21.08.2013
Two ladies stuck in the...
Two women had to be rescued earlier this month from a trailer mounted lift in Vlaardingen, near Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
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Help arrives to rescue the two
The women had rented a 12 metre trailer lift to work on their building and managed to bend the mechanical platform levelling rod which tilted the platform towards the top boom.
Unable to take any corrective action themselves the two remained in the basket and secured themselves into the platform with ropes provided by neighbours – they were not wearing harnesses – while the emergency services were called.
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The two appear to be enjoying the experience
The local fire department transferred them one at a time to the platform of one of their rescue lifts and brought them down safely. The two did not appear to be the slightest bit concerned and apparently found the whole thing hilarious.
The lift was supplied by the local branch of HuurMaat and the two do not appear to have been very knowledgeable about setting the lift up properly or operating it. The incident occurred on Friday August 9th.
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The ladies were transferred to the rescue platform
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And both are safely down
Vertikal Comment
It is encouraging to see a wider use of aerial lifts in this way, rather than other makeshift access methods often employed at home. However with this extension to members of the public who are very occasional users comes a challenge to ensure that they are able to operate the piece of equipment safely.
This poses an entirely different set of challenges to renting equipment to the trade, perhaps this is an area that IPAF needs to look at if usage by home owners is to become more wide widespread.
Sherm
A thought to ponder... what if? What if the rental industry were to collaborate and agree to offer inexperienced renters two options, namely buy an insurance package for the term of rental use or buy the training time at the rental yard before leaving with the rig. An incident like this creates multiple loss for the rental dealer; the repair cost, the downtime and increased risk for future operation of the damaged rig.the revenue collected for the insurance or training option could be set aside in a reserve sinking fund to be used for equipment repairs. My father did this maneuver for his independent Rentacar fleet 40 years ago and it worked quite well.