Crane accidents Archives | Page 5 of 8

Heavy storm took down two tower cranes in Belgium

A heavy storm in northern Belgium on Saturday took down two tower cranes at the site of a new hospital in Oekene, Roselare.

The foundations/base of the cranes, which appear to be traditional Liebherr top slewers, look to have been the weak point with both going over fully intact. Four other similar cranes on site survived the storm intact.

The storm also severely damaged over 20 homes and a large tract of greenhouses. The foundations of the two cranes appear to have given way in the face of the storm.

Tower crane struck by lightning strike in France

Four men on a building site in France were shocked and burnt yesterday morning after a bolt of lightning hit a tower crane in Saint-Jean-de-Luz just South of Biarritz in the South West of the country.

Two of the four men are seriously injured and were rushed to a hospital in Beyonne while the other two were treated in the local hospital.

The crane operator, 30 metres up in his cab, was uninjured in the incident, although somewhat shocked. He described the event as a massive ball of fire and a huge noise which rocked the crane as it ran down the jib and tower to earth.

There were two tower cranes and around 40 men working on the site of a new clinic at the time the lightning struck. The four injured men were standing closest to the crane.

Tower crane destroys garage in Germany

An operator dismantling a self-erecting tower crane in Germany is said to have made an error that resulted in the crane overturning at a site in Osterhofen Bavaria. Thankfully on one was hurt in the incident which occurred on Friday

The tower of the crane went over the back of the counterweight and landed on a garage completely demolishing it. Two houses either side were reportedly untouched.

The crane was supplied from the rental fleet of Kaiser Baumaschinen, which dismantled and carted it away yesterday. A police statement clearly blamed the overturn on operator error, although it has not been confirmed if any independent accident inspectors had seen the crane before it was removed.

All terrain crane slides off the road

An All Terrain crane slipped off a narrow country road near Saint Vallier (Charente) in South West France wednesday, recovering it is proving to be something of a challenge.

Amazingly the crane did not roll and is balanced precariously on the verge of a raised road that passes over a flood plain. We have not been able to confirm who owns the crane a mid-size Terex, but a crane owned by the French division of TransGruma came to the rescue.

The crane was working on the LGV high speed train line currently being built between Bordeaux and Tours and made a wrong turn as it exited the site and headed down the road that is officially barred to site traffic.

The challenge with recovery is that there is little space to set up the size of crane required and if that was not bad enough, over power lines are present. So a greater degree of planning and preparation are required, However a number of residences are apparently cut off by the blocked road.

The consortium building the line Cosea is working with the local community to alleviate problems, and blames the error on a subcontractor.

Crane hits car in Maine

A woman was badly injured when she drove out in front of a crane yesterday in Chelsea, Maine.

Police say that Sally Gousse, 76, pulled out of her driveway and into the path of the truck crane, owned by W. H. Green and Sons of nearby Vassalboro. The crane’s driver Eugene Green swerved to try and avoid her but ended up striking the driver’s side of the car.

The car was totalled while the crane was barely damaged.

All terrain crane falls off truck

An All Terrain crane slipped off a low loader in Bootle, near Liverpool, UK, Yesterday. No one was hurt in the incident.

The crane, a Grove GMK, owned by Roadcraft Crane and Plant Hire was in the street outside of the crane company’s premises, where it looks as though it was in the process of being loaded or unloaded. The crane came to rest against the side of a building, stopping it from tipping all the way over.