Crane accidents Archives | Page 2 of 8

Crane Outrigger catches cars

The outrigger beam on a city type All Terrain crane badly damaged three cars as it extended while travel to a job in Farnham, Surrey, in the UK yesterday.

The crane, a two axle Demag, owned by Terranova Crane Hire, was driving down a residential street in the early hours when the beam extended, damaging three cars, but fortunately causing no injuries.

A statement from Surrey Police stated: “Surrey Police was called to Upper Hale Road, Farnham at 5.22am today following a collision involving a Vauxhall Corsa, Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Golf and a mobile crane. The crane experienced a hydraulics failure, causing the support leg to be extended outwards there were no injuries”.

Alec Glover of Terranova is quoted in the local newspaper as saying: “These cranes have certain safety features, the riggers cannot deploy while travelling, but the rigger deployed itself. It bypassed its safety features and opened while travelling. We are in the process of speaking to the manufacturer about what caused this. The crane driver could not see the leg being deployed, if he had seen it he would have stopped”.

Crane operator died in the Netherlands

A crane operator died in the Netherlands saturday after his crane ploughed into a roundabout embankment in early morning fog.

The five axle 120 tonne crane was towing a three axle counterweight trailer as it drove down the N34 in foggy conditions towards the roundabout under the N33, near Gieten, and carried straight onto the large earth embankment on the centre of the roundabout.

The crane’s carrier engine caught fire but was quickly extinguished, it took some time though to reach the driver, as the cab was embedded in the embankment. By the time they did he was dead. The crane, owned by rental company Kielstra, was removed from the embankment later in the day. No one else was involved in this sad incident.

Crane collision closes road

A coach/bus clipped a city type All Terrain crane this morning as it overtook it, while heading north on the M11 motorway, near the M-25 in the UK, blocking one lane on the section between junction five and six.

The two axle crane – a 20 tonne Kobelco RK200 – owned by Emerson Crane Hire – skidded on the icy road after it was clipped, and overturned onto the verge. The crane operator – miraculously- was completely unhurt, as were the coach driver and his five passengers. This was though one of the few times that a crane has come off worse in a road accident than the other vehicle.

Two hours after the incident however, with the lane closed due to an oil spill, four cars were involved in an incident as they passed the scene. Two women are currently being treated for head and neck injuries.

Crane comes down in Moscow

Exceptionally strong winds are blamed for the collapse of a tower crane in central Moscow yesterday.

The crane looks like a fairly dated bottom slewing luffing tower crane, its triangular section tower and jib blew over the back of the machine base, with part of it apparently striking the rear end of a passing car. However no one was injured in the incident, which occurred in Testovskaya Ulitsa in the business district. More modern top slewers nearby were unaffected by the winds.

Crawler overturns in Germany

A crawler crane overturned on a wind farm in Janneby, near Flensburg, Germany, last Friday during severe gale force winds.

The crane, a large Liebherr owned by Sarens, was fully rigged with around 100 metres of boom and back mast. All of which went over the back over the crane in the high winds.

No one was injured in the incident and fortunately the boom missed three turbine tower sections which were awaiting installation.

Crane overturns on New Jersey road job

Crane operator Christopher Graham, 39, was seriously injured when his crane flipped over backwards down an embankment in Brick, South East New Jersey on Saturday.

The crane, a five axle All Terrain, was working on a new overpass on the side of the Garden State Parkway when it went over backwards and down the wooded embankment throwing the operator clear. He was airlifted to hospital and was said to be in a stable condition, with leg and head injuries.

The crane appears to have lost the right rear outrigger beam which in combination with a sinking front outrigger might have been the cause. An investigation is ongoing.