Graz, Austria Today's story does have a point, but it's more about the shenanigans of drunk students. In Austria this weekend a student walking home from the bar drunk decided that the tower crane was closer than his bed. He climbed the 150 of ladder and caught some sleep in the cab. As you can imagine it's not a healthy idea to climb ladders 150 feet up while drunk. So drunk that you don't even remember it. But all's well that ends well. The crane operator found him sleeping in the cab the next morning. I'm sure that a good laugh was had by all.
No one seems to track tower crane accidents world wide. Annually we see 30 plus major accidents world wide with around 50 deaths. It's a dangerous game and we all need to be vigilant in the construction world.
Monday, June 22, 2009
June 22, 2009
Graz, Austria Today's story does have a point, but it's more about the shenanigans of drunk students. In Austria this weekend a student walking home from the bar drunk decided that the tower crane was closer than his bed. He climbed the 150 of ladder and caught some sleep in the cab. As you can imagine it's not a healthy idea to climb ladders 150 feet up while drunk. So drunk that you don't even remember it. But all's well that ends well. The crane operator found him sleeping in the cab the next morning. I'm sure that a good laugh was had by all.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
June 16th, 2009
Montreal, Quebec A story from last year about an erector death left me a little confused. A gentleman has pointed me to a link that helps clear it up. It's a report by the government as to how the accident happened. They have video animations which I will link to here.
Monday, June 15, 2009
May 21,2008
Saturday, June 13, 2009
May 16th, 2009
انهيار رافعة برجية
Monday, June 8, 2009
June 5th, 2009
Malta is one of the smallest nations on the planet. With a population of 410,000, It’s smaller than most major cities. Just off the coast of Italy there is something this tiny island nation is having no shortage of this year, tower crane accidents.
On February of this year Malta had their first tower crane accident that I knew of. It was a self-erector that collapsed without a specified cause. Two weeks ago (May 20th) they had a second tipping, again from an unspecified cause. This weekend the crane that fell on the 20th was being replaced. During the crane erection either a rigging failure or pendant failure occurred and the piece being hoisted into place was damaged. There are no reports of injuries.
I don’t think that I quite understand the lacksidasical attitude towards safety after the first accident. Wouldn’t you have a master rigger there and expect them to inspect the rigging? If it were a pendant failure, did you really decide against bringing in a crane inspector? Don’t you want an honest 3rd party opinion as virtually all manufacturers suggest?
I can’t imagine that Maltans are going to put up with this. There were articles speaking out against the problem after the 2nd accident, so certainly the rhetoric will only become louder as 3 accidents in 4 months on an island of 410,000 people is ignorance on display.
(Picture is of May 20th Accident)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
June 4th, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
June 2nd, 2009
In Dallas Texas yesterday there was yet another crane accident.Link . I normally don’t have much to say about mobile crane accidents, but this is becoming egregious and obvious as to what the problem is down there. If you look at the last year in Dallas, I can point to six accidents causing injury and making the news. How many didn’t make it on my radar?
The cause of four of the incidents is quite simply lack of inspections. The Dallas accident yesterday was due to a lattice boom rope failure (1 injured). The Huston Oil Refinery 2500 ton crane had allegedly the wrong bolts in the turntable (4 dead). A Tower crane operator wasn’t paying attention and the hoist limits had failed. As a result the crane two-blocked, parted the load line, and the block landed on a concrete truck driver. (1 dead). At Dallas Stadium a boom rope parted while attempting to lift the boom off the ground (3 injured). The other two accidents that come to mind are over turning accidents (3 injured). Save the over turning problems, the other 4 accidents are clearly preventable with inspections.
In May of 2008 I was contacted by the Dallas Fire Department Fire Prevention Officer. We discussed the possibility of me performing inspections on tower cranes and teaching them how to do it to protect the Dallas citizens. The follow up phone call was a disappointment to us both. The City had balked at the idea. The following month three of these accidents happened in one week.
Counting the dollars is a ridiculous way to decide safety measures. Many large entities argue that inspections and operator regulation are not necessary. ABC represents contractors all over the US. C-DAC (Cranes and Derricks Advisory Committee) is a proposal by OSHA to begin crane inspections as a compulsory item. Robert Hirsch, Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs for ABC spoke before OSHA about C-DAC. His intention was not in support of protecting the long-term bottom line and or safety of workers, but rather he had this to say “…and to eliminate, or at the least significantly lessen, burdens that the proposed rule would otherwise needlessly impose.” Inspection to the standards laid out by the manufacturer should not be a decision that is hard to support. The manufacturer has their reason for wanting things done and it should be done, period.
The bottom line is not money. The bottom line is life. If the construction industry in the U.S. cannot safely hoist, or even choose to inspect cranes after six accidents in one state in one year, then OSHA is charged with the responsibility of stepping in and changing the practices of the industry. I may not be impartial since I am a crane inspector, but maybe right-to-work states such as Texas should look to California and Canada to see what the benefits of inspection and a skilled work force are? Maybe if you compared the cost of inspection and repair to the cost of lawsuits it would be a clear no brainer?