A 135ft articulated boom lift overturned on Madison Avenue in midtown Manhattan, New York, early on Saturday morning, striking the façade of a building with restaurants and coffee shops on the ground floor.
The lift, a Genie Z-135 from the Complete Equipment rental fleet, was apparently being checked or function tested before starting work. The operator was, we understand, using the ground controls when he raised the fully retracted telescopic boom with the jib lowered and the telescopic riser stowed.
While this would have made the machine very back-heavy, it ought to have remained stable. There were no ground or tyre issues, the superstructure slew position was halfway between being over the front and over the side. The boom elevation angle seems a little, but if it is, that might also be related to the impact?
Thankfully, no one was hurt in the incident, although the street was closed for some time, pedestrians were, at least initially, allowed to continue to walk alongside, but were prevented from walking on the sidewalk under the boom.
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