01.12.2011

Double fatality in Atlanta

Two men died earlier today after the boom lift they were working in overturned in Atlanta, Georgia.

The men were around 11 metres up in the Genie S85, owned by Sunbelt Rentals, with the boom only partially extended. Witnesses say that the lift had bogged down in the grass verge between the kerb and the sidewalk/pavement and that the men were rocking the unit back and forth in order to extricate themselves, when the machine lurched forward and one wheel went over the kerb.
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The wheel on the lower left is the one that went over the kerb

The combination of the drop off the kerb into the street and the dynamic momentum, along with whatever load they had in the platform, appears to have been sufficient to have overturned the unit.
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The overturned lift

The injured men were taken to Hospital where they later died. They had been installing weatherproofing to the side of an apartment building and were relocating the machine.
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Rescuers were quick to arrive but in spite of this the two men did not survive

Vertikal Comment

It is surprising that this unit went over on what appears to be a relatively modest kerb in relation to the machine which is normally exceptionally stable and tolerant of such manoeuvres.

From what we have been sent and looking at local reports it seems to indicate that this might have been a very unfortunate multiplication of negative factors such as the dynamic loading caused by rocking the machine back and forth to clear it, combined with the sudden movement and the kerb and what looks like a sloping road?

Hopefully the investigation will reveal specifics on what definitely caused it to go over, although we doubt that it will.