What a Davit System Is, and Why It Gets Its Own Inspection
A davit is the articulated arm that swings a suspended platform or bosun's chair over the parapet, paired with the base or socket that transfers its loads into the building structure. On taller Phoenix buildings, davits are how window washing, facade repair, and sealant work actually reach the wall. They are load bearing machinery with moving parts, which is why they earn a more involved inspection than a fixed anchor post.
The obligations stack in layers. The davit manufacturer sets inspection and maintenance requirements for the equipment itself. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.66 governs permanently installed powered platform systems and the building structures that support them. And where davit bases and adjacent tie backs serve rope descent work, the owner's certification duties under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.27(b)(1) apply to those anchorages, with annual inspection and written certification. Arizona applies all of this through its own federally approved program, the ADOSH State Plan, which adopts the federal standards.
In practice, a davit inspection usually runs alongside the building's tie back recertification and any required anchor load testing, so the whole suspended access system gets documented in one mobilization.
What Phoenix Heat and Dust Do to Davit Hardware
Davits suffer in the desert in ways fixed anchors do not, because davits have parts that are supposed to move and parts that are supposed to stay sealed:
- Lubrication cooks off. Rooftop metal in a Phoenix summer runs far above air temperature, and grease in rotation points and telescoping sections thins, migrates, and dries. A davit that will not rotate smoothly gets muscled by riggers, and that is how pins and stops get damaged.
- Dust works into the sockets. Monsoon dust storms drive fine grit into base sockets and sleeve fittings. Grit plus the next rain makes a grinding paste that accelerates wear on precisely the surfaces that carry load.
- Seals, gaskets, and labels burn out. UV embrittles the weather seals around base penetrations and bleaches the capacity and serial labels the standards require to stay legible.
- Thermal cycling loosens the base connection. Daily expansion and contraction works on the fasteners and grout at the socket, and monsoon rain finds any gap the heat opens. Our post on desert heat and roof anchor damage shows the same mechanism at work on fixed anchors.
None of this announces itself from a distance. It shows up when someone opens the socket covers, runs the arm through its full travel, and checks torque and wear at each connection, which is what the inspection is for.
What the Inspection Covers, Arm and Base
ADS Contractors brings its documentation driven certification process to Phoenix buildings, and a davit inspection produces the same style of defensible record:
- The arm. Welds, pins, fasteners, wear surfaces, rotation and reach through full travel, deformation, corrosion, and the condition of hoist attachment points.
- The base and socket. Attachment to the structure, socket wear, drainage, standing water evidence, sealant and flashing at the roof penetration, and the condition of the surrounding deck.
- The system around it. Adjacent tie backs and lifeline anchorages that the davit work depends on, checked against their own certification status.
- The paperwork. Capacity labels, serial numbers, manufacturer manuals, and prior inspection history, reconciled into a numbered roof plan with photos and a signed report for each unit.
Deficiencies get a clear disposition: serviceable, repair required, or do not use, with photographs and a recommended path for each. Owners use the report to schedule repairs on their timeline instead of discovering a seized davit the morning a facade project mobilizes.
Who Owns This Problem in Phoenix
The owner does. Property managers coordinate vendors, but the davit system is building equipment, and the duty to keep it inspected, maintained, and documented follows the title. That matters in Phoenix specifically because the tower stock in downtown and midtown, the commercial corridors around Camelback, and the newer Tempe and Scottsdale mid rises lean heavily on suspended access for glass and facade work, and much of that equipment dates to the 2014 to 2017 construction wave with a decade of desert exposure on it now.
ADS Contractors serves building owners and property managers in Phoenix as a suspended access documentation specialist. Start with the national roof anchor inspection page to see how anchor and davit work fit together, use the roof anchor compliance guide for the rules in one place, or go straight to the Phoenix hub and Arizona page.
Phoenix Davit Inspection FAQ
How often should davits be inspected in Phoenix?
Follow the manufacturer's schedule as the floor, with a full inspection at least annually alongside the building's anchor program, and a functional check before each major suspended access project. Phoenix conditions justify the discipline: a year of heat, UV, and dust is enough to change how a davit behaves under load.
Are davit bases the same thing as tie backs?
They are different components of the same suspended access system. The davit base carries the arm; tie backs are the anchorages that lifelines and rigging secure to. When those anchorages serve rope descent work they carry the owner certification duties of 1910.27(b)(1), which is why davit inspections and tie back recertification are usually scheduled together.
We have davits but no records. Where do we start?
That is common on Phoenix buildings that changed hands since the mid 2010s construction wave. The starting point is an identification survey: locate every davit, base, and related anchorage, recover serial and capacity data, inspect each unit, and rebuild a baseline file. From there the building moves onto a normal annual cadence.
Do you also inspect the platform and hoist?
Our scope is the structural side: davit arms, bases and sockets, anchorages, and the documentation that certifies them. Hoists and powered platforms carry their own manufacturer service requirements, and we coordinate our findings with whoever maintains that equipment so nothing falls between vendors.
Our Phoenix Anchor Services
Annual Anchor Inspection
Yearly competent person inspection with photos and a signed report.
10-Year Recertification
Stamped engineering review for rope descent anchorages reaching the federal deadline.
Tie Back Recertification
Certification of rope descent and suspended access tie backs.
Anchor Load Testing
Documented load verification to manufacturer and OSHA standards.
Davit Inspection
Arm and base inspection for suspended access systems.
All Phoenix Services
Return to the Phoenix service hub for an overview of every offering.
Ready to Get Started?
Contact ADS Contractors today for a free evaluation. We will review your davit and anchorage records, scope the inspection, and provide a detailed quote with no obligation.
Contact Us TodayOr call our Phoenix line: (623) 552-6088