Rental: the only way to go

You might think a contractor would want to own, not rent, a tool essential for its work, but that's not the case with Bravida AB. The Stockholm–based, 8000–employee company provides building and industrial services across Scandinavia. Almost all of them involve working at height.

One of its sprinkler systems installation project leaders, Bengt Kellgren tells AI the company rents the access platforms, primarily TM12s (pictured) from UpRight and AirMax 90s from MaxMove in Sweden, that “…are essential to the project work.”

The company rents 90% from Cramo, because it doesn't want to have the service people and equipment that come with ownership. “If the rented platform doesn't work, we phone Cramo and they repair or replace the machine.”

Availability doesn't seem to be a problem, because the one trend he commented on is improved machine reliability.

Rental period depends on project length, which can be a few days; for others it's a year. The longest rental in his seven years with the company has been two years.

An integral part of platform use is safety training. Each installer undergoes a day of training at Cramo to become IPAF certified. “We have had no accidents,” he said.