the increase of material costs.

"BOMAG expects further cost increases in 2011 for other components and is obliged therefore to pass on a proportion of these increases and the associated costs in its product pricing," said the company in its statement.

BOMAG will be showcasing their range of equipment at the new prices at the BC India show in Mumbai between the 8th and 11th of February. The company will be exhibiting in the roller category alongside rival manufacturers from India and China.

JCB Telehandler Accident Highlights Importance of Safety Training

The operator of a jcb telehandler in Lyme Regis had a close call when his vehicle toppled over a sea wall, crushing several beach huts below. Authorities say that no one was hurt in the incident.

The telehandler operator was moving sheets of shuttering plywood whilst working on the Marine Parade shelters regeration scheme in the Dorset seaside town. Brendan Webb, 36, was working for Febrey Structures, a Bristol plant firm, at the project when his machine tipped over.

The work had gone smoothly, until Webb began placing the material on upper floors of the site. The boom of the machine was at its maximum extended length when the incident occurred, causing authorities to question the safety precautions taken on the site. When the vehicle tipped, the boom fell over the edge of Marine Parade's sea wall and threw its load onto three beach huts below.

Local authorities have called in government inspectors to investigate the cause of the accident. Town clerk Mike Lewis said: “The main contractor promptly notified the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

“A team of senior executives from the company including the in-house health and safety officer and external H&S advisers attended the site within two hours, from which an incident report will be compiled, in addition to that of the HSE in due course.”

The accident highlights the importance of safety precautions employed when telehandlers are used, and equally the value of regular training for operators.

The telescopic boom of a jcb telehandler, the arm that lifts and places the loads, is the both signature feature of the machine but also also the main source of danger when operating it. Operators of these machines are required to take training in the use of a telehandler, especially regarding load weights.

Whilst these machines can lift several tonnes, if the operator has over extended the boom, or not properly calculated the load distance and capacity when lifting, the machine will tip, potentially damaging the load, the machine and injuring the operator.

The HSE has yet to comment on the incident.