24.06.2022

Man seriously injured in boom overturn

A man was seriously injured earlier this month when a large boom lift overturned in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

The incident occurred on June 6th at the site of some historic flour mills in the city. The man was using the boom - an articulated JLG Ultra boom probably a 1250AJP from the United Rentals fleet - as part of a contract to clean up and make the silos safe from falling bricks and lumps of concrete, in preparation for a celebratory light display to celebrate 110 years since the towers were completed.

The machine appeared to have had the lower boom retracted and almost fully elevated, while the top boom was retracted and elevated to just above the horizontal. This would have put the platform at a height of around 10 to 12 metres or so. The lift overturned onto its side, apparently after one of its wheels sunk into a hole or void, on gently sloping ground, although we have not been able to confirm that officially.
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The man, Cameron Stone, 27, an employee of CK Construction, was wearing a harness, and so stayed in the basket which landed on the pavement/sidewalk, thankfully there were no pedestrians passing by at the time. He was rushed to hospital where he was reported to be in a critical condition. He was placed in a medically induced coma, with swelling on the brain, a shattered hip and pelvis, a broken neck, broken ribs and internal bleeding.
An investigation into the incident continues with details expected to be included in a report from the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development once all the evidence is in.
UPDATE
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received a few days after the story was posted, apparent evidence that the overturn was caused by a ground void - we are unable to categorically confirm that this is the same incident, but it has been received from a reader living locally