26.11.2025

Fatal Scissor incident

Police in Seattle, Washington, have issued a statement regarding a fatal incident with a scissor lift working in the hold of a barge on the South side of the city on Saturday afternoon.

The man was apparently welding an overhead beam from the extended platform of a 26ft slab electric scissor lift from the Sunbelt Rentals fleet, when it overturned.

Emergency services arrived relatively quickly to find the man trapped under the scissor stack.

The police interviewed co-worker who had apparently witnessed the incident, they told the police that the lift become unstable and started to tip sideways. He added that the deceased tried to jump clear but failed and suffered severe head injuries.

It took more than an hour to raise the platform far enough to recover the man, although the injuries were such that he probably died instantly.

So far we only have the local police report and local media to confirm these details we have though reached out to our regular contacts in the area and will add to this report if we learn more.