# Genie lift falls on man



## FMEng (May 22, 2012)

A high school employee had a Genie lift fall on him while it was being pushed through a doorway. It took rescuers an hour to free him. It ended badly for the man and the Genie, as the lift was cut into pieces.

Man trapped under equipment at Lake Washington High School | www.kirotv.com

Be careful with heavy equipment.


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## ruinexplorer (May 22, 2012)

Unfortunately, this happens all too often. These lifts are made to lay back to get through lower doorways, but will make it through some without using that feature. Problem is, people don't always check first. If you are going too fast, it is easy to dump them over (seen it happen). A theater I worked for, we had to make a rule that a TD must be present whenever the lift was to go through a door, just for this very reason. Sad state, but people just aren't aware of their surroundings.


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## patrickh (May 23, 2012)

We rented a ballroom at a very large complex on a University campus last weekend to host a second chance prom...I was in charge of technical needs. They sent a team of decorators in to decorate and while they were decorating a large group of balloons got away and floated about 35 feet up to the ballroom ceiling. They all of course, looked at me and told me to go see what the house staff could do. i took an escalator down a couple floors to the customer service desk on the third floor...The student who was working and was obviously the one left in charge, told me that he could grab a genie lift and go get them. We went back up the the ballroom and sure enough, there was a genie lift in a storage closet. I stood quietly by and watched this student race this genie lift down the corridor and into the ballroom without flenching at the standard double doors to enter the area. He jerked it around and finally got the balloons and raced away. The point of this being, he was obviously untrained and not qualified to operate the equipment. He had no idea of the safety concerns related to running a piece of machinery. I really wish venues and companies would be more careful of who they allow to just zip around on equipment that has the potential to be so dangerous.


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## LavaASU (May 23, 2012)

Apparently a high school is a very bad place to get hurt! Unless there was some reason to believe it was stopping major bleeding/something that removing it would exasperate we would've had it off him well before fire showed up. 4-6 of our crew semi-regularly lift 800# and 5 (4 of ours + one guy from the other company) people grabbed over 1200# when a lift gate broke on said other companies truck (nothing like seeing a guy about to get crushed under gear to get super-human strength!). I would venture thats also the case with most pro crews.


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## len (May 23, 2012)

Based on the article, they were afraid it would fall again before they could move the injured. Maybe the lift was damaged to the point where it wouldn't stand on its own. That seems unlikely, but you never know. Or they were afraid of increased liability in taking further action. We could speculate all day.


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## marmer (May 23, 2012)

If you get distracted it's easy to try to tip it over for the door without setting the tip-over frame and wheels into place first. It'll go down hard if you do that. I've seen it happen twice (once was to me, never again!)


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## misterm (May 24, 2012)

our director in college was working in a genie lift one night after a build and it came unplugged at the bottom. unfortunately, his cell phone was in the house. so this 6'2" guy who weighs around 300lbs was stuck up in the lift for around 4 hours. why he was working in one by himself is beyond me, but after that, some new safety rules appeared in the work room......


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## josh88 (May 24, 2012)

misterm said:


> our director in college was working in a genie lift one night after a build and it came unplugged at the bottom. unfortunately, his cell phone was in the house. so this 6'2" guy who weighs around 300lbs was stuck up in the lift for around 4 hours. why he was working in one by himself is beyond me, but after that, some new safety rules appeared in the work room......



Even unplugged, they should always be lower-able in case of a power failure. At least the genie we have does.

"All AC and DC models are equipped with an auxiliary platform lowering feature that enables descent from the Platform or Ground Controls in the event of a power failure."


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## Les (May 24, 2012)

josh88 said:


> Even unplugged, they should always be lower-able in case of a power failure. At least the genie we have does.
> 
> "All AC and DC models are equipped with an auxiliary platform lowering feature that enables descent from the Platform or Ground Controls in the event of a power failure."



That's correct. I wonder about the Genie in question, and if the safety feature was broken. Genies use the electric hydraulic pump to raise, but gravity pulls them down when you're lowering (notice that there is no "motor" sound -- only a hiss).

There must be a battery or something in AC models which allows you to use this feature. I never really thought much about it.


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## ccm1495 (May 24, 2012)

Some of them have a second small battery that allows for lowering when the power fails. It is very possible that the battery in his lift was dead. The one in the lift at our school just needed to be replaced.


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## josh88 (May 24, 2012)

Even with a dead battery they should always lower. Like les said the only power needed is to raise the bucket and then gravity takes over to go down. It's a safety thing so that you physically can't be stuck in the up position. At least I think, I've honestly never operated one unplugged and with a dead battery


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk


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## chausman (May 24, 2012)

I know our two lifts (the schools, not the theaters ()) have a small release valve, so nothing is needed to lower the lift, except gravity. And that is usually pretty reliable.


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## jstandfast (May 24, 2012)

The poster said the person was working alone. On Genie products the emergency descend is controlled from the the bottom of the lift- tough luck if you're flying solo.


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## chausman (May 24, 2012)

jstandfast said:


> The poster said the person was working alone. On Genie products the emergency descend is controlled from the the bottom of the lift- tough luck if you're flying solo.



Which is *one* of the *many* reasons [-]one[/-] you should never work alone in a theater.


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## DuckJordan (May 25, 2012)

Actualy it should still lower our dc genie will lower with the key out, battery disconnected. The only stop for lower is the e stop located at both basket and ground panel.


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## Footer (May 25, 2012)

Les said:


> That's correct. I wonder about the Genie in question, and if the safety feature was broken. Genies use the electric hydraulic pump to raise, but gravity pulls them down when you're lowering (notice that there is no "motor" sound -- only a hiss).
> 
> There must be a battery or something in AC models which allows you to use this feature. I never really thought much about it.



The old silver models did not have this. The only way to get them down after they are unplugged is the lowering valve located under the mast. 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## misterm (May 25, 2012)

yeah after that happened, we never worked alone with the genie. although, my fellow ATD did enjoy unplugging the lift while i was airborn and disappearing into the side room for a few minutes.


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## Sony (May 25, 2012)

Newer DC Genie models have 2 batteries, AC units have 1. There is a secondary battery in the control panel that handles lowering when main power is disconnected. If this battery is dead then emergency lowering functions by the mast controller cease to function. Think about it, the mast controls are electrical and the main release valve is also electrically actuated. Without electricity the switch cannot work and the valve cannot open therefore disabling lowering functions. If the auxiliary battery is dead then if the lift comes unplugged the lowering function wont work from the mast. This is why the Emergency Lowering Valve is a manually actuated valve that you have to physically push and NOT an electrically actuated one. 

That is why on new Genie Lifts even AC Units have a Low Battery light, the light is for the Auxiliary battery inside the control panel.


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## peacefulone61 (Jun 6, 2012)

Articles like this scare me a little, I work at a school with a genie and the expectation is that I use the lift after hours when students are not around to maintain the space. The problem with that is that no one is left around and the amount of things that can go wrong or will go wrong can make me uneasy.


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## len (Jun 6, 2012)

peacefulone61 said:


> Articles like this scare me a little, I work at a school with a genie and the expectation is that I use the lift after hours when students are not around to maintain the space. The problem with that is that no one is left around and the amount of things that can go wrong or will go wrong can make me uneasy.



No one should ever work overhead alone. If you fell, were stuck, whatever, and were alone, it could be hours or days before you were discovered. Ask the school district if they're prepared to pay your disability, and deal with the inevitable lawsuit resulting from you being left alone for hours without aid.


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## marmer (Jun 6, 2012)

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.


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## EBB (Jun 11, 2012)

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.


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## Call911 (Jun 12, 2012)

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.


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## mstaylor (Jun 17, 2012)

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.


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## wiscolighting (Aug 16, 2012)

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.


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## StNic54 (Aug 16, 2012)

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.


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## LavaASU (Aug 17, 2012)

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?


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## StNic54 (Aug 17, 2012)

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.


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