How to work more efficiently in cities with a van-mounted MEWP

A city centre leaves little room for improvisation.

One badly positioned vehicle can block a lane. One row of parked cars can wipe out the ideal access point. A delivery van stops nearby, pedestrians keep crossing the work zone, and the job that looked simple on paper suddenly takes twice as long.

For teams working on street lighting, telecoms, signage or façades, this is where the choice of access equipment starts to matter. A van-mounted MEWP — or PLE su furgone — can make urban work far more fluid, provided that the vehicle, the platform and the intervention itself have been planned as one system.

The real gain does not come from rushing the job. It comes from avoiding wasted movements.

Before the operator reaches the basket, one decision already determines much of the intervention: where the van mewp stops.

The best position is rarely the closest one. It is the one that gives the platform enough room to work without forcing the team to move the vehicle ten minutes later.

Can the arm clear a balcony? Can the basket reach behind parked cars? Is there enough room to deploy the equipment? Will pedestrians remain outside the working area?

These questions need answers before deployment begins.

In its technical publication called Piattaforme di Lavoro Elevabili INAIL places particular emphasis on the operating environment, ground conditions, obstacles, stability and the correct use of safety systems.

In a quiet industrial yard, positioning may be straightforward. In Bologna, Florence or central Milan, it can be the hardest part of the job.

Working height often dominates the technical discussion around a MEWP. In cities, that is only part of the equation.

The vehicle itself has to get there.

Historic streets, loading areas, narrow junctions and dense parking can all make a large chassis cumbersome before the platform has even been used. A more compact carrier can reduce manoeuvring, simplify positioning and make short, repeated interventions easier to manage.

That matters when a team is moving from one streetlight to the next, or from one telecoms cabinet to another, throughout the day.

Wheelbase, overall dimensions, turning behaviour and working outreach therefore deserve as much attention as headline working height.

And on a 3.5-tonne vehicle, payload cannot be treated as an afterthought. Tools, cones, PPE, signage and materials all add weight. A platform may fit the chassis perfectly on paper and still leave too little useful payload for the actual job.

Italy adds another layer to urban planning: the Zona a Traffico Limitato.

A route through a city centre may look perfectly logical on a map and still be unusable at a given time of day.

Municipalities can restrict traffic within urban areas and define access conditions for ZTLs under Article 7 of the Italian Codice della Strada. The legal framework is available through ACI – Codice della Strada, Article 7.

For a maintenance team, this has practical consequences.

An early-morning intervention may be possible. The same access two hours later may require authorisation. A vehicle category that is accepted in one municipality may be treated differently in another.

So ZTL access should be checked at the same time as the route itself.

Before sending the van out, verify the rules issued by the relevant Comune: access windows, permits, parking restrictions and any provisions linked to temporary works.

A five-minute check in advance can prevent a forty-minute detour.

A MEWP working from a public road does more than occupy a parking space. It may create a temporary worksite.

That changes the rules.

Article 21 of the Italian Codice della Strada governs works, deposits and temporary road occupations. It requires the appropriate authorisation or concession and imposes measures designed to protect traffic and road users.

In practice, the procedure varies according to the municipality, the road authority and the impact of the intervention.

You may need a temporary parking suspension. You may need to occupy part of a lane. You may need specific traffic-management measures.

Those questions should be settled before the crew arrives.

The alternative is familiar: the vehicle reaches the site, the planned position is unavailable, and the entire intervention has to be reorganised from the kerbside.

Cones and temporary signs are often seen as the final step before work starts.

They should be considered much earlier.

The layout of the work zone determines how comfortably the operator can work, how pedestrians move around the vehicle and whether passing traffic interferes with the intervention.

Italy’s Decreto Ministeriale del 10 luglio 2002 defines the technical framework for temporary road signalling and provides layouts according to the type of road concerned. The right setup will depend on the road itself.

A platform parked outside a building on a quiet street does not create the same constraints as a crew moving along a busy arterial road to service ten lighting columns.

Good traffic management protects the public, of course. It also gives the operator a stable working environment.

Less interference. Fewer interruptions. Fewer reasons to stop and reset the site.

Urban jobs are rarely directly above the vehicle.

The basket may need to reach over a row of cars. The target may sit beyond a pavement. A balcony may prevent the platform from approaching the façade. A lighting column may stand on the opposite side of street furniture.

This is where working outreach earns its value.

A platform with the right reach can often complete several tasks from one parking position. A poorly matched platform may force the operator to fold the equipment, move the vehicle two metres, secure the site again and start from scratch.

That lost time adds up quickly.

For this reason, the full working envelope matters more than the headline height alone. Outreach, basket load and vehicle position must be considered together, within the limits set by the manufacturer.

On a busy street, avoiding one unnecessary repositioning can make a noticeable difference.

At street level, most obstacles are obvious.

At height, they are easier to miss.

Balconies, trees, overhead cables, lighting equipment, road signs and electrical lines can all cut across the platform’s working envelope.

The time to identify them is before the arm starts moving.

Electrical lines require particular care. Under D.Lgs. 81/2008 – Allegato IX, Italy defines minimum safety distances according to the nominal voltage of the line. INAIL provides guidance on these requirements in its material on electrical risk, including the relevant distances

The reference distances are:

• up to 1 kV: 3 m
• above 1 kV and up to 30 kV: 3.5 m
• above 30 kV and up to 132 kV: 5 m
• above 132 kV: 7 m

INAIL also reproduces these values from Table 1 of Allegato IX to D.Lgs. 81/2008 in its technical documentation.

The nominal distance is not the only factor to consider. Wind can move conductors. Heat can alter their sag. Tools and conductive equipment can also reduce the effective separation from live parts.

If the required distance cannot be maintained, the intervention needs to be reassessed before work begins.

Emergency stops, controls, stabilisers, hydraulic components, visible leaks and safety devices should all be inspected in line with the manufacturer’s instructions and the applicable safety framework.

The point of a standardised inspection is not to turn every stop into a lengthy procedure. It is to make the essential checks automatic.

When the same team carries out several interventions per day, consistency matters more than complexity.

Equipment alone does not make an intervention efficient.

The operator has to know how to use it.

In Italy, PLE operators fall within the equipment categories requiring specific training and qualification under Article 73 of D.Lgs. 81/2008.

INAIL distinguishes between training for platforms with stabilisers, without stabilisers and for operators qualified to use both configurations.

The framework was updated by the State–Regions Agreement of 17 April 2025, which revised the organisation and minimum content of occupational health and safety training.

The official agreement was published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 24 May 2025 and can be consulted here: Gazzetta Ufficiale – Accordo Stato-Regioni del 17 aprile 2025.

For employers, this is not simply a compliance issue. An operator who knows the machine well will position it better, anticipate its working envelope and react more quickly when the site changes.

That directly affects productivity.

Perhaps the pavement is crowded. Perhaps a bus route passes within a metre of the vehicle. Perhaps a balcony restricts the arm movement. Perhaps the nearest parking position places the basket too close to an electrical line.

The job itself is simple. The environment is not.

This is why short urban interventions deserve the same preparation as larger ones.

And when a team carries out ten or fifteen stops in a day, small inefficiencies repeat themselves. One poor parking choice here. One unnecessary repositioning there. One permit that was not checked.

By the end of the day, the lost time is no longer small.

Choose a vehicle that fits the streets where it will actually work. Select the platform according to both height and outreach. Check ZTL access before the journey. Secure the necessary road permissions. Prepare the traffic-management layout. Identify overhead hazards before deployment.

Then place the vehicle once — and make that position count.

For ISOLI, this is where a van-mounted MEWP shows its strength. The platform, vehicle and tools travel together, allowing crews to move between successive interventions without introducing unnecessary equipment or additional vehicles