For utility and construction crews, the proper leveling products ensure safe operations
APPLICATION
Stability Essentials
For utility and construction crews, the proper leveling products ensure safe operations
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By Kris Koberg
Utility crews employ a wide range of equipment, including aerial devices, digger derricks, boom trucks and compact crawler lifts that must be properly supported, stabilized and leveled to some degree. Setting up on sloped ground can be especially challenging without the use of cribbing, which can play a vital role in leveling the equipment.
Equipment used by utilities and utility contractors is typically equipped with either stabilizers or outriggers, each serving a distinct purpose in ensuring equipment stability:
• Stabilizers extend from the chassis at an angle to provide stability that increases the working range of the equipment. You’ re likely to find stabilizers on smaller aerial devices or digger derricks with a shorter reach. Because stabilizers do not carry all the weight from the wheels or tracks, loads and pressures transferred to the ground are lower than those with outriggers.
• Outriggers are found on larger
Telecom & Utility Construction | Fall 2025
aerials, boom trucks and cranes with a longer reach to significantly increase the equipment’ s base, allowing for a larger operating range. They extend out and down and lift the equipment off the ground fully. The outrigger floats are the only contact points with the ground during operation. Because the total weight of the equipment, the rigging and the load is transferred directly through the outriggers, outrigger reaction forces and pressures are higher.
Equipment manufacturers provide instructions for the proper deployment and requirements for levelness, while the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration address this in standards and regulations. Be sure to refer to your operator’ s manual for equipment setup procedures.
Level Up the Right Way
Floats attached to the end of the stabilizer or outrigger are outfitted with either a fixed foot, a ball-and-socket
Cribbing needs to be treated with the same level of scrutiny as an outrigger pad or a crane mat and must be strong enough to withstand the imposed loads and pressures and stiff enough to spread the load.
or hinged joints. Each float type has differing limitations that impact the levelness of the supporting materials or the footing. The lack of a simple, adaptable leveling tool often forces crews to use wedges or other improvised materials that aren’ t consistent or reliable.
Careful planning and prep work are required when setting equipment up