Alright this isn't a ski lift, but I thought it would interest people on this forum. You may have heard or read of the Arthur's Seat chairlift just out of Melbourne, Australia. It was posted here after tower 1 collapsed with people on the line about a year or so ago, leaving 18 people injured with some seriously. The lift is old (30 40 years if I am correct) but I wouldn't have a clue who designed it.
Anyway after being rebuilt and all it was reopened recently (end of last year if I recall), and now last Thursday a chair on the downhill side suffered grip failure. The double chair had two occupants with one, an elderly woman sufferring two broken legs as their chair slid along the rope and collided with the chair in front.
What makes this even more bizarre is that police are investigating whether sabotage was teh cause of the accident. I will keep all posted on the outcomes of this, but surely this raises some questions as to the accessibility for sabotage on chairs.
The following is some of the press coverage of the incident:
Sabotage is being investigated as the possible cause of a malfunction on a Victorian chairlift which left an elderly woman with multiple leg fractures.
The 77-year-old Frankston woman was injured when the chair in which she was riding slid along the cable and slammed into the chair in front of her on Thursday.
The accident is the latest in a string of mishaps to have hit the Arthur's Seat chairlift on Mornington Peninsula.
Early last year several pylons supporting the lift collapsed and 18 people suffered a variety of injuries while 65 were trapped for several hours.
The day after it re-opened in January this year, the lift had to be closed after a fault was discovered with some of the chairs.
WorkSafe executive director John Merritt has confirmed police had been called in to investigate a possible sabotage of the tourist attraction.
"It's the issue of sabotage which has been raised that's caused us to include Victoria Police in the incident, they have been fingerprinting and covering that issue," Mr Merritt said.
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Lift Sabotage Being Investigated
Started by Dawson, Mar 20 2004 05:11 PM
10 replies to this topic
#4
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Posted 20 March 2004 - 07:35 PM
It seems like this accident is a maintenance problem. I think if someone wanted to vandalize a lift, that they would have done a lot more damage and don't you have to have a special tool to loosen up a grip?
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#5
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Posted 20 March 2004 - 07:40 PM
Not usually- a 15" crescent wrench is all you need to do some serious damage to any part of the lift. (You didn't hear that from me :---: ) Seriously, though, most grips are designed to be easy to detension and move, so you don't have to have a special tool. The Yan Type 3 is the only one I know about that has a special tool to move it, but that's used only if you aren't disassembling the entire grip. I've seen drawings of a tool Poma uses for that same purpose, but I've never actually seen one used.
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#10
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Posted 22 March 2004 - 06:24 AM
found this:
Bad design caused chairlift collapse
Poor design and installation caused the collapse of the Arthur's Seat Chairlift on the Mornington Peninsula south-east of Melbourne earlier this year.
A Victorian Government investigation into the accident found water had pooled beneath anchor bolts on a chairlift pylon, causing it to corrode, fatigue, and eventually collapse.
The report into the January collapse, which hospitalised 18 people and left more than 50 stranded on the chairlift for up to five hours, has been handed to Victorian WorkCover Minister Rob Hulls.
It is understood the report does not recommend charges against chairlift operators, leaving the decision to WorkSafe officers.
Arthur's Seat Chairlift owner/operator Richard Hudson does not expect charges to be laid citing regular checks of the pylons, most recently in October last year.
The chairlift was designed by Czech-born engineer Dr Vladimir Hajek who ran the tourist attraction from its opening in December 1960 to 1979.
Richard Hudson now plans to rebuild the chairlift with "stiffer” pylons, explaining “all the surrounding businesses are suffering so much from us not operating there's enormous pressure to get it up and going. It's such an important part of the Victorian picture of tourism it's just got to get up and running."
Bad design caused chairlift collapse
Poor design and installation caused the collapse of the Arthur's Seat Chairlift on the Mornington Peninsula south-east of Melbourne earlier this year.
A Victorian Government investigation into the accident found water had pooled beneath anchor bolts on a chairlift pylon, causing it to corrode, fatigue, and eventually collapse.
The report into the January collapse, which hospitalised 18 people and left more than 50 stranded on the chairlift for up to five hours, has been handed to Victorian WorkCover Minister Rob Hulls.
It is understood the report does not recommend charges against chairlift operators, leaving the decision to WorkSafe officers.
Arthur's Seat Chairlift owner/operator Richard Hudson does not expect charges to be laid citing regular checks of the pylons, most recently in October last year.
The chairlift was designed by Czech-born engineer Dr Vladimir Hajek who ran the tourist attraction from its opening in December 1960 to 1979.
Richard Hudson now plans to rebuild the chairlift with "stiffer” pylons, explaining “all the surrounding businesses are suffering so much from us not operating there's enormous pressure to get it up and going. It's such an important part of the Victorian picture of tourism it's just got to get up and running."
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