09.08.2016

Fatal boom loft overturn

A man died yesterday in Laguna Woods on the south side of Los Angeles, California after the boom lift he was working from overturned.

The man, Rodolfo Velazco, 32, was working in the Laguna Woods Village development, with a Genie S-65 boom lift owned by H&E Equipment Services. The boom was almost fully retracted and fully elevated when it overturned rearwards. It looks as though it was working on sloping ground, which may well have caused the overturn. The boom struck a wall and the basket came to rest just a metre or two above the sidewalk. We do not know if a harness was being worn, but it is unlikely that a lanyard would have been short enough to have helped.
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The boom landed on a wall, any fall arrest/restraint lanyard would have been too short to have helped

The emergency services were called and he was rushed to hospital but was declared dead shortly after arrival. The California OSHA is investigating.