Crane accidents Archives | Page 3 of 8

Failing to manage traffic

Spotted in Weymouth, UK, a four axle All Terrain crane carrying out a lift with apparently little consideration for traffic management.

The crane, owned by South Coast Crane Hire, was reportedly lifting a caravan at the Chesilvista Hoilday Park and, for whatever reason, was forced to set up in the middle of the site entrance.

According to our correspondent no attempt was made to warn passing drivers – or pedestrians for that matter – seeing as it has been set up over the pavement/sidewalk as well. Although the crane was short rigged, this has not been enough to prevent the outriggers and counterweight from protruding the opposite traffic lane. Cars driving towards the crane are forced onto the wrong side of the road, close to a roundabout with restricted visibility.

In the words of our correspondent: “One for your death wish section I guess? No traffic management and I had to drive over the outrigger pad to get past. There wasn’t anyone or any signs on the road warning about the crane either. This is a good example on how not to do a job!”

On a positive note, the crane looks well maintained and the operator has used some decent mats under the outriggers, however we do agree with our contributor that it qualifies for our Death Wish series.

Crane slips into ditch

A three axle All Terrain crane overturned earlier this month on a remote road in Scotland.

The crane, a 55 tonne Liebherr All Terrain crane owned by Ainscough Crane Hire, was travelling down the narrow track when it appears to have got to close to the edge of road, slipped into the verge/ditch and rolled into the brush.

Fortunately no one was injured in the incident.

Crawler crane loses its boom

The boom of crawler crane working on a new theatre in Blenheim on New Zealand’s South Island, collapsed over the back of the machine this morning. Thankfully no one was hurt in the incident.

It looks as though either the boom luffing hoist did not stop while luffing in, or the operator managed to badly ‘two block’ the 100 tonne Hitachi crane. It was not lifting anything at the time the boom went over the back.
WorkSafe has been informed of the incident

That is all the information that we have at this time, but will update this report if and when we receive more information and or photographs.

Marriage proposal goes wrong

A man proposing to his girlfriend from a man-basket in the town of IJsselstein, just south of Utrecht in the Netherlands, was lucky to escape with his life earlier today when the crane and man basket overturned as he approached her bedroom window.

The man had rented a Manitex boom truck and platform from Lopik,Utrecht based Slootjes Kraanbedrijf in order to make his marriage proposal a really special event.

However the crane was not able to fully extend its rear outrigger beam due to a parked car, but carried on the lift regardless, raising the man over the house to reach the window. The crane clearly strayed out beyond its safe working radius for the short rigged configuration and started to tip.

The man in the basket was able to jump clear and was unhurt, but the crane’s boom crashed onto the roof of the house.

Slootjes brought in two mobile cranes to recover the stricken boom truck but then as they lifted the crane boom well clear of the roof, the sling lifting it, slipped and it dropped back down onto the roof, causing further damage. The house has now been declared uninhabitable and the two adjoining homes have also been evacuated.

Thankfully no one was injured in the incident and the man made a more standard marriage proposal, which was accepted. He then whisked his fiancée off to Paris for the weekend.

Meanwhile a second recovery is underway. Crane company owner Stefan Slootjes said that the customer would not be charged and that the company’s insurance will take care of all the damage.

Mammoet use Liebherr LR 13000’s PowerBoom

Mammoet has used the 3000t Liebherr LR 13000 crawler crane on the installation of legs of the 940t 87m long Aeolus jack-up vessel. The parallel boom of the LR 13000, referred to as PowerBoom was used for this for the first time on the job in Bremerhaven, Germany.

The vessel had been towed to Bremerhaven in order for the four jack-up legs to be installed. The job was the first time the LR 13000 had been equipped with the PowerBoom. This means the double lattice mast booms extend over a length of 48m in parallel to one another. The function is designed to give the crane greater stability and increase the load capacity by about 50% compared to the standard boom, out to a reach of about 35m.

The work on the jack-up vessel started with what the manufacturer described as the most technically challenging lift. The first leg had to be installed through the structure of the heavy-load crane on the “Aeolus”. Together with a floating crane, Matador 3, the LR 13000 lifted the steel tube off its transport barge, aligned it vertically and transferred it all the way across. With its 65t hook block and fastening equipment the crawler crane was lifting a gross load of more than 1000t at a reach of 23m.

Using large pulley blocks, the pipe was turned into the correct position whilst being lowered. Mammoet had a hydraulic fastening system developed especially for this order. Once the stilts had been installed, the “spud cans” were fitted; these huge feet were intended to allow the working vessel to stand securely on the seabed later on. These elements weigh 180t and were lowered onto the base of the dock basin before the ship was positioned over them. Industrial divers then secured the feet to the bottom ends of the pipes using fastening equipment pulled upwards by the crawler crane through the jack-up legs.

Tower cranes collide in London

Two tower cranes collided over Canary Wharf in London, UK today seriously injuring a 35 year old man.

A flat top Yong Mao saddle jib tower crane was set up over the top of a Jost hydraulic luffing jib crane, and we are told that the jib of the higher crane was low enough to strike the luffer which had its jib in the out of service position.

Subsequent reports have confirmed that the injured man, was the operator of the Jost crane, which is owned by LTC (London Tower Crane service). We understand that the man suffered lacerations to his head but is stable.

The principle contractor on site is Balfour Beatty which has confirmed that an incident occurred and that a man was injured. The HSE is investigating.

Balfour Beatty is exceptionally safety concious, so it seems implausible that the luffing jib would have been set up so that it could reach into the path of another crane’s jib. However our sources on this are highly reliable. The point is that setting up a saddle jib crane over the top of a luffer is never a good idea.