12.03.2010
Another outrgger accident
A 70 metre truck mount tipped over in the North of Holland yesterday after one of its jacks punched through a concrete yard.
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One of the lifts outriggers punched through the concrete
The lift, owned by Belgian rental company Maes, was working in a farm yard installing a mobile phone antenna to the top of a silo. In order to reach a specific point the lift was repositioned, set up and the boom extended when one of the outrigger jacks punched through an old concrete base into the soft ground below.
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Ground conditions were not the greatest and the lift broke through the concrete
It looks as though outrigger mats were used, at least on one of the front outriggers. Although given the size of the machine and the uncertainties of farm yard concrete they may have been a little on the small side.
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Thankfully no one was hurt
The boom was totally written off while the chassis may have escaped serious damage. No one was seriously injured, two heavy duty loader cranes and excavator were called into to recover the stricken vehicle.
Krystina Pyl
We, Maes, wish to elaborate on the specific circumstances of the accident with our 70m truck mounted elevator in Ten Boer. From the article placed on your website, we learn that one of the outrigger jacks punched through the concrete base when the lift was repositioned.
Please note that this happened during the safety pre-flight and not during repositioning. Our severe security procedure demands that at all time, for every set up position we execute a pre-flight.
This pre-flight allows us to check the stability of the underground. During this pre-flight the cherry picker is operated using the control panel on the machine its self, and not the panel in the basket. During the pre-flight the basket remains unattended.
Of course we regret that this accident happened, but at the same time we are pleased that our security procedure, in this case the unattended pre-flight, proofed to be successful: lives were saved and no one got injured.
Regards, Krystina Pyl, Maes Hoogwerkers