March 6th, 2009

Mesero, Italy. A load on a tower crane dislodged while being flown on a job site. The load weighed approximately 300 pounds and appears to be have been on a set of flying forks. The load came off and struck a 33 year old worker in the chest whom was airlifted to the hospital to no avail. He died of his injuries.

The video shows the emotions of the workers involved. It's certainly not surprising but an emotion that we should think of when we are rigging up a load that is iffy. If you have a load on a set of flying forks using a ratchet strap to secure it to the forks would be a good idea. Another idea is simply engineering out the problem. We get used to the run of the mill solutions to rigging and throw up our hands when we run a new solution is required. It might be that you take the pallet and put it in a bin with a four point pick. Or it might be getting a manufactured solution that addresses the problem like this.

Boscaro makes a pallet bin that goes over the pallet. Then you place the tines through the pallet and all of the items are secured. If you have a pallet of bolt kegs for a structural steel building, the bolt kegs are secured inside the mesh. Even if a keg falls over, no one is in any danger. The bin is hoisted on a four point pick, so you couldn't unbalance the load enough to ever endanger anyone. These are the types of solutions that you should be looking for. In the US we are required to engineer out all potential hazards and I think that's a good way to go. If this solution is one that you need, you can contact www.boscarousa.com

Link to story
gru incidente + milano + 6 Marzo 2009