18.11.2014

Stuck against the wall

A man working from a boom lift at the Hiram Walker distillery in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, had to be rescued, by the emergency services yesterday, after he became stuck by allowing the platform to press against the wall of the building, possibly activating an interlock, or simply becoming jammed against the wall?
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Firemen to the rescue

The local fire service used a ladder platform to bring the man down from the unit, a 135ft Genie Z135/70 was rented from local company LSI.
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It looks as though the machine became jammed against the wall

Vertikal Comment

Modern boom lifts with their safety systems can be tricky to bring down with the lower emergency controls if one of the safety interlocks activate. However in spite of this most fire fighter rescues by ladder are unnecessary, if only those on the ground or firefighters themselves were fully versed in the use of the emergency lowering controls for aerial lifts.

With a wide variation in how emergency lowering systems function, it is a challenge to master them all, something that IPAF and its manufacturing members have been looking at for some time. In the meantime more familiarity and training, with platform users who have received familiarisation training - passing on this particular piece of information to those on the ground would help.

It might also be an idea if rental companies offered their local fire service some training on how to bring down their machines in such a scanario. Not only will it make them more aware of how modern aerial work platforms operates, but will also help spread the concept – something that is still needed.