Federal safety regulators in Philadelphia are eyeing a fiber-reinforced sidewalk vault cover as the smoking gun that caused an aerial work platform (AWP) to tip over, killing the operator and injuring three bystanders. The accident also is raising eyebrows over the proper use of AWPs and whether or not they are regulated vigorously enough.
On Oct. 12 in downtown Philadelphia, 41-year-old James Wilson was using the 125-ft-tall AWP to inspect the facade of the city’s First Presbyterian Church. Investigators believe Wilson, who was running the unit on an urban sidewalk, drove over the vault lid with the boom extended. The lid collapsed under the weight of the 20-ton machine, throwing the machine off balance and causing it to tip over. “He was very experienced,” says Brent Schopfel, owner of Masonry Preservation Group Inc., Merchantville, N.J., which employed Wilson for more than 20 years. “Forget the employee part—he was a friend. Our company is grieving.”