Lavendon Group, parent of hire firm Nationwide Platforms, has licensed Genie to offer its SkySiren ‘secondary guarding’ system that is designed to prevent boom lift operators being crushed against overhead obstacles.
When the platform operator makes contact with the platform control panel, such as they would if being crushed, the system halts boom movement, sounds an alarm and causes a light to flash.
Genie is branding the system as the Genie Operator Protective Alarm (OPA) system. It can be retrofitted to any Genie articulating or telescopic boom lift manufactured after 2002. It is now available as an aftermarket option but will soon be offered as a factory-installed option.
Genie will also continue to offer the Operator Protective Structure (OPS) system that it introduced in 2012. The Genie OPS (pictured below) can be attached to boom lifts with 1.8m to 2.4m platforms. It is a tubular steel structure that shrouds the control panel to protect the operator. It weighs 16kg and is bolted directly on the boom’s platform without the need for any modifications.
“Our customers requested an additional option for operator overhead protection and we are responding by offering the Genie Operator Protective Alarm,” said Terex Aerial Work Platforms booms product manager Frank Schneider. “By offering the OPA along with the Genie Operator Protective Structure, our customers will be able to configure the machine as appropriate to the jobsite conditions.”
Lavendon chief executive Don Kenny said: “We are incredibly pleased to reach this agreement and hope the global availability of this secondary guarding technology can aid the working at height experience of many end users worldwide.”
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