28.06.2011

Child injured after lift falls

Two people, including an eight year old boy, were injured after a truck mounted lift tipped over in South Bend, Indiana last week.

The lift was being used by Wayne's Tree Service to removing tree limbs at a house north of the city.

The operator Rick Franklin had taken his eight year-old nephew, Nate, up top around five metres when the unit which is said to have 340kg lift capacity, lost its balance. The company was reportedly also operating the lift within the city without a valid business licence.
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The fallen 'bucket truck'

The youngsters parents were watching at the time of the accident, some reports say that Franklin had just removed a large tree limb when the lift went over, while others indicate that he had stopped work to give his Nephew a quick ride.

Both were lucky in that they do not appear to have suffered any serious injuries and have been discharged from hospital.

A close examination of a photograph that we have been sent shows that the machines rear stabiliser had been set up on grass just off of the concrete drive. The accident occurred with the insulated machine working at full outreach over the stabiliser jack that then sank into the ground.

Vertikal Comment

This incident should never have occurred, the operator will of course be heavily criticized for taking a child up in the platform – but there are many that would have done the same, and it should not be a life threatening decision to take a young lad up in what is the safest form of work at height equipment available.

Where the operator erred – having failed with the initial set up - is that given the precious cargo he did not double check the machine’s set-up – a quick walk around ‘just in case’ would have revealed the stabiliser on the grass.

The most amazing fact coming out of such incidents is that those on site, including investigators, claim to have no idea what caused the overturn. It is hard to understand why a stabiliser that has sunk into soft ground does not suggest to them that it might be the cause of the loss of stability???