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05.06.2013

Aerial lift fatality UK

A boom lift incident on the M25 motorway near Heathrow airport this morning has resulted in a fatality

The lift, a brand new Genie Z-135 owned by Kimblerly Access, was we understand being checked over and PDI'd at the company's Iver depot, by a Kimberly employee of when something went wrong and the machine overturned with the boom coming down over a road and onto the hard shoulder of the M25 motorway - London's main ring road.
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The accident scene almost two months ago


This is clearly a very tragic incident with a machine that is barely a week old. We will of course update as and when have further news.

UPDATE

In light of this morning's incident Kimberly has taken the precautionary decision to 'stand down' its entire fleet of Z135/70s while it investigates the cause of this morning's overturn.

Terex/Genie has also sent us a statement, which is as follows:

"Terex Aerial Work Platforms (Terex AWP), operating under the “Genie” brand name, learned today of a fatal incident involving a user of a Genie model Z-135 boom. Terex AWP is extremely saddened to learn of the accident. Our foremost concern at this moment is for the accident victim’s grieving family. We express our deepest condolences to the family."

"Terex AWP has dispatched technical experts to the scene and is working with experts to support the determination of the root cause of this tragic accident. We will also fully cooperate with authorities during their investigation to understand the cause of the accident."

We now have a verbal police report that confirms that the deceased was wearing a harness and lanyard and came down in bushes alongside the motorway and was not hit by a vehicle as originally reported.

UPDATE 2 - June 7th
The following open letter from Kimberly to its customers was sent to us today with the request that it be added to Vetikal.net
We understand that the machine is still under HSE protection and will not me moved to its laboratory in Buxton for further analysis.
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The open letter sent to customers explaining the standing down of the company's lifts



UPDATE 3
The identity of the deceased man has been released. it was Rick Jaeger-Fozard, the depot foreman at Kimberly's Iver depot

Comments

robin hood
my heart felt sympathy goes out to his family and friends. a tragic loss of a great engineer who was going about his day to day duties it has really opened my eyes after 15 years as and access engineer how dangerous this indusrty really can be lets all work together to make it as safe as we can for the future and not fight among our selves. RIP

Jun 7, 2013

Tmayes
Well it's 10.30 on Thursday and I thought I'd have a quick look at Vertikal and I noticed 12 comments on a very traffic story, and I though awww that's nice so many people paying respect for a fellow guy in the industry trying to do his job and earning money for his family, how bloody wrong was I, well done guys. MY thoughts are with his family and fellow Colleagues RIP.

Jun 6, 2013

No one knows exactly what happened and I have no experience with boom lifts but can we please await the investigation before we express unsubstantiated opinions? Deepest sympathy to the family and colleagues.

Jun 6, 2013

Paul the Platform Jockey
150% behind the Editor's Comments, Such a Tragic Event, my thoughts go out to all concerned and involved, and as previously mentioned by the majority, the Family.

Jun 6, 2013

vertikal editor
Can we please curb this IPAF training debate in relation to this tragic incident where an experienced man within the industry has lost his life. This was not a carpenter who took a one day course and then went up 130ft on his first day using an aerial lift.

The discussion is very valid and needs to be had, but can we please have a little more respect for this poor man's family and colleagues at this time.

There is a time and a place for this discussion and this is neither

We will set up a subject for it in the discussion forum on this web site and will encourage everyone to join in a running and hopefully constructive debate on the subject there.

Thank you for your understanding

Jun 6, 2013

NewAccessMan
in reply to Donna Wells - Perhaps it’s not the right time for this agreement, but IPAF in its current format is a joke.
At the minute an operative can train on a 12 metre nifty and operate a 112 metre truck mounted unit “because he/she is trained” it does not take an expert to understand this is wrong on several levels.

Any course that has a failure rate of less that 1% is not productive, we will add IPAF rental + and more courses to add revenue to this “not for profit organisation”

Donna is absolutely right, all the “thumbs down” come from guys that have been flown around the world and put up in five star hotels !

Jun 6, 2013

Snorkel
Such devastating and tragic news.

Our deepest condolences go out to the operators' family and to all of the staff at Kimberly Access. Our thoughts are with you at this difficult time.

All of the team at Snorkel

Jun 6, 2013

Rob Molyneux
This truly is a tragedy and my thoughts and condolences go out to his family and friends.

I have to agree with most other comments that helpfully the findings from this tragic accident will prevent this from ever happening again.

Rob & the team at EWP Technical Solutions NZ

Jun 6, 2013

geoffrey wilkins
rip to the young fitter at Kimberly who was doing a pdi check the ground is good there I am thinking of his family and friends and the staff at Kimberly.Although it’s very early into the investigation lets hope it gets to the problem so the family can have peace of mind knowing there son did every think right.

Jun 5, 2013

Donna Wells
Truly saddened this should not be happening in 2013 heart aching for the family my heart is broken for them machine failure or not are we as an industry doing enough to protect people training on a 45 ft articulated boom and giving out CAP cards IPAF need to look at this from first hand experience I have witnessed it is not adequate.

Jun 5, 2013

NewAccessMan
I reiterate the sentiment of the previous two guys; RIP to the victim and condolences to his family and indeed all involved. Although it’s very early into the investigation from the video on the BBC it does not look like an issue with the ground the unit was standing on.

Jun 5, 2013

Dermot Cunnie
A horrific incident and a very sad day for this man's family and friends. As Barry has already said, our thoughts should also include the Kimberley depot staff and any motorists involved.

Dermot and the team at Sleator Plant, Ireland.

Jun 5, 2013

The thoughts of all the staff at elevation go to the family members of the guy concerned. We are fully aware that this could be any one of us, and I am certain that all members of our industry should think of the trauma this has been for the staff involved at this location, as well as Kimberley as a whole. Our thoughts are with you all.

Barry, Mani and all the team.

Jun 5, 2013

This must have been a truely horrible way for someone to die, how very sad, my thoughts are with the employee's family and friends and colleagues and the poor motorist who would not have been able to avoid crashing into the falling platform. So many lives will be touched by this incident in so many different ways.

Lets just hope that some really good investigations take place here, and we quickly discover the root cause of this tragic event so that we can all learn from it and prevent any repeats of this tragedy.

Jun 5, 2013