Right, each time I see this picture pop up, it's like the words barge and dredging don't exist. Like this thing is seen as some damn cast away raft or some shit. This is fine. It's just different.
If you showed a picture of a standard tower crane to someone with a decent understanding of physics but had never seen one before, they would similarly recoil and go "WTF why are you suspending a bunch of concrete blocks high in the sky on what looks like a pencil thin beam!" and it would take some explaining, OR it would take seeing it regularly for that person to become okay with it.
People don't see this every day, so they don't take it for granted, and therefore it looks insane. Just like tower cranes look insane.
This sketchy looking thing is safe, therefore some sketchy looking things are safe, therefore I'll need to assess the specific risks of all things whether or not they look sketchy.
In the sense that something designed to carry 8,000lbs can probably actually handle 10,000lbs? Or in the sense that if they both died insurance would still pay out?
In order for something to tip over, the center of mass has to move outside the area of the base and most of the weight is in the bottom part of the lift. So it is basically impossible without actively trying to tip it over.
It's only "basically impossible" if it's on a firm platform. If it's on a gimbal, like a plastic floating thing, then you don't really now where the tipping point is going to be because it depends on the flexibility of the platform.
Probably why the bottom is also anchored to the floating work surface. This implementation looks like exactly what you're supposed to do. There's lots of pearl clutching for some reason.
Who says this is exactly what you're supposed to do?
If you're ever working at height and you think it's safer without a harness so you're not killed to death by whatever you're standing on it's probably a good time to reassess.
Guaranteed the specs for that lift say that it can only be operated from the ground.
Guaranteed the specs for that dock say that it can not be used as a platform for any kind of equipment, and that it must be used as a "dock" (secured to something) and not a barge.
If your risk assessment is "Probably nothing will happen lol", it's probably a good time to re-think your approach. It's easy to be flippant looking at memes on lemmy, but it's just madness to risk your life so your employer can save a few dollars.
Life insurance wouldn't be the problem. The problem would be if they lived and were injured. That would be a work comp nightmare. Just imagining getting that call is giving me a headache.