27.11.2013

SSE boom buckle bulletin

UK Utility SSE has issued a Safety Bulletin regarding the buckling of a Land Rover mounted boom lift being used by its staff.

The unit referred to is a CMC UV145, a specially commissioned version of the manufacturer's standard ATP145 Land Rover/pick up mounted lift, which was being used by two men when the base section of the top boom buckled. The two were wearing harnesses and lanyards and remained in the platform and were unhurt, they were also able to descend and exit the machine safely.

The bulletin places a prohibition on all aerial lifts manufactured by CMC and claims that the issue affects other units and that no recall has been initiated by the manufacturer.
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The buckled boom

CMC has told us that this issue only affected one single machine which was supposed to have been fixed by a field modification that it issued earlier this year. It said that the machine concerned was a 'pre-production' special - serial number 12A5425 - commissioned and purchased by Affordable Access, the CMC distributor in the UK at the time.

Ongoing overload testing by CMC after this first unit was shipped, revealed that an issue with the top boom could occur following an overload situation. The issue was rectified before any further machines were sent out and a retrofit kit for the first unit was dispatched in January to its dealer. The manufacturer says that it had understood that this had been installed as requested.
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The Safety bulletin

UPDATE

CMC has issued a bulletin regarding this issue and machine here is the full text:

"In response to the SHE Bulletin No. RF-LFI-PS-114 issued by SSE, dated 19th November 2013 we wish to clarify the situation and offer the following comments in response to this Bulletin:

This incident relates exclusively to the model UV 145 and specifically only the first unit with serial number °12A5425 supplied to our customer on 03/09/2012.

Following delivery of the first production model to the customer, the subsequent routine destructive tests on the prototype were concluded at the CMC test facility, this destructive test process highlighted the possibility of the boom yielding should the basket be significant overloaded. So as to qualify this overload and through the testing process it was established that a weight exceeding 150 kg over the clearly stated and certified SWL of 200kg could potential compromise the structure of the boom.

This overload may have been done many days before the episode, but has created a significant damage in the arm that caused the subsequent bend!
Immediately following the identification of this threat to the boom structure, CMC provided notification to the customer from their technical department and dispatched the necessary parts to the customer in the latter part of January 2013. This structural modification was immediately implemented and included within the design and specification and such CMC are confident that only one boom was potentially affected and that further production units are manufactured with the modification.

It is unfortunate that SSE have experienced a failure of this manner however as the manufacturer CMC have done everything in their control to prevent a failure of this nature and mitigate all risk from users of THIS machine. The owner of the machine has ignored the advice of the manufacturer and has left the machine in service.

We wish to state how important it is for owners of machines to complete warranty recalls issued by a manufacturer, as the consequences of not undertaking the advices can be severe.!"

UPDATE 2
It now seems possible that it was the second unit that failed, not the first, but what is clear is that the two units had modifications that had to be retrofitted after shipment from the plant and that subsequent production machines are not affected. We are continuing to seek clarification.

Vertikal Comment

If all is as we have been told, this looks like another example of a contractor banging out a ‘stop all machines’ safety bulletin to a wide audience, before verifying that the issue has wider implications. We reported on a case with a self-propelled boom in the summer when oil contamination causing a boom to descend, resulted in a stop all machines bulletin.

We are strong advocates of improved, wider and more open communication of near misses and accidents etc... But if knee jerk bulletins are sent out demanding all units from a manufacturer are stood down immediately, before checking that it is not an isolated issue, the ‘Cry Wolf’ syndrome will creep in and safety bulletins will not be taken seriously.

With modern internet communications these bulletins are circulated globally and they often keep popping up year after year – causing false alarms which further undermine the importance of such bulletins.

This issue also highlights how important it is to ensure that retrofit/recall kits are installed. Something that - from personal experience - too many rental companies and dealers do not take seriously enough.