Posted By Jeremy Holdcroft
Hi, I run a lagging/asbestos company and I'm a little confused, it sounds like he was moving the ducting rather than lagging it? laggers usually lag ductwork that it is already fixed in place.

Or did you mean the metal outer cladding for the ducting insulation which sounds more like it.

Cladding for ducting is usually large and awkward to move around, manual handling is the only real answer, cranes or small boom lifts etc are impractical (a fork lift with a boom may be used in certain situations where practical). It should be MH assessed as a 2/3 man operation to properly and safely complete the task. Lagging is one of the last tasks in construction and laggers are required to fit all shapes and sizes of lagging and cladding into confined and obstructed spaces where other plant, walls, cables, pipes, etc are all in the way or restrict the working space. There usually is no room for any mechanical aids, its a question of grunting and swearing it into place whilst cursing the drawing office monkeys.

Open spaces can be a problem too, imagine cladding AHU ducting on top of an office block in high winds, laggers aren't very good at hang gliding with sheets of metal.

Certain situations may allow for fork lift handling but on the whole its a question of making it labour intensive.

JH

Posted By MickN
Jeremy,

To answer your question, the ducting IS being lagged on the ground with the intention of speeding up the process and to make it a little safer (at least until NASA comes with an affordable levitation suit). The lagged piece of duct is then lifted into position normally.

The injury (see previous post) was sustained whilst moving the piece of duct from a standing to a horizontal position.

I'm simply wondering if anyone has com across a manual handling aid that could be used for such a large and awkward object?

Posted By andy tetlow
hi mick,
What type of injury was sustained, was it musculoskeletal, trap or puncture? I was a lagger in a previous life and have come across this issue many times.

I have seen ducting companies that have a lifting mechanism which has two lifting legs (which the ducting sits on) then it is jacked up into position. i understand logistically this is sometimes not possible, but with ducting that size a safe system of work should be in place. i.e. lag the ducting on the ground, as near to where its being fitted, as possible. As said previous, mewps can be useful, but not 100% sure about the legality
of using them to lift kit into place.

Most sites i have been on the ducting workers usually get the first fit before partitions, utility pipes, cable trays etc. so there can be room, initially, for this type of lifting equipment. if its puncture,trap etc, i know its the last of defence but is the ppe the correct type. Being an ex lagger, gloves do make simple tasks cumbersome sometimes so it could be useful to communicate with them to find out if they have a particular glove in mind.

on a side note it is great to see that you have tried to reduce the risk of work at height.
regards
andy t.

Posted By Mitch
MEWPs are not lifting equipment, can you design lifting points in the ducts for using dynamic eyebolts, shackles, slings and teleporters?