Genie lift falls on man

[marmer]

As someone who uses a Genie a lot, I second the recommendation about not using the Genie alone, or at least without people nearby. Mine is a battery unit, and if you don't have enough juice to make the lowering switch connect you don't have nearly enough juice to go up in the first place. And I agree, too, if there is an expectation that you will do significant work after hours, you need to work out some kind of plan with your administration so that someone else, even a student, is around. You don't want them finding you dead or unconscious first thing in the morning and there are lots of other threads about how seemingly innocuous work has led to serious injuries.

 

[EBB]

A few years back we were sending the lift upright through a rollup door. And as we were sending it in the door lost power or something. I don't know the story but began to fall at the worst time. and the guy under it had his pelvis hurt pretty bad but he walked away enough to be taken to the ER.

 

[Call911]

I've been lucky. Worst I ever did was get it stuck in the mulch, and that sucked pretty bad. We had to get a forklift over to get it out, then the forklift got stuck. I had a few reports to write when I finally got back to my office.

 

[mstaylor]

If someone is certified to run a lift then they should know that you never work alone. You need someone to assist you in getting down if needed or call for help. The second part of having a ground guy is he needs to know how the override switch works.

 

[wiscolighting]

Heard one similar to this from someone I know who works on Broadway... except the lift was raised; went something like this ME was in the basket SM needed to get some paperwork from him didn't want to wait for him to come down so he started climbing the lift and tipped it over.

 

[StNic54]

Friend of mine knew a guy that fell out of a lift once - he was a long-term employee at a resort, and just before a party was to start, someone asked him to procure a balloon from a previous party in the ceiling - he ended up leaning out in an attempt to pop the balloon and he went out - this guy was trained, was no spring chicken, but simply was a yes-man, and suffered a career-ending injury. When I read about high school students mishandling genie lifts, it's truly frightening. I guess we're all invincible at some point, but still, accidents will happen. You hear old guys harp on safety - there's plenty of reasons why.

 

[LavaASU]

Thats scary! I should think/hope that something as safety critical as a man-lift would be designed so leaning couldn't tip it! Did they have the outriggers in?

 

[StNic54]

Not sure - so often guys will scoot lifts around with or without outriggers properly attached, and the tip factor is always there when you misuse the gear. As for the original post here, I still can't fathom how the lift wasn't picked up off the employee enough for him to scoot his leg out - I guess maybe being jammed in the doorway. These kinds of issue need to be addressed in all work environments - especially in education.