11.09.2012

Pothole puts man in hospital

A man in his 50s was airlifted to hospital in North Queensland, Australia, after the aerial lift he was using overturned earlier today.

The man was driving the machine, believed to be a boom lift, at a height of several metres at a farm in Townsville, when a wheel dropped into a pothole causing the lift to overturn rearwards.

He was treated on site before being taken by helicopter to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a fractured shoulder bone and a number of broken ribs.

Vertikal Comment

This man was lucky it could so easily have been fatal. And yet it was totally unavoidable – a quick walk over the ground that he was planning to take the lift over and then keeping a close watch on the ground while driving could have prevented it. If in doubt bring the boom down.