03.12.2007

Truck mounted platform accident - Italy

A truck mounted platform working at a Total facility near Rome suffered a serious boom failure last week which left one man dead and another with serious injuries.

The two operators were raising the platform in order to carry out measurements on the emissions from a steam boiler chimney. The second of the lifts two telescopic booms experienced a catastrophic and unexplained failure causing the platform to come down.

The one man died immediately, while the second suffered a broken arm, for some reason the lift, was being operated form the lower controls by the operator employed by rental company, Romedil. He is suffering from shock.
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The truck mount after the accident

At this stage there is no explanation of how the accident occurred, the investigation is continuing.

Vertikal Comment

Accidents such as this are almost unheard of, modern aerial lifts, particularly larger truck mounts, are designed with generous margins of structural safety.

There is nothing that we can say at this stage and probably nothing that can be learnt. We have published this today in order to respond to the requests asking what had happened and what type of machine it was.

It looks like a freak accident, but the manufacturer, has been contacted and will be checking if there is any likelihood of a repeat.

We are not absolutely 100% certain which manufacturer it is, so feel it is only fair not to mention its name here. If it is the one we believe it to be, there are very few of these units in circulation and the company will contact other owners immediately if there is any risk at all of a repeat failure.