Friday, July 16, 2010

July 3rd, 2007

Veliky Novgorod Russia, A Large Self-Erecting Tower Crane collapsed killing one person, presumably the operator. The failure happened near the base of the crane. The article does not note any cause such as overloading or a cracked structure. 


We seem to have a theme here in Russia of cranes dropping like flies. You would think that they would seek out the most common causes and address it. Are the cranes being used properly? If not, how do you change that? Certify operators? Scare the industry into change? Require newer cranes? Require NDT testing? Government inspectors? You can't just have these cranes dropping every few months and not do anything about it. It's simply irresponsible and shows great deference to life. The article notes that a crane fell in the same town only 6 months prior. Something isn't working. 

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