23.01.2020

Police appeal for fall witnesses

A man has died after having apparently fallen from an aerial work platform in Lancaster, UK.

Details are minimal, but the local police are looking for anyone who might have witnessed the incident, which occurred on Tuesday this week, and help them ascertain what happened.

The full appeal is published below:

“We are appealing for witnesses following a fatal industrial accident in Lancaster yesterday - Tuesday, January 21st. We were called at around 10am to Mannin Way, Lancaster Business Park, to reports a man in his 40s had fallen from an elevated skylift.”

“Emergency services attended but sadly the man was pronounced dead at the scene. A joint investigation between the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and police is now underway and we are asking anybody who was in the area and who saw the incident to get in touch with us as soon as possible.”

Det Insp Abi Finch-Hall, of Lancaster Police, said: “First and foremost our thoughts are with the family and friends of the man who died, at this incredibly difficult time. We are working hard to piece together exactly how the man came to fall from this piece of machinery, and are asking anyone who saw the incident and who has not yet been spoken to by police to contact us straight away. Anybody with information is asked to call 101, quoting log number 323 of January 21st.”

Oddly, or coincidentally, we received a photograph on Tuesday evening showing a scissor lift in which the platform had detached from the scissor stack - having apparently tangles with scaffold - and fallen to the ground along with its occupants. As of yesterday evening we were unable to categorically confirm that the two ‘reports’ were one and the same. Even now we cannot be at all certain. We do know that both occurred in the same area or region, and thus the likelihood is that they are in fact one and the same.
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Photos received on Tuesday of an incident in the greater Lancaster area

We will of course update this item as we receive more information, tragically this looks like it might well be the second fatal scissor lift incident in the UK this month.