26.02.2013

Lucky escape as boom tips

Two men had a lucky escape this morning in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia after a culvert collapsed under the wheel of the boom lift that they were using.

The men were using a Genie 45 owned by Instant Access to work on the façade of a downtown building. Sometime towards midday the two drove the elevated machine forward to the point where one wheel lined up over a communication culvert which gave way. The wheel dropped into the hole and jammed before the machine reached its tipping point.
Please register to see all images

The lift tipped but did not go over

Please register to see all images

One of the machine's wheels broke through into a communications culvert

Fortunately the two were wearing harnesses and remained in the boom, albeit in a precarious position. The emergency services were called and arrived with a fire rescue platform. The first job was to use a cable to secure the platform to the building in order to stabilise it.
Please register to see all images

The fire service did a classic platform to platform rescue

The fire crew then carried out a classic platform to platform transfer and brought the shaken men safely to the ground.

Vertikal Comment

This was a very lucky escape and fortunate that the two managed to stay in the platform. The incident should never have happened though if only they two had taken care to check out the ground before driving on it.

Pavements/sidewalks are notoriously dangerous and highly likely to hide cellars and culverts. The Genie 45 weighs over six tonnes – the weight of three or four cars!

All is well that ends well, hopefully others will learn from this lucky escape, it also demonstrates how stable modern platforms are.