GPSJ - SPRING 2024 LATEST - Journal - Page 25
APS - COVER STORY
GPSJ
will solve just as many lower working
height challenges where outreach
is vital, allowing these tasks to be
completed with less disruption and
cost.”
Narrow stabilisation
The Hinowa Lightlift 40.18 has
a larger basket (2,000mm by
700mm), big enough to take up to
three operatives within the 300kg
restricted capacity. In this higher
capacity set-up, the maximum
working height is still 40.2m but
outreach is reduced to 16.5m.
The platform’s outriggers can also
be operated in a narrow stabilisation
area for – 6,675mm by 3,640mm
compared with a standard
stabilisation area of 5,375mm by
5,040mm. In this set-up, maximum
working height is 35m and outreach
just under 11m, with a restricted
230kg capacity.
When stowed for tracking, the
Lightlift 40.18 is still very compact,
with a width of 1,200mm and a
height of 1,199mm. That is just
230mm wider than a 20m Hinowa
Lightlift 20.10, and the same stowed
height.
APS Arborite GRP bucket Hinowa
Power line maintenance boost
to maintain services.”
Better off-road capability
Working at height is not just a
matter of how high its basket
can be raised from the ground.
In the power generation sector,
the materials the basket is
made from also count
GRP buckets – new
opportunities
The company’s teams could still
work next to high voltage lines but
only during planned shutdowns
when the power had been switched
off.
Having a Hinowa with a fullycompliant GRP bucket creates
opportunities to do more work for
SSE adjacent to live power lines
with voltages ranging from 11,000v
to 33,000v.
Arborite also operates a LandRover truck mount, which has a
GRP bucket and a 14m maximum
working height.
It is why Arborite Tree Services
has become the first business in the
UK to buy a Hinowa spider platform
with a glass-reinforced plastic (GRP)
bucket.
APS has supplied Arborite with a
Hinowa Lightlift 20.10 Performance
IIIS fitted with the specialist bucket to
work on trees adjacent to live high
voltage power lines.
Working from access platforms
with GRP buckets is a key safety
requirement when working in the
vicinity of high voltage electrical
equipment or power lines.
It helps protect the operator
should they inadvertently come into
contact with a power cable and
reduces the risk of electricity arcing
across to the machine.
Hampshire-based Arborite is using
its Lightlift 20.10 to maintain trees
along power lines for distribution
network operator (DNO) SSE
Company owner Jon Challinor
said: “We wanted a Hinowa
because, being very robust and
reliable, they’re the best platforms
for tree work.
“Now we can work for SSE on
trees adjacent to live power lines
This is something DNOs prefer
because they don’t need to shut
down power and hire in generators
APS Regional Business Manager
Jonathan Wiseman said: “Our
customers have been keenly looking
forward to the arrival of Hinowa
spider lifts with GRP buckets.
“They open up new opportunities
for our customers in the power
generation sector and, of course,
the platforms are fully capable of
fulfilling all other working at height
tasks.
“When combined with new
Hinowa Lightlift spider lifts, they are
fully CE-certified. They can also be
retrofitted to platforms built from the
start of July 2023, once Hinowa
has gone through a confirmation
process.”
Founded in 2007, Arborite had
operated a Hinowa Lightlift 20.10
spider lift with a standard aluminium
basket for three years.
However, the Hinowa LL 20.10 has
better off-road capability and, with a
maximum working height of 20.1m
and a maximum reach of 9.7m,
can tackle more challenging tree
maintenance tasks.
APS has taken back Arborite’s
previous Hinowa LL 20.10 in part
exchange. It has also supplied the
company with a new 3.5t trailer to
tow its new spider lift using a 4x4
vehicle or a van with a standard car
driving licence.
Interchangeable with standard
basket
Hinowa’s new GRP bucket has
been launched after being put
through a stringent design and
testing programme to ensure it
complies with all safety regulations,
including passing flame retardancy
tests.
Other key performance
features include:
• The GRP bucket can be lifted on
and off the boom in the same way
as a standard basket to aid tracking
in confined spaces;
• It can be used interchangeably
with a standard basket with
no adaptations to any platform
equipment;
• The platform has the same
unrestricted 230kg capacity and
same wind rating as the standard
basket;
• As with the standard basket
water and compressed air lines
can be accessed from the GRP
bucket.
GRP bucket – six Hinowa
platforms
The new GRP bucket can be used
with six Hinowa spider lift models:
the Lightlift 13.70, Lightlift 15.70,
Lightlift 17.75, Lightlift 18.80. Lightlift
20.10 and the Lightlift 26.14.
It means spider lift operators,
including platform rental companies,
can buy a limited number of GRP
buckets and provide them for use
across a fleet of Hinowa platforms
with different working heights.
www.accessplatforms.co.uk
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL WINTER 2023/2024
25
