22.06.2015
Fatal boom lift overturn
Two men died on May 11 after the aerial work platform they were working from overturned, on an installation job in Northern Spain.
The men, Daniel Ionut Serban, 40, and Pedro Fernandez, 57, were using the JLG 1250 AJ articulated boom, owned by rental company GAM, to install elevators in refrigerated silo complex in Funes - halfway between Pamplona and Zaragoza. They had been on site for weeks and were familiar with the ground and the machine.
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The platform went over backwards, with the platform taking the full impact of the fall
The two men must have been at height of around 25 metres or so when it went over. They were wearing harnesses, but in this incident they were of no help. The lift went over backwards and the platform landed on the ground upside down – they would not have stood a chance.
The incident occurred on the premises of Ultracongelados Virto and the two men were employed by Develood Montajes, which is working as a subcontractor to Dematic which has the job to build automatic silos at the facility.
The emergency services arrived on site and a helicopter was mobilised to airlift the two men to hospital, but they were declared dead before it arrived. An investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing.
The photo we have been sent appears to suggest that the three section telescopic riser may have managed to descend below its permitted range, while fully extended, which if true - and combined with the partially retracted but fully elevated top boom – would have created a serious backward stability issue.
However the angle of the photograph could be distorting the view, and it is possible that sloping ground might have been and issue?
MS
My another thought after clooser look on the photo - isn't there a broken wheel of the machine? And isn't there a sill/ledge/ramp on which machine was standing and then it drove over onto lower ground?
MS
The JLG 1250AJP has not-cool way of raising and extending secondary boom (tower). In comparision to machine of simmilar construction - Genie Z-135/ZX-135 - in Genie models, secondary boom won't extend until the tower/secondary boom won't reach almost vertical (67deg in respect to gravity if I remeber right) position of the boom. In JLG 1250 rising and extending secondary boom is simultaneously - a little up, then little extend, little up, little extend etc..
I dont know if malfunction of this system is possible, but I assume that like all machines, devices, systems, programs made by human always something could go wrong - in other case there wouldn't be job for mechanics and serviceman.
Always when I made PDI on those machines, and I'm lifting myself i have not-cool feelings when im rising secondary boom - you never know if the extend of boom isn't too far in respect to the position (degree) of secondary boom.
Once we had to put JLG 1250AJP on lory, using a crane and when it was lifted - you could celary see tha the machine is heavier on the counterweight side and it was sloping to that site.
So, where I'm striving to...
In my opinion there is possibility that badly calibrated machine could tip-over to the counterweight side as we see on photo in this article.
My second thought - faulty hydraulic check valve and hydraulic hose burst happend in one time - but for me the probability of this case is very low.
It's hard to say something from only 1 photo, but for me the angle of secondary boom in respect to the chassis is to low - and here i would search for accident cause.
Rory McLaren
If indeed the problem was due to mechanical defect, think long and hard before you rent any type of aerial platform. Less then 5% of the people that work on the hydraulic systems on aerial platforms are properly trained. Before renting any type of aerial platform GET the credentials of the people that perform repair, service, and troubleshooting from the rental company and have them validated. I will be happy to validate the credentials for you free of charge. The standard for fluid power education in the U.S is so low that credentials are usually meaningless. The vast majority of technical colleges offer courses in hydraulics, but without and standardized curriculum, or industry oversight, graduating students are getting ripped off because they graduate without the ability to perform work on hydraulic systems safely and effectively.
Note: If you don't agree with my comments, I will be more than happy to debate the issue.
Respectfully,
Rory S. McLaren
"hydraulic safety does't just happen, it has to be vigorously pursued."