LOW LEVEL ACCESS
42
access
INTERNATIONAL
MARCH-APRIL 2014
bought 500 of them.
The 1 m version has four ballast tubes, the
1.2 m has six ballast tubes, while the 1.5 m
version has eight. All three sizes have been
British Standards Institute (BSI) approved. Mr
McCombi said he was confident that the UK’s
construction group would advise the industry
to use PAS250 complaint machines, in which
case construction sites will require them.”
Paul Smith, Hire Station purchase manager
said, “We stopped buying the non-PAS250
units straight away.Well over half our fleet are
now PAS250 compliant.”
Non-powered
Power Towers introduced its non-powered
Picolift vertical mast last year and the response
so far has been has been impressive, with 1000
units bought by Nationwide Platforms and
1000 going to Hire Station, in the UK.The
Peco is a non-powered pusharound with a
patented stored powered system that enables
the operator to wind the platform up and down
easily.The unit has now been specified with
APEX approval for Zones 1 and 21 potentially
explosive environments.The machine is also
Wind Rated and is operative on gradients up
to 3 degrees and in winds up to 12.5 m/s.The
Pecolift has a maximum working height of 3.5
m, and maximum platform height of 1.5 m.
Safe working load is 150 kg for one person and
tools.
Brian King, founder of Power Towers, said
the company is about to double its production
space in the immediate future and then will
build on that. At the moment Power Towers
can get about 350 machines out each month -
the extra space will potentially double output.
The Pecolift looks as if it will be spreading
out too with interest from DK Rentals in
Belgium, a subsidiary of Lavendon, which owns
Nationwide, taking a demo unit of the lift.
There is also potential from big contracts in the
Middle East.
Another non-powered access equipment
producer Access Platform Company has
launched the 250 kg working load Sidewinder
Mini 250, a step up from its Sidewinder 150,
with a 150 kg working load. One of its main
benefits is that it can still fit through doorways.
The company is planning a series of the
Sidewinder models, which are ideal for shelf
stacking and lighting.
Jon Laing, who co-founded the company,
said non-powered access had huge potential.
“Powered units hit the market 10 to 15 years
ago so there was a growth curve. It’s now a
matter of getting people used to the idea of
this. You getting people asking for them now
and there is definitely more interest across
Europe.”
Hybrid Access Platform is the UK and
Ireland distributor for Custom Equipment’s
Hy-Brid machines.The HB-P 3.6, HB-P 4.5
and the HB-P 5.0 pusharound models, with
Earlier this year Bravi launched the Sprint, an
update of its longstanding Caddy vertical mast. It’s
aimed at the retail, housing and industrial markets
and is sold through material handling dealers,
such as forklift dealers. “It’s a completely different
network to our Leonardo HD which is aimed at the
rental companies to replace scaffolding and in the
early stages of building sites. It can also replace
small scissors.”
Last year at material handling exhibition ProMat
exhibition in Chicago, sales manager Marina Torres
said there are more than 300 leads for the Caddy.
“So we decided to restyle it for that market. The
UK and US are now our biggest markets, with the
material handling sector growing 10%, maybe even
20%.”
The company is now eagerly targeting Germany,
where, as Ms Torres, describes, is very demanding in terms of its demands for safety and reliability. BG-
BAU, the government’s health and safety body, now has a Leonardo HD in its training rooms.
Bravi is also looking to other regions, such as the Middle East, for potential sales. While low level access
is still to make any real impact in that area, there are reasons to be optimistic about the future. “Safety is
not the first focus there but it’s about higher productivity and the potential of using less workers.”
SPRINTING AHEAD
Lyte’s
Hipod
PAS250
podium
step.
The
Sidewinder
Mini 250
UK access rental giant Speedy Hire
bought 150 units of the Hy-Brid HB-P3.6
the latter 5 m working height model being the
company’s latest launch at the Rental Show in
Orlando, USA in February.The company says
the product allows it to target customers it was
finding difficult to get, i.e. medium sized rental
companies that want a one-size fits all machine.
UK access rental giant Speedy Hire bought
150 units of the 3.6 and is currently running
around 1000 to 1500 pusharound products.
The point being that such a large company will
happily buy all three different sizes for different
applications, while a smaller company would
prefer to buy one machine that can potentially
work across all those applications.
The 4.5 and 5.0 both have 250 kg working
loads, while the 3.6 has 227 kg working load.
Other advantages include sealed for life AGM
batteries, sealed submersible charger and
maintenance free oversized pins and bushes.
The machines are desirable for height under
19 feet and are looking to take market share
from podiums, towers and scissors.
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