|
Crane Related Accidents
March 2001
About | Dead Links |
About | Cache Copy | Cache Copy N/A |
Reports | By Company Name |
March Reports Received: 13
March Deaths: 3
Accident Reports Received for 2001: 31
Deaths to date for 2001: 9
Late reports are included in the above numbers.
The above numbers are global.
| According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an average of 71 people are killed in crane related accidents in the United States each year. |
Statistics for prior years
ATTENTION! The numbers above indicate there is a great need for more training and safety awareness. Anyone having anything to do with cranes should take heed. The majority of the accidents were caused by human error. Translation: smart people doing dumb things.
Enhanced Reports — March 2001
03/31/01: Singapore — Crane topples over at Airport Road
| Dead Link | | Cache Copy below |
A crane toppled over at a Civil Defence worksite in Airport Road on Friday morning.
It is believed that there were no injuries in the incident.
When Channel NewsAsia visited the scene, construction work seemed to be proceeding normally at other parts of the site.
According to the Manpower Ministry, officers from its occupational safety department are investigating the incident. |
03/30/01: Moorgate, London — Crane operator falls to his death
| Dead Link | | Cache Copy below |
A crane driver was killed yesterday morning (Thursday) after he fell off a ladder on a building site in Moorgate, London.
The victim, Doug Whiting, 50, was working for Costain on a JV project with Skanska for a £30m commercial development for MEPC, when he fell onto the first floor landing of the tower crane.
Ambulances were called to the scene at around 8am, but 20 minutes later Whiting was pronounced dead as a result of his injuries.
An internal investigation by Costain and Skanska is to take place, while the Health & Safety Executive is currently inspecting the area and the crane.
The cause of the accident is still not known. A Costain spokesman said: “Obviously this is a very serious matter with what seems to be an inconclusive reason. We are doing all we can to get to the core of what happened.”
|
03/28/01: Quincy, Massachusetts — Bridge worker dodges falling crane boom at Fore River work site
| Dead Link | | Cache Copy below |
The steel boom of a crane used in the construction of a temporary bridge across the Fore River collapsed yesterday, narrowly missing a worker.
The man, who would not give his name, said he looked up when one of the crane's cables glanced off his hard hat.
“It hit my hard hat and knocked it off. I looked up and saw the block (pulley) coming down with the boom following,” he said.
“I started running,” said the 47-year-old pile driver worker from South Boston.
The man said he thought he was about 20 feet away when the boom fell onto the construction barge on which he had been working.
“I'm a little shaken,” he said.
Robert Lombardi of the Middlesex Companies, general contractor for the project, would not comment on the incident.
Firefighters who went to the scene said Middlesex officials told them they thought something inside the crane's engine compartment had malfunctioned.
People reported hearing a loud bang or explosion just before the boom fell, Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Walsh said.
He said an engine compartment door was blown off the crane. It was on the ground about 20 feet away, and there was a hole punched through the cranes steel outer panel.
Walsh and his driver, firefighter David DiTullio, were at the Fore River traffic circle at about 10 a.m. when the crane's boom fell.
Walsh called firefighters and the ambulance.
“It was extremely lucky that nobody was injured,” he said.
The $78 million temporary bridge is being built next to the existing Fore River Bridge, which is 61 years old. It will be used while the old bridge is being rebuilt.
About 40,000 cars and trucks a day cross the Fore River Bridge. |
 03/28/01: Hermantown, Minnesota — Man injured in fall from crane
| Dead Link | | Cache Copy below |
A Canosia Township man was listed in serious condition Tuesday night after a 25-foot fall at a construction site in Hermantown.
Adam Sadler, 49, reportedly fell from a hydraulic basket, or cherry picker, after a main hydraulic seal on the truck broke, Hermantown Fire Chief Ron Minter said.
The accident occurred about 10 a.m. at the Republic State Bank construction site at Arrowhead Road and U.S. Highway 53.
Sadler is in the intensive care unit at St. Luke's Hospital. |
03/23/01: Los Angeles, California — Crane toppled onto apartment building
| Dead Link | | Cache Copy N/A |
A crane used during a film shoot toppled over and damaged two apartment buildings Thursday in the Baldwin Hills section of Los Angeles, authorities said. No one was injured. |
03/15/01: St Croix, U.S.V.I. — Maxim Crane Works accident at the Hovensa (formerly Hess Oil) refinery on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.
The load was only a scaffold welding structure but with 80' of boom and no outriggers it went quickly. The owner operator was Maxim Crane Works/Anthony Crane. This is their third accident on the island in about 3 months.
See photos (3)
Maxim Crane Works Profile |
03/14/01: Tacoma, Washington — Sunnen Crane Services tipped over a 160 ton Demag in Tacoma.
Rumor is they had 130 foot of stick out, but did not have all the counterweight on. When they made their lift, the crane went over. Some equipment was damaged and one person injured when they jumped off a 15 foot ladder to get away.
March 28, 2001 update: It is reported the accident was due to the operator punching in the computer code for having all the counterweight instead of no counterweight, then they boomed down with a load on.
photo |
03/12/01: Shawnee, Kansas — Crane accident kills worker from Texas
| Dead Link | | Cache Copy N/A |
A crane operator was killed Saturday, March 10 in an accident at a suburban Kansas City landfill, a suburb of Kansas City. The Johnson County sheriff's office said Jack Pool, 59, a contractor of Corpus Christi died in the accident at a Deffenbaugh Disposal Service landfill in Shawnee. Mr. Pool was maneuvering the crane down a slope Saturday morning when it went out of control and ran down an embankment and slammed into a shack.
 03/29/01 update: Officials in Kansas are awaiting a medical report to determine the cause of the accident.
Officials suspect that Mr. Pool had a heart attack, causing him to lose control of the crane. He suffered internal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
|
03/06/01: Downey, California — Worker killed in "Spider-Man" set accident
| Dead Link | | Cache Copy |
A welder building sets for the movie "Spider-Man" was killed Tuesday when a crane toppled onto a construction basket in which he was riding, authorities said.
Story by LA Times w/photos | Dead Link | | Cache Copy N/A |
The two (2) men were reportedly positioned and elevated
in a Genie Boom Lift platform. They were to weld a metal framework to the roof of a building facade. This framework was being lifted approximately 35 feet in the air by the Ingersoll-Rand VR-90 Forklift. While attempting to position the
metal framework, the VR-90 was traveling with the load, made a turn and traveled over a curb, which caused the load to sway
and resulted in the forklift tipping over. As the VR-90 was tipping over, it came into contact with the Genie Boom lift causing it to tipover. The boom of the VR-90 forklift reportedly struck one (45-year-old worker employed by Sony Productions) of the two men occupying the Genie Boom Lift in the head which
resulted in this individual sustaining fatal injuries.
CALOSHA and the City of Downey Fire Department have investigated the incident.
09/20/01 update: Widow sues Columbia for Spider-Man death
| Cache Copy |
08/23/01 update: State regulators have proposed fines of nearly $59,000 against Sony Pictures | Dead Link | | Cache Copy N/A | |
03/05/01: Pompano Beach, Florida — Crane damages nearby condo in Pompano after
being toppled by wind gusts | Dead Link | | Cache Copy |
We received a report saying that winds were 35 sustained w/ higher gusts. An electric tower down on Miami beach was getting 55 mph gusts. The wrecked crane's Tower twisted off at the heel. It was a LS248 Link-Belt Crawler (200 ton). No injuries but it took out at least 4 balconies on an existing building next store.
|
03/05/01: Seattle, Washington — On February 27, 2001, Sicklesteel Cranes was moving a 500 ton Demag with a
luffing jib attached, in preparation of booming it
down for disassembly. Somehow the crane became
unbalanced and tipped over. The boom crushed the two
conveyors that feed coal to the top of Trans Alta's
Centralia, Washington coal fired steam power plant,
shutting down both generators. The good news is
there were no injuries!
Sicklesteel Cranes is located north of Seattle, they
had just finished two picks for P.S.F. Industries.
P.S.F. is a subcontractor for Stone & Webster a
division of The Shaw Group doing a major emissions
upgrade at the steam plant.
See photos (6)
The official cause of the accident was due to having too much boom extended at too high an angle and 5 inches of transverse slope in 10 feet on the ground. Also the operators didn't reset the air bags to relevel the crane when the ground slope changed
from the spot where the crane was set for the pick.
Another incident: See March 27, 2006 |
|
03/18/01: