23.04.2013

Swedish roulette?

A reader spotted a man using a truck mounted lift in Stockholm yesterday gambling on traffic missing him.

Set up on a bend in a busy multi-lane street in the city centre he has nicely levelled the machine and used mats under the outriggers – all good signs that he has received some training. However….. he has made no attempt at all to keep all the passing traffic away from the machine which has its outriggers fully extended, this in spite of the fact that buses trucks and cars are whipping by at a decent speed with the drivers focussed on the vehicle in front and the traffic, rather than a slim white outrigger jack.
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The machine is nicely set up - but vulnerable to being clipped by passing traffic

To make matters worse it looks as though he is not using a harness and lanyard, so if the lift does receive a whack from a passing vehicle he would have probably ended up in the middle of the street facing the double whammy of a fall from height followed by being run over by a car.

The lift, a 3.5 tonne Ruthmann was obviously rented as a self-drive unit from local rental company Nofa Hyrmaskiner, which we know offers a full range of safety equipment for those who plan to work in such areas. Clearly this man thought he would take the risk, or most likely of all did not carry out any planning. This time he survived

“In the words of our correspondent: “While on a city tour in Stockholm today I saw a site that I wish I hadn’t. Set up near a busy corner with no signage, barricades or any sign of safety equipment, including safety harness was this small truck mounted unit. As I drove past he had just returned to the ground after being up about four metres.
I think this classes as a death wish.”

We agree
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This time our kamikaze operator appears to have completed the job without incident

Vertikal Comment

We report on serious and fatal incidents arising from this sort of example almost every week. Sadly the same people who do not bother to put out cones or warning lights or place a spotter, do not use a harness and lanyard.

What they fail to appreciate is that this is no different in principle to a game of Russian Roulette. The thing is that if they lose it affects a wide number of other totally innocent people, from the rental company and its staff, to those who have to clean up the mess from the street. Not to mention family members and friends etc…. and if some poor soul is unlucky enough to crash into the falling body it is likely that they will be severely traumatised – possibly permanently.

Thank goodness that this one is a Death Wish and not an accident report