16.05.2008

Man pinned by lift

A man using a self propelled boom lift in Yarraville Australia, suffered abdominal injuries after he was pinned against a beam while operating a boom lift at a shopping centre construction site yesterday.

The man, a 41 year old welder, was working at a height of around three metres, welding overhead beams, when the accident occurred and was rescued by a fast thinking colleague.

WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt is reported to have said that the machine had a faulty safety switch, preventing the operator from stopping the lift. However other reports and the facts suggest that the machine had in fact been stopped, just a little later than would have been ideal.

His work mates tried to use the lower controls to free the man but apparently failed. So one of them used another lift reach the platform and using a length of timber was able to prize the platform away from the boom, relieving the pressure on the man's body and allowing him escape.
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The scene following the rescue

Vertikal Comment

This is an interesting incident from which lessons might be learnt, sadly at this time the information we have been sent so far is a little vague. It looks as though the man was using a mast boom, and used the emergency stop function after he became pinned against the beam.

Those on the ground, while aware of the ground controls were unable to use them, to rescue the man, and either were unaware of the emergency descent function or could not get it to work in this incident.

Hopefully WorkSafe will release more details after it has conducted its investigation.