Boom lifts rentals are a faster way to work as they need very less set-up time and also ‘move out’ time. They also reduce the worker fatigue to a great extent.
Bharti Gokhale,Director, Dynamic Crane Engineers Pvt Ltd

Boom lifts have become a requisite for the construction and maintenance industry, in quite a short span of time, says Bharti Gokhale, Director, Dynamic Crane Engineers – a company established in 2005 that is a pioneer in the field of man lift or boom lift rentals. Gokhale discusses the role of boom lifts in areas such as construction, plant erection & maintenance and refineries, while also talking about the risks of using crane safety systems and the possible measures to deal with the same.

How do you see the market for boom lifts in the engineering equipment industry?
Boom lifts or aerial work platform has entered late into India compared to other equipment like cranes and earth moving equipment. However, the boom lift has become a ‘must-have’ for the construction and maintenance related jobs, in quite a short span of time. There will be sustained growth in the requirement of boom lifts. Boom lifts rentals will necessarily be a localised business unlike the rentals of large cranes. The 12th five-year plan has earmarked approximately $ 1 trillion for infrastructure projects. Major part of this investment will go into projects such as roads, railways and waterways. While these projects do not require boom lifts to a large extent, projects related to industrial and commercial construction will utilise boom lifts in big numbers and this will drive the growth in boom lifts.

How big is the role of boom lifts in areas like construction, plant erection and maintenance, refineries etc?
These areas invariably involve people working at heights and in areas which are difficult to access. And this makes boom lifts the only option to access such areas. Boom lifts are available with working heights ranging from 3-100m and the use of such boom lifts does make the project work much safer.

Today, there are around 5,000 to 6,000 boom lifts and scissor lifts working in India. Out of these, 30 per cent will be with end users and the remaining 70 per cent with rental companies. End users go for new equipment and rental companies opt for used equipment. Rental rates and spare parts and service availability are the major factors driving rental companies to go for used equipment. So, for increasing the role of aerial platforms, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will have a major role to play by offering new equipment at better rates, with finance options and strong back-up of spare parts availability.

What are the advantages of using boom lifts rentals?
Boom lifts rentals provide a safer way to access and work at heights. They are a faster way to work as they need very less set-up time and also ‘move out’ time. They also reduce the worker fatigue to great extent. And the choice of owning the machine and renting it depends on the needs of the company involved in the project and their mindset.

What factors pose risk to the crane safety systems?
The biggest risk for any crane safety system is the lack of willingness on the part of the crane owner or operator to use it. Proper understanding of the system is another such risk. With the newer crane coming up with more and more features, the operator trainings will have to keep up with the pace to match the advancements.

Any initiatives taken from your side to enhance safety in using cranes?
Along with making simple and easy to use Crane Safety Systems (also known as SLIs), we also offer trainings to our clients’ operators and their maintenance persons. We also offer repair services for the existing Crane Safety Systems on the cranes. We have set-up a full-fledged R&D division for developing special products that will enhance the safe use of cranes. These include, wireless wind speed indicator, Outrigger Position Sensor, Electronic Level Sensor etc. We also have few other products coming up which will be unveiled soon.

Discuss your upcoming projects.
The focus of our upcoming projects is more on developing new products in the crane safety and monitoring. We will also be renewing the existing fleet of rental boom lifts partially. We will also be coming up with the products related to efficient management of fleet operations.