01.07.2014

Harnesses save two lives

We have received reports of an incident involving a large boom lift in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, yesterday, which injured two men.

The boom, a 151ft Platform Basket SEL48ALJE, (48m working height) was being used to clean and repair windows at the well-known Science Park when it overturned.

The two had started to retract the top boom when the articulated machine apparently went over backwards, the lower boom hit the ground and this appears to have prevented the machine from completely overturning, and the two men, aged 48 and 60, remained in the platform thanks to their harnesses and lanyards.

The two men suffered head, arm and waist injuries, but were not seriously injured, they were rescued by the emergency services. Initial feedback suggest that ground subsistence and or possible error with the lower boom angle were the cause.

Note: While all of the general details of this incident, including the machine type, have been corroborated by multiple sources, some of the details of what happened have been received from a single source, and while usually reliable may be subject to change while we continue to investigate and receive information. So far we have received no photography that would allow us to double check the information.
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The machine working in the park