RATCLIFF CLOSES THE GATE
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When it comes to health and safety and tail-lift operations, Ratcliff Palfinger sales director Tony Biggs has no doubts the UK is well ahead of the rest of Europe. “We are leading the way in terms of safety and risk assessment – there’s no question of it.” Although it’s mandatory that any tail-lift has to have a safety gate system on it if going above 2m, Biggs says that, even when lifts are operating below that height, many Ratcliff Palfinger customers invariably specify safety gates. “What we’re finding is that the blue-chip customers are definitely going down the gate route,” he says, “because it’s absolutely in-line with their corporate governance and accident prevention.” Meanwhile, other buyers specify safety gates as an obvious way of covering their duty-of-care obligations in order to avoid any possible ‘no win, no fee’ legal action arising out of a tail-lift fall. “They’re specifically bought with litigation in mind,” confirms Biggs.
Ratcliff Palfinger is in the enviable position of being able to offer an off-the-peg selection of safety gates, including either simple drop-in units that the driver has to fit to those that can be automatically deployed, depend ing on the type of lift and opera tional requirements. Alternatively it can create a bespoke barrier solution. “Sometimes we have to dig deeper and find out more from the customer,” continues Biggs. “So we start with a basic range that we can sell from book and go through to a consultative arrangement where we’ll sell a specific solution to a customer’s needs.” In particular, tuck-away tail-lifts have their own unique problems when it comes to fitting them with gates.
Specifying safety guards on a tail-lift typically cost between 10%-15% of the initial purchase price of the tail-lift, says Biggs – but it’s a small price to pay against the prospect of litigation and obvious trauma caused by a serious injury or even a death arising from a fall.