Friday, August 15, 2008

December 27th 2001


Tianshui China a tower crane collapsed near a school killing five including four children. 19 others were hospitalized with 90 suffering minor injuries. The crane crashed onto a school and managed to crash through three floors. The story is that it was unloading soil. Soil weights vary by compaction, water content, aggregate composition... were the limits properly set? I know I've had discussions about limits with reportedly "reputable" companies here in Seattle where they were more or less asking me to bypass them. Would a person in China say no and not be replaced? In my case the pick was around 9000 lbs and we needed less than another 200 lbs to make the pick. The crane is structurally capable of making the pick, but you cannot make the adjustment. It's criminally neglegent to do so and this story might be a good example of why.
Story link

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