Lifting of persons with crane and work basket

Cranes and lifting equipment are designed for cargo, not for people. Therefore, as a clear main rule, it is forbidden to lift people with equipment that is not specifically built and approved for the purpose, such as a personnel lift or a lift. Nevertheless, there is a narrow exception where a person under strict conditions may be lifted in a work basket suspended from a crane — and precisely because it is an exception to the main rule, the requirements are stricter.

The exemption covers occasional, light work or tasks of a very special nature, and only of short duration (BEK 428/2022 § 59, subsection 2). If the task is regular or longer, you must instead use equipment actually intended for lifting people — the exemption must not become a fixed working method because it is easier to set up than the right equipment.

• 01The crane must be able to lift at least 1,500 kg in the position where the person lift takes place (BEK 428/2022 Annex 1, item 1.1).
• 02The total lift — basket, people and materials — may be at most 1/4 of the crane's permissible load and never over 1,000 kg (item 1.2).
• 03No free lowering; at least one hoisting and lowering speed of at most 0.3 m/s, and the hook must not move faster than 0.5 m/s in any direction (items 1.3-1.4).
• 04The hook must never come closer than 2 m to the top sheave, and the height limit and end stop are checked before the lift (items 1.6-1.7).
• 05The basket has a 1 m high guardrail with a 15 cm toe board and a handrail 10 cm above and 10 cm inside the edge of the guardrail, a solid floor, a self-closing gate that does not open outwards, and an anchorage point of at least 3 kN per permitted person (items 2.1-2.4).
• 06Chains and slings are a fixed part of the basket and joined at one point with at most 90° between them; safety factor 8 for chains (at least 6 mm) and fastenings, 10 for steel slings (at least 8 mm). The basket may tilt at most 20° and must be secured against unhooking (items 2.5-2.11).

The operator must have a crane operator certificate — even if the crane is under 8 tonnes/tonne-metres (BEK 1978/2021 § 4, subsection 7; BEK 428/2022 Annex 1, item 1.5) — and be fully familiar with that particular crane. The control position must be manned at all times (§ 59, subsection 4), and the basket must not be left in a raised position (item 3.2). Person lifting outdoors must not take place in unfavourable weather (item 3.8), and if the lift takes place in a traffic area, it must be cordoned off (item 3.9).

The crane operator must be able to talk to at least one person in the basket — if you cannot hear each other, use radio or telephone — and have visual contact with someone who knows the signals for crane work (Annex 1, item 3.10). The people in the basket must have a safe means of communication, and it must be ensured that they can be evacuated in an emergency (§ 59, subsection 4). Agree the emergency procedure before the lift: what do you do if power or hydraulics fail while the basket is up?

The Executive Order on young people's work (BEK no. 1713 of 18/12/2025) has no specific rule on work baskets. But young people under 18 may not work where there is a risk of falling or collapse until the hazard has been effectively countered by collective safety measures that do not rely on personal protective equipment (§ 13, no. 1), and when young people work with technical equipment, the employer must specifically assess whether they can do so fully safely (§ 14). Apprentices aged 15 and over are exempt from §§ 13-15 to the extent the work is a necessary part of their vocational training (§ 33).