14.11.2020

Fatal telehandler plunge

A man has died after the telehandler he was operating fell off a bridge in Missouri on Tuesday 10th November.

The man, Alan Jackson, 59, a foreman for KCI Construction, was operating the 11 metre/2,700kg Genie TH-636 telehandler from the Sunbelt Rentals fleet on the refurbishment of the Blanchette Memorial Bridge which connects St Charles with St Louis. He was lifting a suspended load of decking which had been removed from the underside of the bridge, when the load shifted and pulled the machine over the edge of the bridge, falling more than 20 metres to the ground below.
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The emergency services were able to extract him and rush him to hospital, but sadly he passed away shortly after arrival. Jackson was apparently due to retire next year after a 30 year career in construction. An investigation is ongoing.

The following news video tells more: