15.01.2006

All the right equipment BUT…

A man was recently spotted carrying out work high on the façade of Basel station. He was equipped with an modern articulated boom lift more than sufficient for the job at hand. He was even wearing a full body harness, although it had an over long lanyard.
Bizarrely he placed the boom lift to the side of the work, about two metres or so out of range of where he wanted to work.
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A fully spec'd boom lift more than up to the job, but can you see the operator?

He raised the platform to a arched ledge on the station’s façade, climbed out of the basket, tied the end of his lanyard to the basket’s guardrails and then proceeded to crawl along the ledge.

We are not sure what he was exactly trying to reach. Or if he successfully completed his mission. He was obviously under the impression that the boom lift was to be used as an access ladder, rather than a working platform.
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Attached to the basket of his boom lift the man crawls along the ledge to reach?

It just goes to show that even when equipped with the safest equipment possible for the job, along with the relevant PPE safety equipment, a lack of training can still result in unsafe working at height.

Photos: Thanks to James Cove