Me and one of my guys were in a 60’ boom lift and got hit by a school bus!
No joke.
Let me start by saying this; if it wasn’t for WCR over the past 2 years my guy and I would probably be in a hospital right now. (reason; because of all the threads about boom lift safety after Carl finds the tragedies and reports them)
We won a bid for a nice gutter cleaning job and since it was gonna have to be boomed, and couldn’t use the sidewalks (rated under 5000 pounds) I coned off a lane and a half, and caution taped it. Plus, I had a girl running traffic control, AND a spotter for the lift.
Everyone had radios.
So I am operating the lift around from the busy street side to the side street and because of a dip in the road I get a tilt warning and the controls go next to dead.
Traffic is getting backed up because now I am in the middle of the road and there is only half a lane open, people are getting ****ed and just blasting by disregarding my people (just a couple).
Next comes a school bus- you would think he of all people would be the most cautious given his load, but nope he trys to inch by while I am looking the other way.
Suddenly me and my guys’ radios start squakin’ and I stop and look behind me and there it is, the yellow submarine and he cuts his corner to close about half way out of his turn and clips our basket! I was hitting the horn and yelling at this clown pretty loud, other passerby were yelling at him and honking at him too.
If I did not have a spotter and traffic control, it would have been a very bad thing. Many people could have gotton hurt. The bus was empty, but what if it wasn’t?!
The messed up part is, the driver pulled over, got out, and told me that I should be more careful!!!
Really? “You know what creep, you should have waited like we asked, or take another road stupid.” After he responded thats when I found out there were no kids inside.
Those of you who are just starting out getting into using a boom lift, PLEASE read this little story as a lesson. Always, always ALWAYS have someone to direct traffic EVEN IF THEY IGNORE YOU, and they will. Make sure you always have a spotter for your lift on the ground whenever it is being operated. Don’t think that you will be saving money by not doing this.
Don’t make headlines in your town. Be safe.