Aerial work platform inspections / cert

[samsquatch]

Question about running a small business and keeping safe equipment in service.
When owning an aerial lift, does OSHA require you to inspect it annually? Are you given a certificate of inspection afterward that you paste to the machine?

If you're running a small shop and have no payroll - meaning I'm not telling an employee to use a particular machine as part of their employment - do you still need certified lifts?

In general, will insurance policies cover equipment that is not certified? Seems to me they shouldn't, but just asking because I don't know and I'm interested in buying my first bucket lift (standalone, not truck).

Cheers

 

[Hddnis]

Ours are all inspected and certified by the dealer we bought them from annually. There is a metal card riveted to the frame and they stamp each inspection date on them.
There is some question if this is required for owned lifts or just for rental fleet lifts.

Operators do a daily inspection check sheet before use each day and those are kept in a file. In one state it matters, even the owner has to follow jobsite safety rules, next state over I've only ever known of one inspection in the last ten years, and that was on a federal job.

If I went to a one man operation I'd probably still get the inspections. Our insurance has never asked about them, even when doing the audits, so I don't know if they care.