Friday, November 5, 2010

July 9th, 2010


Chaohu China A QTZ63 tower crane collapsed on a job site killing the operator in the cab. The Report on the accident simply notes the Manufactuer, crane used, and the job known as Country Garden Pheonix Hotel. In addition to that it does note that China is requiring that cranes be inspected and everyone on the crane through out the job must be "trained". Hopefully this will be taken seriously over time and China will improve. 


The crane itself is a modern PLC controlled crane. It's a small crane with a maximum capacity of 13,200 lbs. and a maximum jib of 148 feet if I'm understanding their data. Considering the limited pictures and the depth of the video found, it would appear that no fault occurred in the structure that is visible. However, we can't see the base. The PLC controlled cranes from France and Germany are difficult to fool even if you wanted to. In order to properly run, they must be put through a load test, or at least I don't know a short cut. I can only assume that Chinese manufacturers set up the same parameters for the own protection if not keeping up with the European manufacturers. Combine this with the fact that the accident happened at 7:20 AM and I would wonder if there were a soils problem and rain and or wind in the cranes recent past. That's my wild speculation anyways. 


Video found on the crane. If you speak Chinese, maybe you'll understand more from the story. 








塔式起重機事故







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