Two tips for automotive manufacturers who plan to fit car lifts in their facilities
If you plan to have a car lift installed in your automotive manufacturing facility, here are two tips that you may find useful.
Make sure the floor directly outside the lift is completely flat
It is extremely important to ensure that the floor directly outside the new car lift is completely flat, with no gradient whatsoever.
The reason for this is as follows: if the ground outside the lift is sloped, there is much greater chance that an accident could occur when a vehicle is being put into, or taken out of it.
For example, if there is a downward slope outside the lift, a car which is being placed inside it or being taken out of it could potentially roll backward or forward, respectively, and subsequently hit an employee and collide with an expensive piece of equipment that is positioned nearby.
This could not only result in the employee sustaining serious injuries but could also lead to the car and the equipment it collides with being destroyed.
An incident of this kind could lead to a lawsuit (if the employee decides to sue) and result in you having to incur the cost of replacing the damaged vehicle and equipment.
As such, if the floor in this area of your facility is not flat, you should consider hiring a contractor to level it before the car lift is installed.
Implement an inspection schedule
After the car lift has been installed, you should set up an inspection schedule to ensure that the lift is thoroughly inspected on a regular basis.
There are several reasons why you should do this. Firstly, inspecting the equipment regularly will ensure that any defects it develops are identified and fixed before they begin to pose a risk to the safety of the employees who use the lift.
Secondly, routinely checking the condition of the lift may help to extend its lifespan, as it will allow your employees to spot and rectify the early warning signs of deterioration before these issues evolve into major problems that cannot be repaired.
For example, if an employee notices that there are small patches of rust on some of the lift's metal components, they can have this rust removed before it begins to spread to rest of the equipment and affect the functionality of other vital components.
Thirdly, regular inspections will minimise the risk of an undetected fault causing the lift to malfunction whilst it is in use (if incidents like this occur on a regular basis, they could cause delays which could affect the efficiency levels of your facility).
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