25.11.2010

Not a care in the world

A man using an aerial lift in the centre if an English town last weekend was caught on camera using the 3.5 tonne truck mount without a harness, with no cordoning off and possibly worse of all working over the top of pedestrians – in this case a group of children.
Please register to see all images

Working in a busy street - no cordoning-off and the man in the platform has no harness

Our reader who sent a whole series of photographs in said: “I saw this on Saturday in the centre of Huddersfield. It’s a shocking lack of health and safety in many aspects. The most worrying part of this wasn't that the guy wasn't harnessed in, there was no traffic management and he was working over the entrance to the Yates pub but it's the fact that there were children stood right underneath where he was working. I haven't come across the company before but they do display that they are IPAF+ accredited so should really know better.”
Please register to see all images

Worse still he is working over the top of children

“I'll send you the rest of the pictures through. Do you think it’s worth sending the pictures on to IPAF?”

Most definitely – although you do have to hope though that this is a case of the company renting the lift out to a guy that has been trained but just cannot be bothered, rather than one of their own. You can’t of course control what people do with the lift once they leave the yard.

IPAF statement:

We received the following from IPAF earlier today: Monday November 29th.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. After investigating, we confirm that the company in question is not an IPAF Rental+ company, nor even an IPAF member. We have spoken to the company today and they are removing the IPAF stickers from their machines immediately.

We would stress that the practices shown (not wearing a harness on a boom-type platform, not cordoning off the area while working in a pedestrian zone) would not be acceptable for any IPAF member.


A Death Wish candidate - as much for ignoring three sets of basic safety rules not to mention common sense.