19.06.2007

Check your slew rings

A number of large companies in Australia have warned their staff to carry out a full inspection of all boom lifts prior to use as a precautionary measure while the Worksafe and coroners investigation continues.

The accident was one of two that occurred in Australia on June 13th, one being an electrocution as a man put his chainsaw through an electrical cable, the other being the accident above.
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The JLG 800AJ

In this case the 25 year old subcontractor from Perth, was around six metres up placing bolts into a silo at Cockburn Cement on the Wedgefield industrial precinct in Port Headland.

The superstructure of the 80ft JLG800AJ articulated boom lift he was using simply detached itself from the chassis plunging the operator to the ground.

A number of large companies have warned staff to take all boom lifts are to be taken out of service until a competent person has checked that the lift has a current annual thorough inspection certificate and an up to date log book with no outstanding defects.

Some have also called for a full audit of any boom lifts at work within their facilities or on their job sites.
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The lift was working at a low level

Vertikal Comment

This type of accident is highly unusual given that slew ring bolts are relatively easy to check visually and the effects of loosening bolts often becomes self evident prior to outright failure.

However in order to detect this an operator needs to carry out more than a cursory glance around the machine. Any reputable rental company will check for any signs of slew ring bolt problems at the inspection between each rental.

In this case the man left behind a wife and two young children.

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