13.04.2007

Spider lift tips

A young man is in hospital tonight with back injuries after the aerial lift he was using tipped over and crashed in to a wall.

The Italmec Ragno R16 was being used by Phil Cantrey, an employee of J.P. Hardy Forestry, to trim trees when the ground beneath one of the outriggers gave way creating enough momentum for the boom top tip.
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The 16 metre tracked lift

The lift was working at the end of a cul-de-sac (dead-end) and set up with the outriggers resting on small pads on the very edge of a brick drive. The edging bricks shifted under the pressure so the outrigger dropped into the earth border.
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The outriggers were set right on the edge of a loose brick drive

John Hardy the owner of J.P. Hardy tree surgeons told local reporters that while he had not been on site when it happened it was clear what had happened. The local police had arrived with the ambulance and are initially treating the area as a crime scene.

The Health & Safety Executive was also called and will conduct an investigation. The outreach on this unit is normally restricted by fail safe switches.

Vertikal Comment

It is surprising that more accidents like this do not occur when you see the appalling disregard to outrigger placement, particularly on small booms.

The silly thing with this accident is that the operator could have easily moved the machine a little closer to the tree or even set up in the street.

We don’t know if he was wearing a harness and in this accident it is unlikely that it would have made any difference.

However if the lift had regained its balance after lurching forward the resulting catapult effect would almost certainly have ejected the operator from the cage if he had not been attached.

The owner of the company, who seems like a thoroughly decent person may now find himself on the wrong and unpleasant end of an investigation and possible legal action if it is shown that Cantrey was not properly trained on setting up the lift.

At least one reader has pointed out that the machine appears to be working at a far greater radius than its 5.5 metre-odd edge of the basket outreach.

It is possible therefore that the outrigger movement was a result of the tip and not the cause of it?