27.03.2003

GSL safety problems known in 2001 says Gardemann

Dangerous quality defects affecting some scissor lifts built by German Standard Lift were discovered during in-house technical checks carried out in 2001 says Gardemann Arbeitsbühnen, one of Germany’s largest platform rental companies.

In an official statement released by Gardemann to Vertikal.net, the company says that these problems were immediately brought to the attention of senior management of GSL and accuses the company of being untrue when it said in a statement issued this week that it had “no prior knowledge of the problem” (See GSL scissors dangerous. Company ceases trading ).

In a serious escalation of the problems currently surrounding GSL, Gardemann, which has a large number of GSL scissors in its fleet, says that it is taking legal action against the company. Gardemann also warns that problems were found in the model S 205-E12 and notes that this was not included in the models listed by GSL. Gardemann added that it expected to complete repairs to all its GSL scissors by the end of April

Dirk Begemann, managing director of GSL has meanwhile told Vertikal.net that he is founding a new company which will have access to all GSL data, designs and technical information.

“We are trying to help our customers as much as we can in the current situation” said Begemann adding that spare parts, service and advice for all GSL models would be available from the new company.

Begemann was at pains to stress that not all GSL models have been affected by the current problems and pointed out that only parts of one family of machines had been affected. However, he also warned that external checks would not reveal the dangerous faults in the scissor packs and stressed that internal checks were necessary.

* German Standard Lift GmbH is being renamed Arbeitsbühnen-Zugangstechnik GmbH and is ceasing to trade. It can only be contacted by post. A new company, with no legal connection to the former GSL is being launched on April 1 and will offer service, repair and spare parts for all GSL models. The new company will also build and market a range of access platforms said Dirk Begemann, former managing director of German Standard Lift GmbH.


See also:
GSL scissors dangerous. Company ceases trading

Germany’s Top 10 Hire companies