24.11.2008

Wind tips lift

A 125ft boom lift standing fully-extended by the side of the autostrada at Bielanami, near Wroclaw, in Lower Silesia, Poland, was blown over during the night last week, crashing into three vehicles on the road.
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Strong winds took the boom over the back of the lift

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The basket was badly smashed

The lift, a Manlift AMZ131XT belonging to BAC rental's Wroclaw branch, was apparently up for sale and was left fully extended overnight, with no load in the basket. Gale force winds caught the lift and blew it over backwards on to the road.
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The boom crashed across the road

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The base machine was largely unaffected

The boom came crashing down into traffic on the highway causing three vehicles to crash, two cars and a minibus. Two people were injured in the accident, one, a 10-year-old boy, seriously.
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One of the vehicles involved

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The emergency services winched the boom one to the verge

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The boom now at 90 degrees cleared the road

The emergency services, simply attached a winch to the end of the boom and pulled it from the road, bending the boom in two.

Vertikal Comment

This accident was clearly caused by a freak wind, however it is also the second such accident in a month – a 135ft JLG boom left up overnight in New Zealand blew over and landed on parked minibus.Click here to see that accident.

Lifts or telescopic cranes of any kind should never be left extended overnight or unattended. If they are it is actually better to place a load in the platform, people always forget that boom lifts are less stable over the rear, a load in the platform makes them more stable when at full height.

Hopefully these two incidents will bring it to everyone’s attention that this is not a good practice.