Equipment Guides
Spider Lift, Spider Manlift, Tracked Lift: What the Terms Actually Mean
Five different words, often the same machine. This guide clears up the terminology so your enquiry and your permit paperwork describe what actually arrives on site.
Aerial Spider Access Company Technical Team · 5 August 2026 · 6 min read
Spider lift and spider manlift are the same machine
A spider lift is a tracked aerial work platform that stabilises on four independently adjustable outriggers before the boom is raised. Spider manlift is the same machine — manlift is simply the everyday term used on Saudi construction and maintenance sites, inherited from boom lift terminology.
You will also hear tracked lift, crawler lift and spider platform. All refer to the same class of equipment, so an enquiry for spider manlift rental and one for spider lift rental land on the same fleet.
Where manlift means something different
Manlift on its own usually means a wheeled boom lift — articulated or telescopic — that can drive while elevated. That machine needs firm, level ground and a wider access route than a spider lift, and it does not use outriggers.
If a site asks for a manlift, confirm whether they mean a wheeled boom lift or a tracked spider manlift. The two have very different width, ground pressure and floor loading profiles.
MEWP, AWP and access platform
MEWP (mobile elevating work platform) and AWP (aerial work platform) are the formal categories used in standards and safety documentation. They cover spider lifts, boom lifts and scissor lifts alike, which is why permits and inspection certificates use those terms rather than spider lift.
For paperwork, quote the machine class, working height and power type — for example 30m telescopic spider lift, diesel — rather than relying on a single word.
Getting the right machine on the first enquiry
Tell us the working height needed at the work position, whether the work is indoor or outdoor, the narrowest opening on the access route, and the surface under the machine. From that we can confirm whether the job needs a tracked spider manlift, a wheeled boom lift or a scissor lift.