22.02.2011

Man escapes spider tip

A man had a lucky escape last week when the narrow track spider lift he was moving tipped over onto him near Oslo, Norway. The man, 28, was probably saved by a wheelie bin?
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The fallen spider lift

He was moving the lift, a large track mounted Omme lift owned by Oslo Liftutleie, on snow covered sloping ground when it flipped over and landed on him and fortunately a heavy plastic wheelie bin.

The emergency services arrived and managed to extract him without further injury. While he suffered abrasions to his head, hip and knee he seems to have escaped without breaking any bones.

It is thought that the crushed bin not only broke the machines fall but also kept the machine from crushing him – leaving enough space underneath for him to survive. We do not know if the man was employed by the rental company or if he was the user.
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The Blue plastic in the foreground is the crushed wheelie bin

Vertikal Comment

Narrow aisle machine such as this one are fantastic pieces of equipment, perfect for passing through doors and between other obstacles to reach difficult to access places. They are also excellent at crossing poor ground and reaching places not accessible to wheeled machines and once in position have the levelling capability to work.

However they do need to be handled very carefully when travelling on ground that is not firm and level. In the closed position they will not tolerate significant side slopes, especially if the ground is bumpy or sharp turns while travelling at the maximum travel speed.

If the route does involve slopes and severe bumps the steps to take include going as slow as possible, putting the outriggers out and just above the ground if room and the machine permits and using a remote control- either radio or with wandering lead.

While we cannot judge this situation the combination of ground conditions hidden by deep snow and the slope were high risk. Thankfully this incident appears to have no long term repercussions.