There's plenty of old wives tales spread in this thread already, so please ignore any/all of the comments about gases and falling into pits or about their legality, those are a result of cheap shop owners and shade-trees doing **** work illegally. At shops I've worked in we've had OSHA come through weekly and never needed an exhaust system in the pits nor had them fill with gases or liquids of any kind. Like everything else in/under a vehicle you want at least one floor drain and preferably explosion proof lighting (otherwise beware of leaks dripping onto hot bulbs). Structural pit covers were always used and recessed into a notch in the floor, you could quickly/easily walk or drive over or on them without falling in. Working in them wasnt terrible IMHO, I'm 6'4 and never saw them as any worse than a 4 post without a bridge lift, like anything else some are shorter/taller but unlike a commercial lift you can build a DIY pit to fit you. Unlike a lift, there is no stooping down or dinking around adjusting lift arms or pads, you drive in, pull the pit covers, and begin work quickly. If you ever work on an extremely lowered vehicle, there's also no worries about getting lift arms underneath the bodywork. One shop I worked in had a bridge lift in each pit, another simply had a mid-rise 2-post lift straddling each - best of both worlds IMHO for repair work. JMO, but my favorite use for a pit is welding, you can brace yourself off the pit to get steady, consistent welds pretty easily while working overhead.
Good one. I'm a mechanical design guy so I can't claim to use them daily, most of that's solid modeling/FEA/CFD with some fairly easy engineering involved. Like many tho, if I do a calc/task more than twice I'm writing a spreadsheet or macro to simplify future work and occasionally do use them for this.
Me? Now thats just hilarious, almost as much as suggesting most commercial shops are "high end" here on GJ amongst so many hobbyists' garage mahals. Seriously, I became rather familiar with OSHA working in a 50+ mechanic 24/7 fleet shop they were in regularly, never bc of anything I reported nor did. Yes, pits got a bad rep by cheap, lazy MORONS and growing up in a poor town I've seen more than my share of them without covers and/or with only a piece of plywood tossed over them, nvm the lazy and/or incompetent morons like shown in ibedayank's videos. If youve got those folks or that mentality in a shop tho you're guaranteed bigger issues than the pit. Properly used with structural covers (aka <$500 worth of floor grates) capable of supporting a vehicle, a decent pit is safer, faster, and depending on the job - easier than a lift. Used improperly, **** happens with a pit the same as occasionally happens when a lift is used properly.