27.11.2011

Another 'two planks' job

Levelling a boom was the subject of a report last week, and this week we have another, sent in by a regular reader in the UK, after a customer spotted the machine on Google Earth.

Our reader says: “A customer informed us that they wanted the same machine as this one, which they had spied on Google Earth. The dangerous tricks displayed here cause accidents! It’s the planks that are more worrying than the lack of pedestrian and traffic management!”

It is clear that the user, faced with a sloping pavement (Sidewalk) compounded by one wheel having to drive in gutter, decided to overcome the problem and avoid alarms/lockouts by using four handy planks.
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Four planks reduce the slope

The problem is that stacked like this any movement of the machine could cause the lower planks to kick-out, or given the weight of the machine to splinter – either way the wheels in the road would drop suddenly.

While this would be unlikely to cause any stability issue, a sudden drop of the wheels on this side would shoot the basket upwards – and if the operator was under an obstacle, cause a sudden crushing incident which could easily be fatal. And furthermore, an incident such as that described is too fast to be helped by any pressure sensitive anti crushing cut-out device.
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A view from the other side

It is a puzzle why the machine was not set up in the road –given the cones that were available to cordon off?
A Death Wish that highlights a number of important lessons.