BHS Inc. Offers Trench Lid Lifter for Safer Access to Utility Trenches


BHS, Inc., a leading manufacturer of material handling equipment, now offers a Trench Lid Lifter (TLL-300) designed to access trenches with covers featuring pick holes or grates. Utility trench access has long been associated with risk of injury; lifting concrete and metal lids can lead to musculoskeletal disorders, while a dropped lid can break fingers, toes, and worse.

The BHS TLL-300 significantly reduces these risks while making access easier and more efficient. Ergonomic features include comfortable grips, an adjustable handle, and low-force lifting capability.

“A lot of the lid lifters you see on the market grasp lids at the lip, requiring clearance at the edge,” said Melissa Bowen of BHS marketing. “Or, worse, they’re just hooks that place all the strain of manual lifting on the worker’s body. We built the TLL-300 to fix those problems.”

Rather than grasping edges or using a heavy magnet, the BHS Trench Lid Lifter attaches to lids via two adjustable scissor pins, mounted on a steel lifting beam. Users simply squeeze, insert the pins, and press down on the extendable handle for stress-free lifting.

“It’s essentially a lever,” Bowen said. “But it’s a very particularly engineered lever. The wide angle and the adjustable-length handle let you control the amount of force required to lift a slab of metal, concrete, or composite.”

The Trench Lid Lifter rolls on 10 ⅜-inch inflatable casters for easy travel over rough ground. A flip-stop floor break keeps the unit in position, allowing users to easily press, lift, and pivot the lid for immediate access to trenches.

The Trench Lid Lifter was designed for pick-hole-equipped trench lids, but it is equally effective on partial or full grates, or any lid graspable by scissor pins.

“The lifting beam and the adjustable scissor pins make the TLL-300 unique among the lid lifters we’ve looked at,” Bowen said. “For the right application, this is an incredible tool.”