THE CHALLENGE – In extremely tight quarters inside Shire Pharmaceutical’s North Reading, MA. facility, which was under construction at the time of the rigging project, a 20′ long – 3,000# air handling unit was to be installed onto a 21′ high mezzanine.
Access was further impeded by the presence of overhead steel lateral building support beams, creating an additional hurdle along the rig route to the 21′ high mezzanine, and thus eliminating rigging via a more standard gantry lift operation for the hoisting of the air handler.
THE SOLUTION – An otherwise inaccessible destination, O.B. Hill personnel specified lift equipment in the form of an 8,000# capacity articulating high reach forklift, for which blade extensions of suitable length and lift capacity were engineered to accommodate the weight and length specifications of the air handler.
Following the securement of the unit onto the blade extensions, the O.B. Hill lift operator and crew carefully coordinated the simultaneous elevation and forward motion of the forklift, carrying the air unit between the overhead steel support beam and the edge of the mezzanine, within inches of the overhead roof structural steel; and then placed the air unit onto the mezzanine.
Once safely landed, O.B. Hill personnel rigged the air handler across the mezzanine, repositioned it 90°, and final placed it as directed for mechanical installation.