What a Cherry Picker Is

A cherry picker is the everyday name for a boom-type mobile elevating work platform (MEWP). It has a guarded platform, often called the basket or bucket, on the end of a boom. The boom can reach up, out and over things, so people can work at height with their tools and materials.

The name comes from fruit farms, where similar machines were used to pick fruit from tall trees. Today cherry pickers are used to repair street lights, cut trees near roads, maintain building fronts, paint steel structures, inspect pipe racks in plants, and install signs and cables.

A cherry picker is a machine for lifting people. It is not a crane. Its platform is made to carry people, their tools and a small amount of material up to a limit written on a plate. It must never be used to lift a hanging load with a rope or a sling, unless the maker has fitted and approved a special attachment for it.

Where it sits among the ways to work at height

Every task at height follows one order of thinking: first avoid working at height if you can, then prevent a fall with collective protection such as guardrails, and only then minimise the distance and effects of a fall. A MEWP is a way to prevent a fall: its guardrails keep everybody on the platform inside.

This hierarchy, ladders, scaffolds and fall arrest in general are taught in the Working at Height course. Here we recap it only, and look closely at one piece of equipment.

A MEWP is a good choice when the work moves from place to place, when the ground is firm, and when the job is short or medium in length. It is a poor choice on soft ground, in strong wind, or where the platform would have to work close to live power lines.