AEM Promotes Consistent Terminology for Compact Tool Carriers

When working with so manufacturers and brands, terminology can often be a difficult proposition. Did you know that mini track loaders, mini skid steers and walk-behind loaders are all the same machine — something we at CE call compact utility loaders (CULs)?

Well, apparently the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) is having the same problem. To assist equipment customers, AEM is promoting consistent machine terminology in the small equipment marketplace. AEM is advancing the use of the term “compact tool carrier” to refer to machines that are also known as mini loaders, mini skid steer loaders, mini skid steers, compact skid steers and CULs.

AEM’s Larry Buzecky notes that U.S. and international standards writing bodies are adopting the encompassing term. A proposed SAE standard on personnel protection defines a compact tool carrier as “a self-propelled crawler or wheeled machine having an operating mass of less than 1,400 kg with a rigid frame, having either a walk-behind operator position or standing operator platform at the rear of the machine and having either front-mounted interchangeable equipment or lift arms with an attachment bracket capable of coupling to interchangeable, front-mounted attachments.”

In September 2008, AEM produced a new safety manual covering compact tool carriers, in English and Spanish, and available from the AEM Store online at www.aem.org. The AEM compact tool carrier manuals cover safe operating practices for compact tool carriers having either tracks or tires. Heavily illustrated with pictorials from AEM’s Pictorial Database, the manuals cover an entire cycle of safe operation, from preparing for safe operation through safe equipment shutdown and equipment maintenance. The manuals were developed with oversight from AEM’s Compact Tool Carrier Safety Manual Ad Hoc Committee, which helped guide the manual to production.