Genie has launched its latest Operator Protective Alarm (OPA) for use with its aerial work platforms (AWPs).
The system alerts operators and their colleagues when contact is made with an overhead obstacle. Based on Lavendon’s ‘SkySiren’ technology, the OPA can be retrofitted to any of Genie’s articulated or telescopic boom lifts manufactured after 2002 for the Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Russia (EMEAR) region.
“Our customers requested an additional option for operator overhead protection and we are responding by offering the Genie OPA,” said Carlo Forini, director of business developments and product management at the EMEAR division of Terex Aerial Work Platforms, Genie’s parent company.
OPA has been designed to be as unobtrusive as possible, allowing operators to retain freedom of movement. A pressure-sensitive horizontal bar fitted at waist height below a boom lift’s control panel is activated in the event that an operator makes contact with an overhead obstacle. In turn, the system interrupts all boom functions and notifies personnel at ground level by means of an audible alarm and visible flashing strobe light.
In addition to being retrofittable, the device is transferrable from machine to machine. OPA also features a reset button that can be pressed if the system is activated inadvertently, and can be installed in conjunction with Genie’s Operator Protective Structure (OPS), a complementary system introduced in 2012.
“By offering the OPA along with the Genie OPS, our customers will be able to configure their machines as best suited to specific jobsite conditions,” Forini concluded.
