18.01.2012
Wind causes scissor lift fall
Winds gusting up to 35 miles an hour blew over a new wall of a partially constructed building at a gas station in Cheney, Washington yesterday knocking over a fully elevated scissor lift with two men on board.
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The fallen lift
The men were helping secure the aluminium wall frame from the narrow aisle slab scissor at a height of around six metres, when the wind caught the wall and then the lift. The two men went down with the scissor and landed on the compacted earth floor. No serious injuries were detected on site although the two men were complaining of aches and back issues and were taken to hospital for a thorough check up.
Local news reports claim that the two men were saved due to the fact that they were both wearing harnesses, although this is not the case. An excavator was quickly tracked in to stop the rest of the building – a new mini-mart – going over but a decision was then taken to knock the entire structure over for safety reasons.
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The scene after the fall
Vertikal Comment
A micro scissor such as this had no place working off slab on such a windy day, however the two are lucky especially as they were wearing harnesses which could have led to more serious injuries. It would seem though that they had fairly long lanyards as they were thrown or jumped clear of the guardrails.
Our advice along with that of IPAF is to never wear a harness in a scissor lift, there are rarely any benefits and plenty of pitfalls. The fact is if a scissor lift starts to fall over it will not recover – unlike a boom lift. The best thing you can do is either grab onto the façade or as in the case rise the lift down and then jump clear as goes through 45 degrees. The key thing is to be clear of it when it lands.
Liftman
In all the years I have done training I do not understand why lift manufacturers do not offer Anemometers as part of the standard equipment on lifts.
When doing training most people do not even know what an anemomoter is. When it comes to the Beaufort scale you might as well be speaking in some long lost language.
My personal thought is that manufacturers need to take responsibility and put an anemometer on every machine, along with CLEAR instructions on how to use it. They need to emphasize that wind and electrical contact can kill.
In North America the present warnings are no where near strong enough for an operator to even notice. Maybe adding colour to the decals a picture or symbol showing wind gusts cause DEATH at the controls as well as on the basket in several places may get operators attention.
just a point i am sure you are aware of ed. IPAF advice does not say NEVER wear harnesses in scissor lifts it says it is not normally recomended to wear a harness in a vertical type platform other than in exceptional circustances. Again this is a clear cut case of operator error. A well trained operator will know that machines like this are not designed for the type of work undertaken.Lucky guys!
just a point i am sure you are aware of ed. IPAF advice does not say NEVER wear harnesses in scissor lifts it says it is not normally recomended to wear a harness in a vertical type platform other than in exceptional circustances. Again this is a clear cut case of operator error. A well trained operator will know that machines like this are not designed for the type of work undertaken.Lucky guys!