Scissor lift hire

Electric slab scissor or rough-terrain diesel?

Two families of scissor lift, built for different floors:

• Electric slab scissor

  Battery powered, so no fumes and little noise indoors, on solid tyres that are kind to finished floors. Narrow enough for doorways and aisles. Built for flat concrete (a "slab"), not gravel or mud. Our electric class covers 6–12 m working height.

• Rough-terrain diesel scissor

  A wider chassis, a diesel engine and 4x4 drive with lugged tyres, for building sites, yards and compacted ground. It carries more on a bigger deck, but it's too wide for most doors and its exhaust keeps it outside. Our rough-terrain class covers 8–10 m working height.

Common models make the sizes easy to read. On Genie slab scissors, the model number gives the deck height in feet and the width in inches: a GS-1930 has a 19 ft (5.79 m) deck and is 30 in (0.76 m) wide. Working height is the deck height plus 2 m, the reach of a person standing on it.

What 227 kg means: two people with hand tools, or one person with tools and a box of fittings. Count everyone on the deck plus tools and material. The rough-terrain machine's bigger deck load suits crews carrying cladding, cable trays or ducting.

What scissor lifts are hired for

• Warehouses

  High-bay lights, sprinkler lines, racking labels and roof sheeting repairs from inside. Narrow electric machines fit the aisles between racks.

• Shopfitting and malls

  Bulkheads, ceilings, signage and lighting in stores, often at night before the mall opens. Battery power means no fumes in a closed space.

• Office fit-outs

  Ceiling grids, aircon ducting, data cabling and fire detection, moving desk by desk across a floor.

• Factories and workshops

  Painting steel, cable trays, extraction ducting and overhead services, worked from a deck big enough for tools and material.

• Halls, churches and venues

  Lighting rigs, sound, banners and maintenance in high-ceilinged halls, where a ladder isn't safe and scaffold takes too long.

• Building sites (rough terrain)

  Soffits, cladding, steel connections and services on compacted ground or a slab still under construction.

Certificates: operator and load test

A scissor lift is a lifting machine under the Driven Machinery Regulations, 2015, listed in the National Code of Practice (Notice 5588 of 2024) as a mobile elevated work platform, code C53.

• Operator: nobody may operate it without a C53 certificate of training from an accredited training provider (reg 18(11)). The operator also carries a licence card valid for up to 24 months. If you hire the machine only, your operator must hold one; otherwise add ours.
• Load test: a thorough examination and performance test by a lifting machinery inspector of a registered lifting machinery entity at intervals of no more than 12 months (reg 18(5)(a)). Work platforms don't need a new test each time they move to a new site within that period (reg 18(5)(c)).
• Your register: if you use a hired machine, you keep a register on site with its latest performance test and service records, not older than 12 months (reg 18(7)(b)). We send copies before the machine arrives, on request.
• On a construction site: the Construction Regulations (reg 23) add a medical certificate of fitness and written authorisation for the operator, and a check of the machine before each day's use.

Outdoors, keep the machine and anyone on the deck clear of overhead power lines: nobody may come inside a line's safety clearance without permission from the utility that runs it (Electrical Machinery Regulations, reg 19(5)). Many electric slab scissors are rated lower outdoors: a GS-2632 or similar goes to a 7.96 m deck indoors but only 5.79 m outdoors, and a GS-1930 to 4.47 m outdoors, while the wider GS-3246 works to full height outside. The rating is on the machine's plate, and the operator lowers the deck when the wind passes it. More on safety and certificates.

How scissor lift hire works

1. WhatsApp the job: working height, indoor or outdoor, the floor, the door width, the town and the dates.
2. We confirm in writing: the machine, the dates, the price, delivery as its own line, and an operator if you need one.
3. Pay the deposit to book.
4. Your scissor lift arrives charged or fuelled, with copies of its load-test certificate on request. If it breaks down, you get a replacement machine or no charge for the downtime.

We deliver scissor lifts across all 9 provinces; see local prices for plant hire in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Full steps are on how hiring works.