Seattle WA, in 1985 a tower crane collapsed during a climbing operation. The idiots involved were pushing off from 324 feet up to insert more tower. They didn't have the bolts connecting the climber to the turntable installed, as specified, and the crane was out of balance as they virtually always are during climbing operations. (The same accident happened in England last year with a Comedil CTT181 www.sitbonzo.com ). The superstructure slid off the climber backwards and fell to the street. It was a Saturday monring so no one on the ground was killed. The operator survived the fall and came out the cabs saying "I'm alive!" The story around town is that, he was never right, mentally, again after the accident. He has since died due to other causes. Unfortunately the iron workers involved didnt' get killed. One or two of them were the same jackasses involved in the 1989 San Francisco climbing collapse. Fortunately they fell with that crane and won't be killing anyone else.
The most egregious part of the story is that Washington State levied a fine of $300 against the crane leaser for not supplying proper training. It's nearly as bad as the fines for the Bellevue accident only being $9200. Labor and Industries needs to sharpen it's pencil for this kind of stupidity and levy fines well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions. $9200 dollars doesn't even cover the cost of a company Christmas Party or the cost to the state to levy that fine. So we have to pay money to punish a contractor with a feather.
3 comments:
I am Scott Dearing the surviving operator of the tower crane accident of 4/20/1985 on the Century Square Blding. Gaytor you better get your fact straight before you start posting them! CUZ I AIN"T DEAD YET BUDDY!
Also, after thinking about it you are a rude, inconsiderate, pompus ass for your whole story. Severe head trauma is not a mental illness, it is an injury. As far as the other "idiots" those are men with familys, some whom I worked with for over a decade and called brother. Only an idiot would write such trash about people unable to defend themselves. I would advise you to "stay out of the bite" and away from real ironworkers and crane operaters especially my brothers in 86 and 302 that you have defamed. Sincerely Scott L. Dearing [The ONLY LIVING man to "fly" a crane 324 feet into the ground and walk away!]
I agree with Gaytor the riggers are uneducated a__holes and that goes for you to Scott. How proud would you have been "Flying a Crane" if you would have killed someone? Right. I survived the crane of Sept. 1989 only to be attacked by two Steel workers whom broke 3 of my ribs for walking through the site? Yes after crawling from my Vehicle I was beaten by the workers. Your all are a bunch of dumb assess. I didn't know of the same workers dropping a crane in Seattle before dropping one here in SF and if I had I would have sued. Joe
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