Aerial Lift Safety Question

[Tim Gardner]

The April TCI has an article with regard to aerial lift safety. This made me think of an incident that occurred a few weeks ago. I was operating a lift manufactured by Asplundh. I flipped the boom all the way over so I could get better reach. When I had the upper boom in line with the lower, I heard a “pop”. Then I heard it again but was not as loud. I lowered it to the ground and did a visual inspection. I did not find anything wrong that I could see. The “boss” said what he heard was the hoses slapping in the boom. I went back up and finished the tree. The next day another climber was using the same lift and the cables started snapping after he flipped the boom over. One of the two cables held long enough and he was low enough to the ground that he was able to jump out and rack the booms at the turret.

My question is has anyone ever experienced the cable breaking on this type of lift?

The picture I have attached is the lift that failed.

 

[Dadatwins]

My dad had one of this type boom asplundh LR 50 was the model I remember. Made in 1968 and recabled and pistons redone in the early 80's He was second owner. Asplundh used this design for years. Newer models are very similiar. I remember only one main cable on this model to control upper boom and never had trouble with it beside it needing to be adjusted / tightened. Cable was about 1" thick and went from piston on top of lower boom around wheel at knuckle and to piston on bottom of lower boom. I used several of these type with other companies and they sometimes gave a little bounce when flipping over center when tension was shifted on cable. These have a leveling chain/cable with fiberglass rods in the boom that sometimes slapped when the boom bounced. I never heard of loose hydro hoses in a boom since they were usually fastened to the boom on the inside. Curious which cable broke? Main or leveling? Was any recent work done to cables or pistons? Cables being overtightened would be cause of cable failure but a one inch cable snapping would be pretty loud and noticable. I had a leveling chain snap on a Holan model once that almost dumped me out. THis was a now discontinued 895 model and apparently chain separated from fiberglass rod. Glad no one was hurt on your job site and hope they figure out the problem.

 

[topnotchtree]

I know there are certain models of the asplundh lifts that require the cables to be replaced every 2 or 3 years. Not sure which models tho. Again, thankfully nobody was hurt in your situation. In almost 12 years of working with Asplundh, I have never heard of a cable breaking. Hoses burst from time to time, but never heard of a cable breaking.

 

[DWittenbreder]

aerial lift saftey

you guys are lucky that no one was hurt! I'm a tree co. mechanic, we use A.lift of Conn. equip. and have our trucks checked out anually. Those cables should be greased regularly with a aeresol type chain and cable lube(really soaks into the cable). Anyhow, find someone in your area who can service that truck on a regular basis, beceause noone's life is worth loosing beceause of someone being cheap.

 

[NeTree]

My guess would be the cables were old and never lubricated (they rusted internally) or someone used the boom as a hoist and put too much weight on it... or a combination of the two.


Cable failure is RARE, bro... and usually caused by a faulty operator or caretaker.

My Skyworker is ALL cables (turn, too!) and I've never had a problem. I oil the cables religiously, and replace them at the proper intervals.

 

[murphy4trees]

Ya..
Just read Tim Walsh's excel file on fatalities...
Lots of "boom failure"... may not be specific abour cables as part of the boom....

 

[begleytree]

Glad no one was hurt, few years back the owner of my main competition here was killed the exact same way. Double cable setup for upper boom comtrol one cable broke and the other can't hold it on its own, so snap. Broke all his ribs when it slammed into the side of the truck, died shortly thereafter.
Get some LPS and try to use too much of it on those cables. Grease just hides the broken strands, makes the outside look great, but the cable is powdered rust inside. LPS soaks into the cable, then coats the outher layer with a wax .
-Ralph