VERTICAL MASTS
42
ACCESS, LIFT & HANDLERS
MARCH 2014
Snorkel machine to such a prestigious retail and
leisure development. The SPM20 was the ideal
machine for the Kings Avenue Mall because of
its light weight, which was required because
of the sensitive load-bearing capabilities of the
floor.”
With a stowed height of less than 6 feet, the
SPM20 will pass through interior doors. Non-
marking front tires and rear castors are fitted as
standard. Lift and drive functions are operated
by a simple one-hand joystick. The SPM20
can be driven at full height and can traverse
gradients of up to 25 percent.
The 24V battery pack is sealed for life,
requiring no maintenance. The SPM20 also
has simple, easy to use diagnostics on the
chassis, for fast and efficient troubleshooting,
the company says. Optional extras include a
platform extension and flashing amber beacon.
Even smaller
Founded in 1882, the city of Montrose, CO
once provided supplies to nearby mining
communities. Today, the self-proclaimed
gateway to the wonders of Western Colorado
is the recipient of the 2013 All-America City
award from the National Civic League, having
demonstrated “…innovation, inclusiveness,
civic engagement and cross-sector collaboration
by describing successful efforts to address
pressing local challenges.”
Among the more pressing and recent
challenges not cited or considered for the award,
but nevertheless important to the city’s police
department, involved access to the department’s
secure evidence storage. Recently, the police
department consolidated its evidence storage
too much floor space, required more room to
maneuver than was available, and were too
wide to fit through the doorway or make the turn
on the other side of the opening.
“We certainly looked at traditional ladders,”
he says. “But from a safety standpoint, they
bring with them a considerable amount of risk,
and they would be difficult to use. Our evidence
custodian could not carry large ladders around
the storage area, and we did not want to risk
injury as she tried to maneuver them around
tight corners. Plus, safely climbing a ladder
requires three points of contact on the ladder,
leaving no way to carry large boxes up or down
the ladder.
“So, we knew almost immediately that we
would need a lift of some sort. But it wasn’t that
simple, because we had a budget constraint.
This was not something we thought we would
need when original plans for the storage area
were considered. So I began looking for a
safe, efficient and affordable solution to our
accessibility challenge.”
Turner’s search eventually led him to the FS60
LiftPod aerial work platform from JLG. With a
12-foot working height and a compact 30-inch
base, the personal and portable lift offered
Turner the dimensions and the maneuverability
he needed.
“The LiftPod takes up much less floor space
than any other option we considered and fits
through the doorway, easily making the turn
into the storage area,” says Turner. “With the
LiftPod, our evidence custodian is able to place
a box on the material shelf and then step into
the lift and know that she is in a secure cage,
which lifts her to the point where she needs to
be to safely unload the box or retrieve another.”
The platform holds up to 330 pounds, while the
enclosed basket provides the ability to work 360
degrees with both hands.
Vertical mast machines will continue to
evolve to provide safe, effective replacements
for ladders at both high and low heights,
most agree. It will be interesting to watch this
segment continue to find new and innovative
ways to do this with smaller chassis and
lighter weight units which are even easier
to transport.
■
into a single location – a renovated historic
building originally constructed in 1910 as a fire
station.
“The goal was to move everything to one
secure location where evidence could be
carefully organized, filed and stored, but also
be easy for authorized personnel to find and
retrieve when they need it,” says Virgil Turner,
director of innovation and citizen engagement
for the city of Montrose. Turner’s job description
includes responsibility for city facilities, including
the renovated fire station, which is adjacent to
city hall.
According to Turner, evidence storage is much
like a warehouse operation in that it requires
significant amounts of shelving. “Shelves are
labeled, as are the bins of evidence stored
on them, with each bin carefully assigned a
particular location on a specific shelf within the
storage area.”
Although floor space in the converted fire
station is limited, the building’s high ceilings,
ranging from 12 to 14 feet, provide plenty of
vertical storage for the police department.
Taking advantage of this feature, Turner
incorporated a high-density mobile storage
system to maximize storage space while
accommodating the police department’s
preponderance of evidence. A mobile storage
system replaces static shelves and fixed aisles
with shelves mounted on wheels that can be
compressed together, eliminating all but one
aisle that opens up when and where it is needed
by shifting rows of shelving.
But conserving floor space by taking
advantage of higher ceilings and a tall storage
system created the need for a safe means of
storing and accessing evidence stored on the
system’s upper shelves.
“We were also somewhat constrained by
the width of an existing doorway between a
load-bearing masonry partition,” says Turner.
“We really didn’t want to cut a wider opening
if we didn’t have to. Also, once you go through
the opening, you have to make an immediate
right-hand turn to get into another storage area,
which limited the options available to us.”
Turner and his team briefly considered the
use of rolling ladders, but found they took up
A Genie GR-26J in
warehouse duties.
Two Terex AWP
Genie GR-20
vertical masts
perform ceiling
maintenance.
