Davit systems are generally designed to accommodate façade access using a suspended stage for buildings that are complex because of inaccessibility of boatswain chair or elevation of the building. Some building façade cannot be safely accessed by boatswain chair and if elevation of building is in excess of 300 feet or 90 meters then boatswain chair cannot be used.  In such case davit systems are used in combination with roof anchors for the attachment of the secondary lifelines. 

Davit systems are designed to be either permanent or portable.  A portable davit system is comprised of davit bases, a davit mast and a davit boom. A motorized davit system comprise of the davit arm which is typically installed on a track that allows for the davit arm to move around and provide access to building façade.  The combination of a davit mast and a davit boom together is known as a davit arm.

Davit systems can be designed to accommodate both ground rigging and roof rigging of suspended stages.  Ground rig system generally utilize smaller davit arms that only have to clear the parapets and allows a motorized platform to be raised from the ground. Roof rigged systems have to be rigged from the roof and require much larger davit arms to accommodate the motorized platform clear the parapet and be parked on the roof.

Motorized or permanent davit systems are generally designed to accommodate roof rigging for building with very unique design or where obstacles such as power lines may interfere with a ground rigged system.