March 31, 2006

Ulsan, South Korea - The Counter Jib of an old tower crane collapsed killing one 34 year old man as he fell 30 meters to his death.

The article notes that this occurred at Hyundai Heavy Industries on a site with a Goliath Crane. In seeking the city it appears that Ulsan is on the coast and has these large cranes as well as many luffing portal cranes and tower cranes.

These cranes that are erected for years at one site need to have the pendants and pins inspected as well as the rest of the crane. Pendants are terrifically strong, but can suffer from age and salty sea air just like anything else. In erecting and dismantling cranes in Hawaii, the sea air wreaked havoc on the cranes. There was a newer Liebherr 316 that had a tower top to cab pin virtually welded in place. Using 20 lb sledge hammers in good swinging positions, we couldn't move the pin. Eventually we used a beam rigged to the crane and a porta-power hydraulic ram. We bent the beam. We had enough capacity so we removed the tower top with the cab. Eventually back at the yard the pin had to be lanced which relieved enough tension to allow the pin to be driven out.

These ship yards with the old cranes should have someone in a Suspended Platform from a second crane giving a close review to the condition of the pendants and pins periodically over the years. This of course is in addition the minimally needed annual inspection.

If you've read my blog for a while, you know how I feel about older cranes. Here is an example of a older crane that suffered a Counter Jib failure. Age is certain to be a factor.

타워 크레인 붕괴