12.07.2013

No news on fatal M25 overturn

Over a month on from the tragic incident involving the overturning of a Genie Z135/70 boom lift at a Kimberly depot alongside the M25 motorway near London’s Heathrow airport, we are no closer to having any indication of what might have caused it. See fatal UK incident

A statement from the Health & Safety Executive provides a little more information and we now know that it is also looking at evidence from an incident that occurred in Australia.

The statement simply says:

“HSE's investigation into the cause of the incident on 5th June is ongoing
• The Health and Safety Laboratory is currently examining the Genie 135/70 mobile elevating work platform;
• At this stage HSE does not know what caused the incident.
• HSE is also looking at the information passed to us (relating to an incident in Australia in which a Genie 135/70 MEWP overturned) alongside our own investigation
These are criminal investigations and for legal reasons we're not able to say more while they are ongoing.”

The UK overturn led to the death of Rick Jaeger-Fozard, 29, a fund set up for his wife and daughter, within the IPAF charitable account, has so far raised around £1,000 with a number of events expected to contribute to it in the next few weeks. See Rick Jaeger-Fozard 1984-2013

We understand, but cannot categorically confirm - that the Australian incident relates to a unit that overturned rearwards near Melbourne University in May 2008. In that case the boom came landed in a large tree catapulting the 28 year old operator out of the platform thankfully he was wearing a harness and lanyard and never touched the ground. See harness saves operator

Shortly after that incident, WorkSafe Victoria advised owners to remove their Z135/70 units from service until they had been inspected.

We now understand that Genie’s national operations manager at the time, Mitchell Ely, then sent a letter to all owners stating:

"Genie has given this serious matter our full attention and has been working continuously to determine the cause of this accident. Our senior engineers from the US have already viewed the machine and commenced their investigations into the incident which involves full cooperation with Victorian Work Safe."

"The machine in question uses two switches to control the range of motion of the secondary boom. These switches provide redundancy for the range of motion control system. We have determined that the switches in this system on the affected machine had been damaged and were not working correctly resulting in a chain of events leading up to the incident. Our service department is currently gearing up to perform the inspections and they will ensure any inconvenience is kept to a minimum.”

"Our State Service Managers have been briefed on the matter and we plan to commence inspecting units as early as tomorrow. Our Service Managers will be in contact with your team within the next 24 hours to finalise the inspection schedule. From myself and the team at Genie we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience. Please be assured that Genie will do its utmost to ensure that the highest level of safety is maintained at all times."

In response to our request for a comment in light of the HSE statement Genie issued the following:

“Operator safety continues to be the first priority of Terex Aerial Work Platforms (AWP) in all aspects of our response to this tragic accident. As Terex AWP’s thorough investigation has progressed, the integrity of the Genie Z-135/70 booms in the field continues to be confirmed. Genie Z-135/70 booms are safe to use as intended provided the machine is in proper working order and the operators are trained and follow the warnings and instructions found on the machine.”

“Terex AWP has produced over 1,936 Genie Z-135/70 booms since its introduction in 2005. In 2008 a Genie Z-135 tipped over in Australia. Our investigation revealed that the machine envelope control system was damaged and had been modified by users which eventually caused the machine to tip over. As a result of that incident, Genie designed additional error detection systems that would prevent use of the machines in the event that such damage or modifications were to occur in the future. This updated design was initiated through a Safety Notice bulletin on Genie Z-135 machines in the field and implemented in production of all new machines.“

“With regard to the Genie Z-135 incident at the Kimberly Access site, our investigation is ongoing. We continue to pursue information specific to this incident and are fully cooperating with the HSE investigation. “


Family support fund

The UK overturn led to the death of Rick Jaeger-Fozard, 29, a fund set up for his wife and daughter, within the IPAF charitable account, has so far raised around £1,000 with a number of events expected to contribute to it in the next few weeks.
If you would like to make a donation the account details are:
Bank Transfer:
Bank HSBC - Account Name IPAF LTD CHARITY FUND ACCOUNT
Sort Code 40-26-02 - Account Number 61412094 -
BIC/SWIFT MIDLGB2135V - IBAN GB63MIDL40260261412094
Payment by cheque:
Make the cheque payable to IPAF LTD CHARITY FUND ACCOUNT and post to:
IPAF, Moss End Business Village, Crooklands, LA7 7NU

Vertikal Comment

Before anyone jumps to any conclusions, while the HSE has mentioned the machine in Australia, there is absolutely no suggestion at this stage of any connection. A CE machine built in 2013 is also quite different from an Australian standards machine built prior to 2008 – and the investigation into that machine indicated that the switches had been damaged – not that they were faulty. The concern back then appeared to revolve around what might happen if they were damaged and it was not picked up.

The HSE has categorically stated that it still does not know what caused this tragic incident, in spite of having had the machine in its laboratory for almost four weeks. It is very sad that while aviation industry inspectors can inform the world at large what happened in commercial aircraft incidents within days here we are still guessing a month later.