This post is not at all meant to throw stones at the recent news of multiple aerial failures. It’s also not meant to make any accusations of responsibility; rather it is just a great time to ask this question:

Who performs the preventative maintenance and inspections of your aerial device?

Is it the departmental or municipal garage? Is it an outside vendor? Or is it you and your crews? Look back at those choices, only one group’s life is on the line… Why would the crews whose life safety depends on the aerial not perform their own lubrication and inspections of the aerial? We understand that some department’s administration may not “allow” for this to happen, but they cannot (and should not) prevent us from at least performing our own DETAILED inspection. We are not talking about simply operating the aerial on a daily/weekly check, we are talking about REALLY checking it out. When was the last time you looked at every single surface of the aerial including but not limited to: wear plates, wire rope, pulleys, hydraulic cylinders and hoses?

Every apparatus manufacture provides detailed documentation on the lubrication process. This list also itemizes each different lube that is required for each surface and component. How do you think you mechanics learned how to do it? They read about it and were maybe shown the process by someone else. Why don’t you have them teach you how to do the same thing? Even if they wont let you take over the lubrication of the aerial, have them teach you how to PROPERLY inspect it. Ask what every simple component does; watch how the pulleys and wire rope move when the aerial is in operation. Make sure you understand everything you possibly can about this piece of equipment that rely on.

This is my aerial. There are many like it but this one is mine. My aerial is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.