Thursday, July 15, 2010

May 25th, 2008


Minsk Russia A Tower Crane on Rails tipped over. The operator was not in the crane but running the crane remotely. Because of this, he was not injured by the accident.

The crane is older and it's assumed in the article that the traveler brakes failed. This would cause the crane to strike the end plates/buffers too hard and the collapse would be imminent. I heard of a new crane being ran with only one motor working on the traveler. The common position that "I'll make due." is not a wise decision. Most of the time you'll be just fine with that attitude. But the time that you aren't correct, you may be taking someone else's life in your hands, and you don't have that right. One of my favorite safety signs is "Just because you've been doing it for 20 years, doesn't mean that it won't kill you in 20 seconds." make sure that your equipment is operational. If it isn't, get new gear.

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