24.03.2016
Bucket truck rammed
Three people were killed when their car ploughed into a working truck mounted lift in Tacoma, Washington state yesterday.
Amazingly the man working in the platform, was only slightly injured. He was carrying out an overhead wiring job at a height of around five metres in a back alley, for North Sky Communications, when the car hit his lift, pushing it around 10 metres down the alley.
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The car is said to have pushed the bucket truck around 10 metres down the alley
The car was said to be driving very fast down the alley when it hit the truck. The man in the platform had only just attached his harness, and it seems this is what kept him in the platform.
The lift’s driver Ron Hoover, 41, said: “We were only going to be here a few minutes. I was sitting in the truck and didn’t see or hear them. Then all of a sudden, the truck was moving. It pushed us about 30 feet. He’s lucky he didn’t get thrown out of the bucket”.
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The lift operator is rescued with minor abrasions he was harnessed in
hey you
These workers did have traffic control set up and the alley was barricaded prior to this incident. The SUV came through the intersection at approx. 60 MPH. The accident could have had a more serious and deadlier outcome had there been a traffic control person there. There was no "short cut" except the one the driver of the SUV decided to take that day.
Sherm
"We were there for just a few minutes" said Ron Hoover. The accident took only a few seconds for a speeding car to ram their truck. A short term job is just as deserving of safety practices as a long term job for the worker technicians their company as well as motorists. One or both of these two men seem to have disregarded safety practices and look now at what their short cut cost them their employer and the three dead motorists. They deserve penalties disciplinary action and suspension. The best penalty would be to have them conduct a safety class for their peers. This accident is inexcusable.