08.10.2021

Fatal incident in Netherlands

A man has died in an incident with a spider lift in Spanbroek - between Hoorn and Alkmaar in the northern Holland.

The incident occurred on Wednesday as the man was walking alongside the 17 metre machine - an Oil&Steel Octopus 17 - when it toppled over onto him, trapping him underneath. This model has an overall track width of 780mm and weighs almost two tonnes. It does not have the ability to extend the tracks, and does not offer radio remote controls, as such needs to be moved with extra care, particularly when off slab.

In this case we understand the machine was being delivered for work on the historic KaagMolen windmill, a 350 year old ‘polder mill’. It was unloaded onto the single track road to the rear of the mill and we assume was to be tracked across the field to the mill?

The emergency services tried in vain to resuscitate the man but were unsuccessful. The Social Affairs and Employment Inspectorate is investigating incident but was not prepared to say anything at this stage.

Vertikal Comment

This was an application where extendable tracks, such as those on the 18 metre Octopus 18, would have come into their own. The road has a pronounced camber with imperfect verges, and moving the narrow machine was always going to carry a risk. The other factor was the lack of radio remote controller with this particular model, unlike the others in the range which offer the feature, that allows operators to maintain a safer distance from the machine.

Tragically a man has lost his life this time.