14.05.2012

Tyco mandates SkySiren

Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions says that it is mandating the fitment of Nationwide Platforms’ SkySiren protection system on all boom lifts used on its sites from today – at least in the UK.

The mandate covers all equipment used by both its sub-contractors and its employees. Tyco first evaluated the SkySiren system earlier this spring, on machines it used for fire protection work at Pembroke Power Station.

Brian Whittle, project director and Quality, Environment and Health & Safety champion and Steve Leigh, director – contracting at Tyco, said: “Safe working is the most central tenet to any of our work, regardless of the nature or challenges posed by a project. Having worked with Nationwide Platforms to find safety solutions in the past, we’ve always been interested in finding the latest methods of working that truly represent best practice. Now, after seeing the product for ourselves, we are pleased to take the opportunity to mandate the SkySiren and provide what could be a critical safeguard to access equipment users on our projects.”
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The SkySiren switch fits neatly to the front of the control station and can be retrofited to most boomlifts

Vertikal Comment

This is an interesting move, not that Tyco is mandating a protection system against overhead crushing from overhead obstacles - the number of large contractors adding these devices to their requirements is likely to grow from here on out, particularly with two large UK rental companies behind the initiative – but interesting that it has mandated a single specific system – the Sky Siren.

There are now a number of alternative products on the market that provide protection, ranging from Niftylift’s SiOPS – the original system, that is built into all of its larger machines, to JLG’s new SkyGuard, AFI’s Sanctuary Zone and Genie’s Operator Protection System. It is true that two of these are mechanical forms of protection, however the JLG and Nifty solutions are quite similar to the SkySiren in what they do.

A couple of thoughts spring to mind… a) Will Tyco be mandating this in its home market of the USA and other countries in which it operates? And b) what happens if a Niftylift is supplied for the job with its fully integrated SiOPS system? – even if you wanted to, you cannot fit the SkySiren switch gear to a Nifty SiOPS control station.

Tyco’s main work is installing fire protection and other systems into the internal roof areas of buildings, where overhead beams and other obstacles are concentrated, so the work is a prime candidate for the additional protection that these systems can provide. However such prescriptive edicts can result in numerous local exceptions being made for a variety of reasons – which can be counterproductive.