The short answer on insulated EWP hire
An insulated EWP has an insulated upper boom and basket liner, tested and rated so that certain work near live conductors becomes possible. If any part of your job sits inside the No Go Zone clearances, an ordinary boom cannot be used at all.
If any part of your work sits near live conductors, this is the question that decides whether the job is legal to attempt at all. Not whether the machine is big enough. Whether it is insulated.
It is also the question people most often assume is covered by the words “cherry picker”. It is not. Plenty of machines called cherry pickers are not insulated units.
What insulated EWP hire actually means
An insulated elevating work platform has an insulated upper boom section and an insulated liner in the basket. Together those create an electrically isolated section between the person doing the work and the truck on the ground. The design and manufacture standard covers the classification of insulated units[2].
The insulation is not decorative and it is not permanent by default. It is a rated property that has to be tested to stay valid, which is the part most people do not realise.
The certificate is the machine
An insulated boom with a lapsed electrical test is not an insulated machine in any way that matters. It is a boom with a history. Ask for the current test certificate before the machine arrives, every time, from anybody.
The No Go Zone framework
In Victoria, work near the electricity network is planned against the No Go Zone framework published by Energy Safe Victoria[1]. It sets out the clearances that apply between the network and both people and plant, and what has to happen before anybody works inside them.
The clearances differ depending on the voltage of the line, what the work is, and who is doing it. Some work inside those zones can only be carried out by people with specific authorisation from the network operator. None of that is decided by the hire company, and we will not pretend otherwise.
What the machine does
An insulated tower makes certain work near conductors possible where an ordinary boom cannot be used at all.
What the machine does not do
It does not grant permission. Approvals still come from the asset owner, and the ticket still comes from your operator.
Who decides the clearance
The network operator and the framework, not us and not you. Confirm before anybody is booked.
What we can tell you
Which of our machines is rated for what, and whether its certification is current. Tell us what you are working near.
The machine makes the job possible. It does not make the job permitted. Those are two different conversations and both have to happen.
How it is kept current
Every insulated tower we own runs on the same schedule, and it runs whether the machine is working or parked.
| What | How often | What it proves |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical test | Every six months | The insulated section still performs to its rating |
| Inspection with the covers off | Every three months | Wear, damage and contamination caught before they become a fault |
| Load test | Annually | The machine still lifts to the plate |
| Major inspection | Per AS 2550.10[5] | The periodic major inspection regime the standard requires |
Cleanliness is part of the rating
An insulated boom works because the insulated section is clean and dry. Contamination, damage and moisture all degrade it. This is why a machine that has been sitting in a yard for months is not the same proposition as one that is in service and being inspected.
What to ask before you hire anything for line-adjacent work
- Is this specific machine an insulated unit?
Not the fleet. This machine, the one that is coming to my job. - What is it rated to, and can I see the plate?
The rating is on the machine. It should not be difficult to get a photograph of it. - When was it last electrically tested?
And can the certificate travel with the truck. - What are the clearances for my job?
This comes from the network operator and the No Go Zone framework, not from the hire company. - Does my operator have the right authorisation?
Being ticketed to operate the machine is not the same as being authorised to work inside a clearance zone.
Why our whole fleet is insulated
Because the work we grew up doing is vegetation management and line-adjacent work, and on that work an ordinary boom is not usable. Having a fleet where every machine is rated means we never have to check which one can go to which job, and a customer never gets a machine that turns out to be the wrong class on the morning it matters.
It also means that if you hire from us for ordinary work at height, you are getting a machine that happens to also be rated for live-adjacent work. That costs you nothing and occasionally saves a job when the scope changes on site.
Reading the rating, and what the parts of it mean
An insulation rating is a statement about the machine’s structure, and it is rarely a single number.
A rating written as 66/33/LV describes the levels different parts of the machine are built and tested to. The upper figure applies to the insulated section that separates the basket from everything below it; the lower figures apply to other parts of the structure.
The Redmond Gary TF17M is a useful example because its specification is published in full. It is rated 132 kV, certified to AS 1418.10:2011 in line with EN 280, and acceptance tested to 275 kV. Within that, the fly jib is steel and fibreglass rated at 132 kV, the turret insert is insulated and rated at 33 kV, and the remaining booms are LV rated and fibreglass coated. The basket is fully enclosed insulated fibreglass with a flame-retardant liner.
That level of detail is what a rating actually is. A single number on a brochure with nothing behind it is a claim, not a specification.
So the first question on any insulated EWP hire is not what number the machine carries, but what document the number comes from.
Wet, dry, and why the qualifier decides the job
This is the part that matters most and gets quoted least.
A machine’s insulation rating holds under stated conditions. Some machines are rated across dry, wet and precipitation conditions. Others carry a rating that holds in clean, dry conditions only, and are not rated for wet work at all.
That is not a technicality on a Melbourne winter morning. A machine rated dry only is a different machine, in the rain, from one rated for precipitation, and the distinction is the difference between work proceeding and work stopping.
The TF17M’s rating explicitly covers dry, wet and precipitation. Where a rating is quoted to you without conditions attached, ask what conditions it holds in and ask to see where that is stated. If the answer is not on the plate or in the manufacturer’s documentation, treat it as unconfirmed.
We would rather have that conversation with you than have a machine turn up that cannot lawfully do the work on the day it rains.
The six-monthly electrical test, and what it actually proves
A rating tells you what a machine was built to. A test tells you whether that is still true.
Every truck in the fleet goes through an electrical test every six months, carried out by a specialist testing company. The test applies a high voltage across the insulated section and measures leakage, and the result is recorded on a certificate with the date, the location and the measured figure.
On one of our machines the last three tests ran at 60 kV for one minute, with measured leakage of 10, 11 and 13 microamps, all passing. That progression is the point of testing at intervals: you are watching a trend, not just collecting a pass.
Insulation degrades with age, contamination and damage. A machine that passed two years ago is telling you about a machine that no longer exists in that condition. For anything line-adjacent, the test should be within six months, and the certificate is yours to see.
Ask for it. Any insulated EWP hire without a current test certificate behind it is a machine whose rating is an assertion.
What the machine does not give you
An insulated tower makes work near live conductors physically possible. It does not make it permitted, and conflating the two is the most consequential mistake in this whole subject.
Approval to work inside the exclusion zones around a live asset comes from the asset owner. The distances depend on the voltage and on who is doing the work. A spotter is frequently required. None of that is supplied by hiring the right machine.
The approvals also run on their own timeline, and it is usually longer than people allow for. A machine can be organised in about a week; an approval frequently cannot.
So start the approval conversation before the hire conversation. If you tell us what you are dealing with early, we can tell you what rating the work needs while you are still sorting the rest.
Recertification and the life of an insulated machine
These machines are built to last, and the certification regime is what keeps them safe while they do.
A new tower is built and certified at the factory to last ten years. After that initial period, recertification is required every five years.
A recertification is a strip-down, not a signature. The boom comes off. Extensions and cylinders come out. Welds and pins go through non-destructive crack testing. Pins, bushes and hoses are replaced as needed. The machine is repainted, our engineer signs it off, and a new plaque goes on.
In between, the cadence runs continuously: a full safety inspection every three months with every cover off, the electrical test every six, and a load test on the boom, basket and legs every twelve.
One detail that sounds cosmetic and is not: we keep the trucks clean and painted so hairline cracks are visible the day they appear. Cutters tend to favour the passenger side of the truck when working, so over time most of the stress goes through one side of the machine, and that is where cracks start. A clean machine shows you that; a dirty one hides it until the three-month inspection.
What should come with the machine
If you are hiring for line-adjacent work, this is the paperwork that should arrive with it.
| Item | What it tells you | How current |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance plate details | Insulation level, working height, SWL, year of manufacture | Permanent, but read it rather than a brochure |
| Electrical test certificate | The insulation is still intact, with a measured leakage figure | Within six months |
| Safety inspection record | Pins, bushes, hoses, legs, tyres and bearings all checked | Within three months |
| Load test record | Boom, basket and legs load tested | Within twelve months |
| Certification status | Where the machine sits in its ten-then-five year cycle | Current |
| Rated conditions | Whether the rating holds wet, or dry only | Stated on the plate or manufacturer documentation |
Why insulated EWP hire is not an upgrade
People sometimes ask what the premium is for an insulated machine, as though it were a trim level.
If the work is near a live conductor, it is not a premium and there is no non-insulated option. The machine is what makes the work possible, and the alternative is not a cheaper machine but a different job.
Our whole fleet is insulated, which means the question rarely comes up at our end. It also means a machine sent out for ordinary tree work happens to be rated for line work as well, which is occasionally useful when a job turns out to be closer to a service than anyone expected.
The honest way to think about insulated EWP hire is as a category rather than an option. Either the work needs it, in which case nothing else will do, or it does not, in which case you are simply hiring a well-maintained tower.
Who you are actually dealing with
One thing worth knowing about an insulated EWP hire is who answers when you ring with a question about the machine.
You are talking directly to the people who run these machines rather than a hire desk. We are arborists and machine specialists, and the towers are out on our own jobs every day, so a question about what a machine will do in a particular situation gets an answer from someone who has done it.
Behind that sits the team that keeps them right: two diesel mechanics, a full-time auto electrician with more than thirty years’ experience, hydraulics specialists five minutes from the workshop, structural crack-testers, and our engineer who signs off the recertifications.
It is also why the insulation paperwork is easy to get hold of. The plates, the test certificates and the inspection records are ours, not a third party’s, and asking for them is a phone call rather than a request that has to go somewhere.
Which machine suits which job
Every tower in our fleet is an insulated EWP, so the question is never which one is better. It is which one carries what your job needs. Three figures decide it — working height, outreach and basket capacity — and a fourth, the insulation rating and the conditions it holds in, decides whether the machine can be near the line at all.
Working heights below come off the compliance plates rather than brochures. Where a manufacturer does not publish a figure it is shown as on request rather than estimated, because a made-up spec on a hire page is a safety problem rather than a cosmetic one.
| Machine | Working height | Outreach | Basket | Insulation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GMJ LL22.350 | 23.5 m | 13 m | 350 kg | 66/33/LV on the plate |
| Redmond Gary TF17M | 19 m | 13 m | 325 kg | 132 kV — dry, wet and precipitation |
| Sherrin 18 m | 18 m | 11.1 m | 350 kg | 132 kV, Glove & Barrier build |
| GMJ TT16.300 | 17.5 m | On request | 250 kg | On the plate — ask us for your job |
| Terex Hi-Ranger LT40 | 13.8 m | 9 m | 181 kg | ANSI Category C under A92.2 |
| Versalift SST-37 | 12.8 m | 8.5 m | On request | Fitted as an option — ask first |
| Altec AT30C | On request | On request | On request | On request |
The tallest tower we run, and the one that goes out when nothing shorter will reach — 13 metres of outreach still intact at full height, on a basket that takes two people and what they bring down.
Rated 132 kV dry, wet and in precipitation, which is the rating that matters when the job does not stop because the weather turned. Long outreach for its height.
A Glove & Barrier build on a 350 kg basket. The one to ask about when the work is close-quarters on live gear rather than simply near it.
A mid-height tower that gets into ground the bigger machines cannot. Ask us for the plate figures against your specific job rather than working off a brochure.
Compact and quick to set up, rated ANSI Category C under A92.2. Suits tight residential access where a full-size tower simply will not fit.
Low travel height, which is what gets it under a carpark header or a low branch line. Insulation is fitted as an option, so confirm it before the job is booked.
A compact telescopic tower. We publish figures off the compliance plate rather than the brochure, so ask us and we will send the plate for the unit going to your job.
Every tower above travels to Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Gippsland — driven to site under its own power, not floated in on a separate truck.
Which one to take when the forecast is against you
This separates the fleet more than height does, and it is the question people ask last.
An insulation rating holds under stated conditions. Most insulated towers carry a rating for clean, dry conditions and a lower one for wet. The Redmond Gary TF17M is the one certified across dry, wet and precipitation at 132 kV, which is why it is the machine that goes out when rain is forecast and the work cannot wait.
That is not a mark against the others — it is what that particular machine has. For everything else in the fleet the rated conditions are on the plate, and the practical answer is to tell us the job and the forecast and we will tell you which tower is rated for it. We would far rather have that conversation on the phone than have you find out on the day.
Two things do not change with the weather: the six-monthly electrical test that confirms the machine is safe to be working with and around live power lines, and the fact that a replacement tower comes out if yours has to leave you.
Tree work near the line, and work on the line
Nearly everything our towers go out on is one of two jobs, and they pull in different directions.
Tree work near a live service is about reach and what comes down. You are standing off the conductor and working over or around it, so outreach matters more than raw height, and basket capacity matters because limbs come back with you. The GMJ LL22.350 and the Sherrin 18 m both carry 350 kg for exactly that reason.
Work on the line itself is about the insulation rating and the conditions, and often about getting into a tighter spot at a lower height. That is where the Terex Hi-Ranger LT40 earns its place — a light Class 5 chassis with a fibreglass boom that goes where a bigger truck cannot.
We are arborists as well as machine specialists, and the towers are out on our own tree jobs every day. That is why the fleet is shaped the way it is rather than standardised on one model.
Whatever you call it — insulated EWP hire, travel tower hire, cherry picker hire, a bucket truck, a boom lift or a man lift — describe the job and we will match the machine to it.
Insulated EWP hire across Victoria
Every tower is a truck, so it drives to you under its own power and sets up on its own legs. There is no float to book and no crane at either end, which is why distance behaves differently for us than it does for hire companies working off floated plant.
We hire right across Victoria. Beyond the towns above we run into Dandenong and the outer east, right through Gippsland where we are based, and up into the north-east — the Wangaratta and Wodonga side of the state is no trouble at all, we are over that way regularly. If your job is somewhere not listed here it is almost certainly still covered: insulated EWP hire across Victoria.
Tell us the job. We will tell you the tower.
Wet hire or dry hire, anywhere in Victoria, with a replacement machine behind it from the first day.
Frequently asked questions
What is an insulated EWP?
Do I need an insulated machine for tree work near powerlines?
How often does an insulated EWP need testing?
Does insulation mean I can work on live lines?
Is an insulated machine more expensive to hire?
How do I know the machine that turns up is actually insulated?
What does an insulation rating like 66/33/LV mean?
Does an insulated machine mean I can work near power lines?
What is the difference between a wet and dry rating?
How often should the insulation be tested?
Can I see the test certificate before I hire?
How long does an insulated machine last?
Is an insulated machine more expensive to hire?
Why is the whole fleet insulated?
Who do I talk to about whether a machine suits my job?
Read next
Valley Wide Tree Services / 1800 GO TREES
Insulated EWP hire, Victoria
We run and maintain our own fleet of insulated elevating work platforms from a workshop in the Latrobe Valley, and we have been putting machines on Victorian jobs for years. Everything here is written from running them, not from a brochure.
Sources & references
- Energy Safe Victoria — Working around powerlines: The No Go Zone framework that decides how any work near overhead powerlines is planned, and the clearances that apply to plant and people.
- Standards Australia — AS 1418.10, Cranes, hoists and winches: elevating work platforms: The design and manufacture standard for elevating work platforms, including the classification of insulated units.
- Electricity Safety Act 1998 (Vic): The Act underpinning electrical safety obligations in Victoria, including work carried out near the distribution network.
- WorkSafe Victoria — Elevating work platforms: The Victorian regulator’s guidance on selecting, setting up and operating an EWP, including the duties that sit with whoever controls the workplace.
- Standards Australia — AS 2550.10, Cranes, hoists and winches: safe use of elevating work platforms: The standard covering inspection intervals, operator requirements and the periodic major inspection regime that a hire fleet’s service schedule is built on.
- WorkSafe Victoria — Safe work practices using elevating work platforms: The regulator’s practical guidance note. States that a boom-type EWP with a boom length over 11 metres requires the operator to hold a high risk work licence.
General information only, current at the time of writing. Requirements change and every site is different. Confirm the rules that apply to your job with the relevant authority and with whoever controls the workplace before work starts.
