Crane & Bucket Truck Accidents page 2

Crane Accidents #2

This page was last updated on   05/06/2010

 

UPDATE, Fatal Decatur , Ala. , Crushing Accident Could Cost Alabama
Company $43,000 in OSHA Fines

DECATUR , Ala. — Failure to protect workers from crushing accidents may cost Huntsville, Ala.-based Southeastern Mobile Crushing, Inc. $43,050, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The fine follows an inspection of a fatal accident at a Decatur , Ala. , asphalt plant. On Jan. 04, a crew employed by the construction material recycling company was setting up equipment at the Decatur plant in preparation for a recycling operation. In connection with the set-up, a trackhoe machine and makeshift sling were used to raise a conveyor which was stuck in the transport position. While employees were under the machine trying to beat it loose, the chain sling broke. One employee was crushed by the falling conveyor. “A major cause of worker deaths is being struck by an object, and approximately 75 percent of these kinds of fatalities involve heavy equipment,” said Roberto Sanchez, OSHA’s Birmingham area director. “With proper training and procedures, this crushing accident could have been avoided.” Following an inspection of the fatality, OSHA cited Southeastern Mobile Crushing, Inc. for 13 serious violations of safety standards. The citations, which drew a total of $43,050 in fines, include using unapproved pins to support the crusher which can lead to crushing accidents; using front-end loaders to lift and transport personnel; lack of proper railing to prevent fall hazards; no head protection; no lockout-tagout program to render machinery inoperable during maintenance and repair; damaged lifting/rigging equipment which had not been properly certified or inspected; electrical hazards due to defective welding equipment; lack of machine guarding, and lack of a hazard communication program. Serious violations are those where there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and the employer knew, or should have known, of the hazard. Southeastern Mobile Crushing, Inc. has 15 working days to contest OSHA’s citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Inspection of the Decatur facility was conducted by OSHA’s area office located at Vestavia Village , 2047 Canyon Rd. , Birmingham , Ala. 35216-1981 ; telephone: (205) 731-1534.

 

Strong Winds Topple Crane At UCF

Strong winds were blamed for knocking over a crane Tuesday at the University of Central Florida campus in Orlando . The crane was being used in the construction of a new education building, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported. Trees in the area broke the crane’s fall, witnesses said. No injuries were reported, and officials said there was only a little damage to the top floor of the new building, which is scheduled to open in 2003.

 

UPDATE, After T-REX accident, cranes to be used less often

Forklifts and backhoes will be used to place concrete barriers for channeling traffic

By Kevin Flynn, News Staff Writer, April 25, 2002

The T-REX contractor no longer will use cranes to set most barricades along the Interstates 25 and 225 construction zone as a result of the April 3 accident that injured three people. Instead, Southeast Corridor Constructors, contractor on the five-year, $1.7 billion addition of lanes and light-rail, will use forklifts and backhoes to lift and place the concrete barriers that channel traffic through the work zone. Cranes will be used only when the layout of the work area prevents the smaller equipment from maneuvering, spokeswoman Karen Morales said. Investigators are preparing a report on how the nighttime accident happened. A crane setting barriers on I-25 just north of the I-225 interchange toppled onto the northbound lanes. Two cars were damaged, and three people injured. The subcontractor in charge of placing the barriers was suspended, but could reapply for the job, Morales said. In the meantime, Southeast Corridor Constructors is doing the barricade work. T-REX planners expect a lot of barriers to shift and change as construction speeds up. Detours, slowdowns and lane shifting will provide a daily driving adventure in what is being called the “Summer of Pain” for I-25 drivers. “The road is going to change every day; sometimes it will be changed during the day,” Morales said. “The road will be different in the morning than it was when you drove home the night before.” T-REX officials laid out their summer construction plans at a briefing Wednesday. High on the list is demolition of the old Woodwinds Apartments west of the University Boulevard interchange to clear the way for the first light rail station. New exit ramps on I-225 will provide a detour for motorists headed for the Belleview Avenue exit of I-25. Currently, I-225 southbound traffic dumps into I-25’s far left lane, creating a dangerous weave over to the right lane for those exiting at Belleview, four-tenths of a mile away. Instead, Belleview-bound drivers on I-225 will be directed to exit at DTC Boulevard , before reaching I-25. From there they can go south to Belleview. Other major milestones in construction this summer are: the expected early completion of the new Franklin Street bridge, opening the new Steele Street bridge, demolition of the Washington Street, Downing Street and Louisiana Avenue bridges, expansion of the Evans Avenue bridge, opening the first permanent stretch of new concrete highway northbound between Quincy and Hampden avenues, widening from Dry Creek Road to Evans and the start of reconstruction of the I-25-225 interchange. Also Wednesday, officials urged drivers to be alert along the 19-mile construction zone. They cited the death of a highway worker on the E-470 project in Adams County by a hit-and-run driver April 17 and two accidents in the T-REX project in the past week. Both times, apparently drunken drivers slammed at near full-speed into trucks equipped with bright, lighted detour arrows, beacons and swirling yellow warning lights. Only minor injuries resulted.

 

Man killed in crane tragedy

April 23, 2002 14:34

A grieving wife today spoke of her torment at losing her childhood sweetheart in a freak workplace accident. Roger Ireland, 52, of Oval Road , Costessey, died after a large steel plate being carried by a crane swung around and hit him on the back of the head at scrap metal merchants Easco, in Lenwade. Mr Ireland ‘s wife Margaret today spoke of the loss of her beloved husband. The couple were childhood sweethearts at Costessey High School but drifted apart and married other people before getting back together and marrying in 1998. “We loved each other for several years and re-found each other,” she said. “We would have celebrated four years of marriage this year. The love we had was never lost. We had found each other again.” Mr Ireland ‘s brother Robert, from Attleborough, today claimed Roger had warned his employers the crane was too close to workers. “He had complained the day before about safety,” he said. “He was concerned about only having a plastic helmet and that the crane was working so close. He had warned them something like this might happen. “I hope by speaking out like this I can save someone else from dying. “He was so safety conscious, he had left his wedding ring in a cigarette box in the car because he knew it was dangerous to work with metal while wearing a ring. The police gave it back to his wife. “He was a marvellous man. He had a heart bypass a few years ago. He needn’t have been at work but he loved his job and it kept him busy.” Mr Ireland was a keen collector of Dinky toys and was well known on the car boot sale circuit in Norwich . Another brother Peter Ireland, of Hockering, said Roger would be greatly missed. “It was a tragic and violent death. I have heard it was his best mate operating the crane. He enjoyed life to the full and was well known in Norwich .” Mr Ireland leaves an 83-year-old mother, five brothers, two sisters, a wife, a son and a stepson. A memorial service will be held at St Edmunds, in Costessey, on May 1, before a cremation at St Faith’s Crematorium. His dying wish was to have his ashes scattered in Colney. Brother Robert added: “He said: ‘if the trees are breathing, then I will be breathing’.” The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) were due to attend the Atlas Works site in Lenwade today to continue their investigation at Easco, which began on Friday when the accident happened. An HSE spokeswoman said: “The man was struck on the head by a steel plate held by a grab on a crane. The plate was 2m by 1.5m and 1.5cm thick. “The HSE will be making inquiries as to the competency of the crane driver as part of its investigation. “The HSE investigation began at Easco on Friday morning and is ongoing.” Norfolk police confirmed they attended the scene at 7.45am on Friday morning and contacted the HSE. An ambulance was called to the site at 7.20am . Matt Ware, a spokesman for the East Anglian Ambulance Trust, said paramedics were called to the yard but Mr Ireland was confirmed dead at the scene. Andre Serruys, managing director of Easco, refused to say if complaints had been made by employees about working near to the crane, prior to the accident. He issued the following statement: “An incident occurred at Easco recycling premises, Lenwade, on Friday April 19 at approx 7.10am, tragically the result of which an employee suffered fatal injuries. “An investigation is under way, and until such time further information is available, it would be inappropriate to speculate. “The crane operator was and is extremely qualified.” Easco appeared in court in February charged with mishandling controlled waste which could harm human health. The company is charged on three counts of treating, storing and disposing of waste materials likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm human health at a site at Bentinck Dock, King’s Lynn . It also faces three charges of the treatment storage and disposal of waste materials not in accordance with a waste management licence. The final charge against the firm is that it disposed of waste on land without a waste management licence authorising the deposit on March 29 last year. The alleged offences, if proven, would breach the Environmental Protection Act of 1990. The case was adjourned for a plea and directions hearing which is due to be heard this month. Easco’s yard at Lenwade is on one of the biggest industrial sites in Norfolk . Serruys Property Company bought it for £6 million in 1993. The company is owned by millionaire Norwich businessman Harry Serruys, a former scrap lorry driver’s mate. An inquest into Mr Ireland ‘s death was due to be opened in Norwich tomorrow.

 

UPDATE, Firm fined $75,000 for crane accident

TWO workers died when a construction-crane boom collapsed at a building site last Sept 14. The falling boom crushed one man and caused the other to fall to his death. The accident happened at the site of a six-storey high-technology manufacturing plant in Tampines Avenue 10. Yesterday, STL Machinery, which operates and rents out construction equipment, was fined $75,000 for using a wire rope that was unable to support the boom. The boom fell because the rope snapped. It was the first time the company had committed such an offence in its 10 years of operation, said its lawyer, Mr P. Jeya Putra. The message for a safe working environment has been driven home, he said, as the number of fatal construction-site accidents had fallen to 27 last year, from 49 the year before. He said the unsuitable wire rope was used on the advice of the wire suppliers and STL Machinery was ‘acting in reliance on the advice’. But Magistrate Eric Tin said that if the company chose to depend solely on its supplier’s advice without making more checks on the rope’s suitability, then ‘they must now reap what they sow’.

 

Firm wrecked by crane load

By Steve Castle

A business in Willenhall was reduced to rubble when a 6-ton portable building dropped off a crane. The freak accident at Newhall Street in the town centre last night happened as the structure was being lifted into place as part of a refurbishment. Power lines, phone cables and a lamp post were also brought down. The building, which had been bought for more than #11,000 the previous day, was left tilting precariously, and other factory units in the area had to be evacuated. A van was crushed under the weight of the concrete structure and a workshop was ruined. “The business is finished, I am bankrupt and five good workers will soon be on the dole,” said David Corbett, aged 37, of Carts and Kiosks. “I was speechless, ab-solutely gobsmacked, when it just slipped its straps and harnesses and dropped 18 feet off the crane onto the business which I have spent nearly 20 years building up from scratch. “But there is no point crying over spilt milk,” said Mr Corbett, who recited the Kipling poem If to firefighters and police investigating the incident. The poem starts with the line: “If you can keep your head when all about you are los-ing theirs and blaming it on you”. Mr Corbett had bought the building for #11,500 and was having it transported to his base in Willenhall where it was to be refurbished before being sold on. He said ABA Cranes were not to blame for the incident but he would be contacting the makers of the straps and harnesses today. No-one was hurt, as the area had been cleared as a precaution. The building remained impaled by the lamp post today and was still in the same position but phone and power lines had been restored.

 

CRANE COLLAPSE A LUCKY ‘BREAK’

By IKIMULISA SOCKWELL-MASON

Miraculously, not a single person was injured when a construction crane dropped tons of steel beams onto Madison Avenue at 42nd Street just before noon yesterday. A man washing windows on the 23rd floor of the building opposite the construction site, the new headquarters for CIBC World Markets, was an ear-witness to the near-disaster. “You could hear it was overloaded,” said the washer, who calls himself Joey Windows. “I could hear this grinding noise, and then you heard this boom and clank of metal.” A worker with the construction crew at the site said the hydraulic system failed when they started hoisting the rust-colored steel beams from the flatbed of a truck. The worker said the beams weighed between 7 and 8 tons. Only the area adjacent to the truck was restricted to traffic, although the beams were scattered all over the street.

 

Lifting operation fatality
A labourer engaged in the removal of equipment from a Devon paper mill was crushed to death when a 300kg drum, which was full of nuts and bolts and suspended by frayed fibre slings, fell and struck him on the chest and head when he slipped. “The slings used were in a sorry state. There were signs of tearing and they were well used,” said prosecutor Thomas Wake at Cullompton Magistrates Court of the incident in July 2000 in which Thomas Henderson,46, died. “The slings were shown to be ripped, torn apart and tied back together. They should have been thrown away, destroyed there and then.”McLean and Gibson of Glenrothes admitted failing to meet legislative requirements in the lifting operation. Sentencing will take place at the Crown Court.

AEP worker electrocuted

By TIM LOGAN, Tribune Staff Writer

ELKHART — A worker for American Electric Power Co. died Thursday when he accidentally touched a power line carrying 12,000 volts. Jeff Dittmar, 27, of Elkhart, was killed immediately, said AEP spokesman Tom Kratt. Dittmar was in a bucket truck about 17 feet off the ground installing a third power line between two poles, Kratt said. Somehow, Dittmar touched one of the two live lines and was electrocuted. The accident occurred about 8:45 a.m. in the 23300 block of County Road 6 northeast of Elkhart. It caused an electrical substation to shut down and cut power to nearly 1,000 homes and businesses in the area for about an hour. Dittmar grew up in northern Michigan but had worked at the utility in Elkhart for seven years, Kratt said. He was an experienced line mechanic. “This is unbelievably tragic,” Kratt said. “It’s going to hit our guys pretty hard.” Both AEP and the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department will conduct investigations, but it appears to have been an accident. Elkhart County Coroner Dr. Jeff Landrum said he would likely conduct an autopsy today. “Death was certainly by electrocution, and it was accidental,” Landrum said. “But we’ll be doing an autopsy to get it on the record, especially since it was an industrial accident.”

It was AEP’s first fatality in the area since 1985, when a worker was killed in South Bend, Kratt said.

 

Two Portland bridges close after accidents

The upper deck of the Fremont Bridge reopened just after 8:30 Monday night after a 360-ton crane blocked traffic for several hours. A mechanical problem caused the crane to swing out over several lanes of traffic and smash a guardrail. The accident occurred shorty after 4 p.m.

 

UPDATE, Crane toppling may net a fine

OSHA looks into what preceded I-25 mishap

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, News Staff Writer, April 5, 2002

Big crane accidents don’t always mean big federal fines, according to the agency investigating Wednesday’s incident on Interstate 25. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Thursday began looking into Absolute Crane Inc. Absolute’s boom truck toppled into the northbound lanes of I-25 Wednesday night, damaging two cars and injuring three people. If OSHA inspectors find safety violations, the company could face maximum federal penalties of up to $7,000 for any deemed “serious” or up to $70,000 if they’re deemed “willful.” Absolute Crane has no past OSHA violations. But OSHA records show that penalties in similar cases have been far lower, even when crane accidents on highway projects caused deaths. In 1986 in Varina, Calif., a crane overturned while working on a highway bridge, trapping and killing the operator. OSHA found that it had been on unstable ground, so the agency issued a “serious” violation for $1,000. The penalty was later reduced to $500. In 1988 in Gaithersburg, Md., a crane operator was moving pieces of concrete when the boom swung and the crane tipped, ejecting the driver, who died. OSHA cited a lack of training and a “serious” violation resulting in $1,310 in penalties. On the other end of the spectrum, OSHA levied penalties totaling $539,800 against three companies in 2000 after a crane collapsed during construction of the Miller Park baseball stadium in Milwaukee, killing three workers. The difference was that the long list of violations was deemed “willful.” John Healy, Englewood area director for OSHA, said fines are just one tool the agency uses to improve safety. OSHA sometimes reduces penalties if companies agree to make major safety upgrades, such as eliminating hazards or adding training. “Our mission is worker safety and health, and our mission is protection of workers,” Healy said. “I think many times public safety can benefit from (companies) adhering to OSHA regulations.” OSHA is just one of the agencies investigating the accident. Denver police are involved, as is T-REX, the agency that oversees the massive southeast Denver transportation improvements for the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Regional Transportation District. OSHA could take weeks or months to determine a cause after reviewing factors such as training, supervision an equipment. “We’d look at all aspects of how the crane is being used,” said Herb Gibson, Denver area director for OSHA.

 

UPDATE, Company fined in rig accident

By Brent Lancaster, Times-News

A state Department of Labor investigation has found that improper operation of a drilling rig contributed to an accident along Interstate 85/40 in west Burlington in February that killed a Chapel Hill man. Coastal Caissons Corp. of Clearwater , Fla. , has been fined $2,800 after an investigation into an accident in which a drilling rig tipped over and dropped a metal pipe on a car on the interstate. The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that a Coastal Caissons crew did not use the drilling rig properly, considering the wind conditions that day. OSHA also found Coastal Caissons did not provide an operator’s manual or have proper warnings posted on the drill. The improper use “was a contributing cause of the rig tipping over,” according to the OSHA finding. The Feb. 21 accident killed Steven Edward Whitesell, 37, of Chapel Hill . Whitesell was headed north through a work zone when the drilling rig tipped over and dropped a pipe, which weighed several thousand pounds, on his Toyota Camry. The Coastal Caissons crew was installing concrete forms as part of a N.C. Department of Transportation project that is building a new bridge and interchange at St. Mark’s Church Road . The crew was working in the median of the interstate behind concrete barriers. Coastal Caissons has since been fired by the main contractor on the bridge project, the Thompson-Arthur Division of APAC-Carolina Inc. Another subcontractor is being brought in to install the caissons using a different method. A representative of Coastal Caissons said Wednesday that his company had not gotten word of the OSHA finding. The company can pay the fine, possibly have it reduced after a mediation session with Labor Department officials, or challenge it before an OSHA review board. OSHA investigated only the accident and why it happened. The agency doesn’t have jurisdiction to investigate Whitesell’s death because he was not working on the job site. The N.C. Highway Patrol will not file charges in Whitesell’s death. The state Department of Transportation investigated how the work zone was set up and whether it contributed to the accident. The transportation department is building a new bridge and interstate interchange as part of a project that is realigning and widening St. Mark’s Church Road in west Burlington .

 

T-REX crane falls; 3 hurt

Northbound I-25 closed when equipment topples while working in median lifting concrete barriers

By Brian D. Crecente, M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Tillie Fong and Michael BeDan, News Staff Writers, April 4, 2002

A 100-foot-tall T-REX crane collapsed onto Interstate 25 in southeast Denver on Wednesday night, crushing two cars and injuring three people. A 54-year-old man, his 56-year-old wife and Sherry Shiffer, 45, were taken to Denver Health Medical Center , where they were all in fair condition late Wednesday, hospital officials said. The crane operator was not injured. Mike Krieger said his girlfriend, Shiffer, called him from the scene of the accident. She thought at first that a truck had rolled over onto her car, he said. “The air bag blew up and broke her nose,” said Krieger, 47, who was at Denver Health Medical Center waiting for Shiffer. “It sounded pretty wild.” He said Shiffer was driving to their home in Thornton after her evening classes. “She’s fine,” he said. However, her car, a Hyundai, is totaled. The incident happened about 9:15 p.m. when the crane, which was moving cement barriers from the median of I-25 near East Quincy Avenue, tipped over onto its left side, according to Karen Morales, spokeswoman for the contractor, Southeast Corridor Constructors. The crane’s 100-foot boom lay across three of the four northbound lanes, crushing the hood of Shiffer’s car and the roof of a white Pontiac Sunbird. Denver firefighters extricated the couple from the car with the crushed roof, but Shiffer was freed within minutes of the accident, Morales said. On the freeway, fire trucks and backhoes were working at the scene and another crane was brought in. Yellow construction lights flashed and giant white spotlights illuminated the area. The crushed cars were loaded onto a flatbed truck. It’s not unusual for a crane, which can lift 38 tons, to be used to move cement barriers, Morales said. “The crane operator was doing routine work — moving concrete barriers into a work area — when this happened,” she said. “We have no idea why it tipped over, but we are still investigating.” The Colorado Department of Transportation and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are also investigating the accident. Northbound lanes of I-25 were closed near the intersection of I-225, and at one point the backup extended south to County Line Road . Southbound traffic slowed to a crawl in two lanes. The tie-up occurred shortly before tens of thousands of fans left the Colorado Avalanche-Atlanta Thrashers game and a soccer match between the U.S. Men’s national team and the Mexican national squad, adding to the usual I-25 traffic. Crews expected to reopen all lanes before the morning rush hour, said Steve Fitzgerald, a spokesman for CDOT. State officials said 230,000 vehicles a day use that section of highway. The crane was being used in the $1.7 billion T-REX project to widen I-25 and add light rail along a 19-mile corridor. Morales said this was the first injury-accident on the project.

Crane fall kills nurse

Apr 3 2002 , By Sarah Tyrrell, Evening Mail

A top Midland nurse was crushed to death under a crane when a dream holiday to South America ended in tragedy. Ann Milsted, 56, suffered fatal injuries when a truck hit the crane, bringing it down on top of her as she walked along a street in the Chilean capital of Santiago . Ann, a former nurse at Good Hope Hospital and Birmingham regional officer for the Royal College of Nursing, had been on holiday in a party of seven. Her friend Sheila Piper, who was also injured, is being treated in a hospital in Chile . Her condition is not known. Ann Leedham-Smith, West Midlands regional director for the RCN, today paid tribute to Ann, who lived in Sutton Coldfield. She said: “Ann was highly respected across Birmingham . Everyone in the health profession knew her. Her job with the RCN was to assist and negotiate on behalf of nurses during all the changes happening throughout Birmingham . She was heavily involved in the merger between the Sandwell and City hospitals and with Birmingham Children’s Hospital. “Ann grew up in Jamaica , had lived in South Africa and worked in Saudi Arabia . She loved travel. She was very witty and enjoyed life to the full. “The really sad thing about it all is that she was looking forward to her retirement in three years’ time – she was training to be a manicurist to keep her busy.” Ann was not married and had no children. Her mother, Margot, lives in Ashford , Kent . She had worked as a chief nurse at Good Hope for four years before joining the RCN in 1996. She also served as a magistrate in Birmingham . Sir Bernard Zissman, Good Hope chairman, said: “This is a tragedy not just for Ann’s family, but for the family of Good Hope. “Good Hope is one of those hospitals where there is a family atmosphere and the sympathy of us all, particularly the nursing staff, goes to her family. “When these things happen in far-off lands it is a double tragedy because there is always the question of people not knowing exactly what happened.” Ann’s body will be brought back from Chile in a few weeks’ time following her death last week, and her funeral will be held in Ashford , Kent . The RCN is planning to hold a special memorial service for their colleague at Birmingham Cathedral in the summer.

 

5 Killed in Taiwan Temblor

Cranes and scaffolding at a high-rise office building site crashed to the ground, killing five construction workers, after a powerful earthquake jolted Taiwan yesterday. More than 200 mostly minor injuries were reported across the island as the quake started fires, shattered windows and cracked walls. Taiwanese officials said it registered magnitude 6.8, but the U.S. Geological Survey estimated it higher, at 7.1. Two cranes fell from the 60th floor of a building under construction in downtown Taipei . Television news footage showed the cranes tumbling from the top of the structure, bringing steel beams and chunks of concrete down with it. Police identified the victims as two crane operators and three other workers. About 10 people were hurt by falling debris, including a woman whose hand was severed when part of a crane came crashing down on her car. “I pulled over my car and ran for a few steps before I saw a falling steel beam smashing another car, right in front of me,” taxi driver Wang Tien-tse told the TVBS television station. The building under construction — the Taipei Financial Center — will be Taipei ‘s tallest when completed, at more than 100 stories. Elsewhere in Taipei , buildings rocked, cracks appeared in walls and frightened people ran from homes and churches.

 

UPDATE, Florida contractor fired for fatal accident on Carolina project

Saturday, March 30, 2002, Associated Press

BURLINGTON, N.C. – A Florida contractor was fired from an interstate construction project after a pipe fell on a car, killing its driver. The main contractor on the overpass project, the Thompson-Arthur Division of APAC-Carolina Inc., fired Coastal Caissons Corp. of Clearwater, Fla. A Coastal Caissons crew was installing a caisson Feb. 21 on a median in the middle of Interstate 85/40 when a crane toppled over, dropping the huge pipe on a car. The driver, Steven Edward Whitesell, 37, of Chapel Hill, was killed. The state Highway Patrol will not file charges. The North Carolina Department of Transportation and the state Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration are stil investigating. The DOT investigation is looking at how the construction work zone was set up and OSHA, which investigates injuries to workers on job sites, is looking at what happened on the work site. Ivan Clayton, president of the main contractor, said McKinney Drilling Co., a Texas company with an office in Kernersville, would be on site Monday. Clayton said the new subcontractor would use a different method than Coastal Caissons, but he would not elaborate. A representative of Coastal Caissons reached Thursday would not comment. Whitesell was driving northbound through the work zone around 4:30 p.m. in a Toyota Camry on Feb. 21. The metal pipe, which weighed several thousand pounds, got too far in front of the crane and caused it to tip over.

 

Man Dies In Fall From Talleyrand Crane

A shipyard worker fell to his death from a crane at the Jacksonville Port Authority’s Talleyrand dock Wednesday. The man fell from one of two large cranes that load and unload containerized freight at the Jaxport facility. His identity has not been released. “Those cranes are very big and spacious,” JPA spokesman Robert Peek said. “There are gangplanks up there; there are rails up there; there is an elevator that takes you up. They are fairly sizeable pieces of machinery.” As is customary, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is investing the death.

 

Construction worker killed: Howe man, 27, dies in accident at site of new city hall

By: Cliff Despres, staff writer, March 18, 2002

A construction worker was killed Thursday after being crushed by a crane at the site of the new city hall. Brian Keith Cummings, 27, of Howe, Texas, reportedly got caught between a large drill bit and a counter weight on the back side of a crane at about 3 p.m., according to a city officials. Lewisville fire, police and paramedic units responded to the accident. Kenny Wilkins, division chief in investigations for the Lewisville Fire Department, said Cummings suffered “severe internal injuries.” Cummings was transported via a CareFlite helicopter to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where he underwent several hours of surgery. He was pronounced dead shortly at 8:43 p.m. Wilkins said crews were drilling holes at the construction site, 151 W. Church St., one block from Main Street, at the time of the accident. He said the crane that pinned Cummings down was under normal operation, and he was unsure what caused the accident. “I can’t comment on that because I don’t know,” Wilkins said. Investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were scheduled to be on the site Friday to try and determine the cause of the accident. Cummings worked for N.L. Shuttle Drilling, a subcontractor for Capform, the city’s foundation contractor for the new municipal building. Randy Sadler, one of Cummings’ supervisors, said Cummings was a unique individual. “He was never not smiling,” said Sadler, who was not on the scene when the accident occurred. “Everyone who knew him fell in love with him, and he was one of our hardest workers.” All construction workers who work on the site were given the day off Friday. The new $9.69 million, 62,000-square-foot city hall will replace the city’s existing facility at 1197 W. Main St. The Lewisville City Council approved $4.1 million in February to cover the cost of the first wave of construction, which includes an heating, ventilation, plumbing, air conditioning, electricity, foundation work, structural work, waterproofing and hydraulic elevator. Donna Huerta, communications manager for the city, said construction on the structure portion of the project hasn’t begun yet. “The main portion of construction right now is the basement. They’re digging the hole for it and putting the piers up for the foundation,” she said. Huerta said the nearby Parks and Leisure Services building, which is being vacated April 1, will be torn down in mid April and the land will be assimilated into the city hall project. The new city hall is slated for completion in March 2003. Contact staff writer Cliff Despres at 972-538-2115, or at [email protected].

 

UPDATE, OSHA and DOT are investigating crane accident

By Sean McCombs, Times-News

Interstate construction work on the new St. Mark’s Church interchange has been halted until investigations into a fatal accident there on Feb. 21 are complete. A crane dropped a multi-ton metal pipe on Chapel Hill attorney Steven Whitesell’s car as he drove in a northbound lane of Interstate 85/40, killing him. No charges will be filed in the accident. The North Carolina Department of Transportation, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the construction company are all doing separate investigations on the crane accident. “That’s a safe operation that they were doing,” Department of Transportation engineer Mike Mills said. “We don’t know why the crane tipped over.” Mills said the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2004, will be suspended until the investigations are completed. Workers were setting the metal caisson to pour concrete into it to form the center supports for the bridge. Mills said the construction company had already installed six or seven of the center supports. Mills said the DOT is reviewing the construction plans to make sure traffic on I-85/40 is safe. “Is what we have out there the best thing we can do for the traveling public?” Mills said. “Is there anything that could have been done different?” Mills said he thinks the barriers and the way traffic is narrowed to three lanes is a safe. He said projects exactly like this one are going on all over the country. OSHA is investigating the accident not because of Whitesell’s death, but because of worker safety concerns. “Anytime a crane tips over, it would be a concern,” OSHA spokesman Greg Cook said. “We are concerned about employee exposure to accidents.” Cook said OSHA’s investigation will take between four and six weeks. His office, like the DOT, is uncertain about why the crane tipped over. “We have not reached a conclusion at this time,” Cook said. Mills said approximately 90,000 cars pass that construction site daily. He said he was surprised the accident involved only one car. Another fatal accident occurred in the southbound lanes at nearly the same spot in January. A man was looking under the hood of his car and was crushed when a tractor trailer struck his car from behind.

 

40 Tonne Crane Tips Over at Victoria University Footscray Campus

A Victoria University construction site suffered its second serious workplace safety incident in four months this morning when a 40 tonne crane became unbalanced and tipped over. WorkSafe Executive Director, John Merritt said today’s incident was a lucky escape for those involved. “Fortunately the area had been isolated, only the crane crew were in the area and the driver was able to escape from the cabin unharmed,” he said. “Shortly after 9.00am, while lifting a heavy steel beam, the crane tipped over at a 45 degree angle and came to rest against the wall of the University gymnasium. “WorkSafe investigators are on site and two new cranes may be used to set the 40 tonne crane straight. This process in expected to take a number of hours, “WorkSafe’s investigations into both incidents will establish what safety procedures were in place to manage crane safety “It is of concern to WorkSafe that this site has had two serious crane safety incidents in such a short period, Mr Merritt said. Students have been evacuated from the gymnasium and surrounding buildings and all services have been cut off. The incident happened shortly after 9.00am at the gymnasium extension construction site. Media Contact: Jasmine Sussex T: 9641 1319 M: 0400 562 020

 

Plant worker killed in accident

By Peter Waguespack The Ascension Citizen

DONALDSONVILLE — A Donaldsonville man was killed last Wednesday when the construction equipment he was working on fell from Triad Nitrogen’s loading dock into the Mississippi River . The 14-ton cherry picker was being operated by Cleveland Medine Jr., 45, when the accident occurred. While changing out a valve and maneuvering it onto the loading dock, Medine, along with the cherry picker, fell off the dock, plummeting 30-40 feet into the river. Medine, who was an employee of Triad’s sub-contractor, Payne and Keller/Jacobs Engineering, was rescued from the river by co-workers. He then was transported to Prevost Memorial Hospital by Acadian Ambulance. He was pronounced dead at 2:20 p.m. “There is currently an ongoing investigation of this matter,” said Tom Torr, Triad’s manager of administration. “There are no obvious reasons as to why he (Medine) fell into the Mississippi River .” Torr added that officials from Triad, Payne and Keller/Jacobs Engineering and OSHA are still trying to determine what happened. Medine is survived by his wife, Robbie Camp Medine, Donaldsonville; mother, Marie Millien Medine, Donaldsonville; a daughter, Jaima Medine, Houma; two sons, Shane Medine, Houma, and Timothy Medine, Belle River; three sisters, Julia Blanchard, Belle River, and Janice White and Judy Lear, both of Donaldsonville; and a brother, Johnny Medine, Donaldsonville.

 

UPDATE, Worker in fatal electrical accident identified
Herald staff

LYNNWOOD — The Snohomish County Medical Examiner on Wednesday identified a boom crane operator who died last week when the crane’s cable struck a power line. William Lee Dunlap, 40, of Tacoma was unloading supplies from a delivery truck at a construction site in the 14000 block of 55th Avenue W. He died of high voltage electrocution in the accident, said Leon Reichle, the Snohomish County medical examiner’s chief investigator. The state Department of Labor and Industries is investigating the accident.

 

Company fined $10,000 after man hit on head by crane

A Waikato company has been sentenced to pay $10,000 after a member of the public was hit on the head by a crane. The Occupational Safety and Health Service (OSH) prosecuted Smithbridge New Zealand Ltd after an incident last year. “The company were dismantling a bridge when the fly jib of the crane fell and its wire rope struck a man as he walked across the railway,” said Kevin Webby, OSH Service Manager, Waikato . The man sustained lacerations to his head, concussion and a broken collarbone. $8000 of the fine was awarded to the victim. The company pleaded guilty yesterday to breaches of the Health and Safety in Employment Act. “This prosecution has highlighted that workplace safety can involve people who are not actually working,” said Mr Webby. “Health and safety in the workplace includes keeping yourself safe and ensuring the safety of others, even those in the vicinity of the immediate workplace. “One of the things the company should have done was construct a safety zone around the area. “No barriers or signage had been erected around the lifting area, vehicles were not stopped from travelling and pedestrians were not stopped from entering the area. “Employers must take a systematic approach to identifying workplace hazards and put systems in place to protect workers and others. These systems need to be constantly reviewed and updated.” or further information: Kevin Webby, OSH Service Manager Waikato Tel 07 838 1381  Mobile 025 531 717 Madeleine Setchell, Business Adviser-Public Relations, OSH , Wellington . Tel: 04 915 4390  Mobile : 025 463 538

 

UPDATE, Laborer denied $1 million suit claim

By Jess Sullivan

FAIRFIELD — Two weeks of testimony ended Thursday with a civil jury turning down a laborer’s $1 million claim for an injury he suffered at his Dixon workplace. Richard Statucki was a good employee for Basalite Concrete Products, a company that manufactures a variety of concrete blocks. Statucki’s attorney began the trial by telling jurors what he believes happened to his client, a former employee of the year, shortly after starting his shift on the morning of June 14, 1999. Statucki was using an electric hoist maintained by Crane Pro Services Inc., a subsidiary of a multinational corporation that had more than $319 million in revenue during 2001 as the world’s largest provider of crane and hoist maintenance services. While standing on a large metal table holding a control box, Statucki was maneuvering an overhead hoist holding a piece of machinery used for making large concrete blocks, according to his attorney. When the hoist didn’t stop lowering the machinery, Statucki grabbed the cable for the control box with his left hand and saw a blue flash of light. Statucki was jolted from the table and thrown against a steel plate six to eight feet behind him, cracking some ribs, partially collapsing one lung and causing internal bleeding in some of his organs. During dozens of visits to doctors during the next two years, Statucki would be diagnosed as suffering from spinal injury and traumatic brain injury, his attorney told jurors. Statucki was a sad sight during the trial. Walking with a cane and wearing dark sunglasses for a vision problem, he often winced in pain, wheezed loudly and moved about with unsteady frailty throughout the trial. Jurors were also told of the $60,000 in medical bills Statucki incurred along with the $100,000 in lost wages since the accident. Jurors spent hours learning the intricacies of how hoists operate and how their myriad parts are maintained. They also heard extensive testimony about the damage electricity can do to the body when someone suffers from a severe shock. A claim by Statucki’s attorney that alleged improper maintenance by Crane Pro amounted to negligence was rejected by jurors with an 11 to 1 vote after five hours of deliberation. A minimum of nine votes are needed to win a claim for damages in a civil trial. The question of any damages was therefore moot with a 20-month lawsuit adding up to zero compensation for Statucki. Jess Sullivan can be reached at [email protected] .

 

UPDATE, Officials look into accident

By Sean McCombs, Times-News

A Chapel Hill man died on Interstate 85/40 Thursday afternoon when a construction crane toppled over crushing the man’s car with a steel pipe.

Steven Edward Whitesell, of 108 Pinchot Lane, Chapel Hill, was driving in a northbound lane of I-85/40 at about 4:30 Thursday afternoon when the pipe fell on his Toyota Camry. The accident occurred 50 feet west of the St. Marks Church Road overpass. Construction workers were moving the pipe with a crane when the load got too far in front of the crane, the Highway Patrol said at the scene. The crane toppled over and crushed Whitesell’s car. The drilling rig was moving a pipe, Trooper Robert Fuquay of the Highway Patrol said. It fell over on its side and dropped the pipe on the car. Rescue workers had to remove the pipe from the car and cut off the top of the car’s roof to get at Whitesell. He was dead when the Highway Patrol arrived on the scene. The crane is part of a construction project near exit 141. The metal pipe was a caisson, which is used to pour concrete. Estimates of the weight of the pipe ranged from 6,000 to 10,000 pounds. The accident completely blocked the northbound lanes for at least two hours. The Highway Patrol re-routed traffic onto N.C. 70 at the Gibsonville exit and then back on to I-85/40 at the Huffman Mill Road exit. Coastal Caissons Corp., out of Florida was the company doing the construction work, Fuquay said. No charges are being filed against the company at this time, Fuquay said. Another fatal accident occurred in the southbound lanes at nearly the same spot in January. A man was looking under the hood of his car and was crushed when a tractor trailer hit him from behind.

 

One Dead In Interstate 40 Crash; Traffic Is Backed-Up On Interstate 40

ELON COLLEGE, N.C. — Officials said Interstate 40/85 is shut down after a crane fell and hit a car. Authorities told WXII one person on the scene is dead and the crane is blocking the highway. This happened near the Elon College exit, which is exit 141. Officials said the big traffic problem is on the 40/85 northbound lanes or I-40 east toward Raleigh. Authorities said traffic is building up in the southbound lanes, too. Stay tuned to WXII NewsChannel 12 and The Piedmont Channel.com for more information on this developing story.

 

Two injured in industrial accident at Lowe’s site

February 14, 2002, By Lance Martin, Herald Staff Writer

GARYSBURG – The first construction accident at the Lowe’s warehouse project left two men injured Tuesday morning. Munsrail Baskerville, 25, of Norlina, sustained a fractured leg and 50-year-old Jesus Loera, of Stem, complained of general body pain, said Paul Nowell, commander of the Roanoke Valley Rescue Squad. The men were installing a 1,000-pound water valve when the accident occurred. The valve was secured to a backhoe and was being lowered into a 6-by-10 concrete meter vault when it broke loose from the equipment, Nowell said. The men are employees of H&G Rentals of Henderson. The valve struck Baskerville in the leg. Nowell said when rescue squad members arrived, Baskerville’s leg was bleeding and appeared to be fractured. Before entering the vault, rescue workers used air monitors to check the safety of the atmosphere. “We made sure there was no toxic fumes. There was no electricity going to it. There was no danger to rescue squad members,” Nowell said. Rescue workers entered the vault and bandaged Baskerville’s leg. They lifted him out in a Stoke’s basket and transported him to a waiting ambulance. He was taken to Halifax Regional Medical Center in Roanoke Rapids. Loera was carried on a long board and placed in another ambulance. He was also taken to HRMC. Baskerville was listed in good condition this morning and was scheduled to have surgery. Loera was treated and released. Nowell said the 10:48 a.m. accident was the first at the Lowe’s construction site. Lowe’s announced plans to build in Northampton County May 29 of last year after putting the finishing touches on an agreement for a $60 million distribution center. The distribution center, which may help bring a Lowe’s retail center to the area, will ultimately create 600 to 800 jobs. Sixty percent must be filled with low to moderate income people. Construction on the warehouse continues and the wall structures are complete and the roof is nearing completion. Paving of the road leading to the center should begin in March. Lowe’s plans to move into the old Gaston Middle School in the next 60 to 90 days. The company will use the school for temporary space for logistics and personnel operations.

 

Crane collapses in South Loop

By Saleema Syed, Matt Walberg and Sabrina Miller, Tribune staff reporters, Published January 31, 2002, 7:29 AM CST

Parts of a crane fell off a building under construction in the South Loop early today, dropping steel beams through the roof of a residential building next door and onto the roof of the building that the crane was helping build. The collapse produced noises of grating metal and sparks from electrical cables, but the falling metal caused no injuries, according to Fire Department officials. Some residents who left their apartments in the building that was struck were not allowed to return to their homes because of concerns about possible structural damage. Surrounding streets were blocked by police and other emergency vehicles. Luka Dekalaita, who lives on the 19th floor of 40 E. 9th St., was up late watching television when the crane fell. “All of a sudden I heard debris falling and cracking, and I saw the whole top of the crane coming down. It was very scary. It sounded just like an earthquake,” said Dekelaita, who recently moved to Chicago from San Francisco. A piece of the crane was dangling outside his bedroom window when Dekelaita left his apartment for the lobby. “I don’t want to go back there tonight. It looks like we’ll be sleeping at the Hilton.” Residents of nearby buildings said the crane was mounted at the side of a building under construction on the southwest corner of 8th Street and Wabash Avenue. They said the crane consisted of a vertical tower and a long horizontal arm that pivoted on the tower and that had been equipped to lift construction materials to the rooftop. It was the horizontal section, including a cab for the crane operator, that separated from the tower about 1 a.m. today, toppling downward, leaving the tower to sway temporarily at first and then stabilize, nearby residents said. Tom Kennedy, chief of the fire department’s Battalion One, said the crane landed on an adjacent building at 40 E. 9th St., punching through a metal canopy covering a rooftop pool on the 21st floor. It then slid onto the separate roof over the 19th floor, before falling to the top of the building under construction, which has been built up to a height of about eight stories.

City building inspectors were investigating the cause of the collapse.

 

‘Luckiest guy in the city’ unhurt in freak accident

By Jon Ward, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A steel beam fell 11 stories from a construction site in the District yesterday morning and crashed through the driver’s side rear window of Jeff Pargament’s car, leaving him shaken though he walked away from the scene without a scratch. “This guy is the luckiest guy in the city today,” said D.C. Fire Department spokesman Alan Etter, adding that the 13-foot-long, 150-pound beam missed hitting Mr. Pargament’s head by a few inches. Mr. Pargament, 44, of Potomac, said he was at 19th and H streets, on the way to his law office in Northwest at 9:50 a.m. when he heard yells on the street and felt something hit his car. “I assumed I had been hit by a car or truck. After the initial shock, I saw there was a beam sticking through the car,” said Mr. Pargament, a married father of two. The steel beam crashed through the driver’s side rear window of his Mercedes E 420, cutting through the seat and the floorboard. The steel beam was being lifted by a crane at street level up to the 11th story at the 1900 Pennsylvania Ave. NW site, where workers were supposed to take it from its cradle and secure it in place, said Mr. Etter. The beam slipped out of a worker’s grip and plummeted toward the street, striking a piece of concrete before crashing into Mr. Pargament’s car. A stunned woman in the car behind Mr. Pargament’s called 911. A number of pedestrians and passers-by expressed concern and amazement that he was not injured, he said. Mr. Etter said emergency workers who responded to the scene found Mr. Pargament to be fine, except for elevated blood pressure. “I told my family that I was OK and that we were quite fortunate,” said Mr. Pargament, who went to his office, then to a hospital to have doctors check him out as a precaution. “I’m a little sore and I’m not sure why that is,” he said. Several hours after the near-tragedy, he said he was still in shock. “I’m pretty shook up,” he said. Mr. Pargament said he had mixed emotions about the incident. While he was relieved and grateful to have been so lucky, he was also angry. “How could this have occurred? I want to make sure this does not happen again. This could have been a tragic situation for me or someone else.” R. Harris Welding was held responsible for the incident, which Mr. Etter called a “freak accident.” Robert Harris, owner of R. Harris Welding, said he was not at the site at the time of the accident and did not know exactly what happened. He said the steel beam was the last piece to be installed at the building. “Two-hundred pieces and the last piece fell off,” he lamented. The workers involved were removed from the site immediately, he said, but would continue to work for R. Harris at other sites. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was called to the scene and investigate to prevent future accidents at other sites, said Mr. Etter. Mr. Pargament said he plans to follow up with OSHA, but has not yet considered legal action.

 

UPDATE, Lifting operation tragedy at bakery

A man undertaking maintenance work has died under bakery equipment after a lifting operation went tragically wrong. According to one account two men were moving a large industrial dough mixer when they both sustained injury. The survivor is being treated for head injuries. The accident occurred on Saturday at the Montana Bakery in Slough.

 

Lifting operations injury in North Sea

HSE is investigating an accident that occurred aboard the vessel Maersk Beater in which a crewman on the supply boat sustained crush injuries. One account available is that a container being lifted from the boat to a platform somehow crushed the man. He is described as comfortable in hospital.

 

Falling crane injures four in Osaka

OSAKA — Four people were injured when a crane fell from a condominium construction site and hit a nearby public apartment complex and a truck Wednesday, police said. The accident occurred as the crane was lifting up a 1-ton steel plate. The operator of the crane, Mitsuharu Uryu, 53, suffered serious injuries in the chest and back. Slightly wounded were Norihiko Ashihara, 32, a resident of the apartment, and his 58-year-old mother, Yoshiko, as well as Shoichi Ozaki, 26, the driver of the truck. At around 11:40 a.m., a crane installed at a condominium construction site in the Daido district of Tennoji-ku, Osaka, fell down and hit an Osaka municipal apartment complex and then a truck running below. Police investigators who conducted an on-the-spot inspection found that one of the four props that supported the crane was leaning dangerously. Noting that a strong wind warning was out in the entire Osaka Prefecture at the time, investigators said they suspect that strong winds may have blown down the crane. Police are questioning officials connected with the construction site on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in injuries. Mitsui Construction Co. began construction of the condominium last October, and was scheduled to complete it in March 2003. A construction machine leasing company installed the crane at the site last Saturday. (Mainichi Shimbun, Jan. 23, 2002)

 

UPDATE, Teetering crane in Jersey City worse than engineers thought

Published in the Asbury Park Press

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JERSEY CITY — It could take two weeks or more to dismantle and remove a damaged construction crane that has been teetering over a waterfront neighborhood, the city’s mayor said Friday. But Mayor Glenn Cunningham said he was hopeful that nearly 1,000 residents who were evacuated would be allowed to return to their homes by Saturday night. An electrical malfunction Wednesday caused the crane to tilt forward, 18 stories above the street, forcing evacuation of a hotel and nearby homes. A team of engineers from the German company that built the crane arrived Thursday and examined it Friday morning. Work crews were welding U-shaped steel braces on all four sides of the damaged crane to try to secure it, Cunningham said. He said the plan is to try to twist the crane slightly so that its boom is over the building under construction and not over the street below, and then to begin dismantling it. Crews worked until 3 a.m. Friday and resumed work about 7 a.m., said Fire Chief Donald Windrem. “They’re going full-bore, as fast as humanly possible,” said Cunningham. The Double Tree Club Suites Hotel, which was evacuated immediately after Wednesday’s incident, was allowed to reopen Thursday, and more than 100 displaced residents of the Avalon Cove luxury townhouse development were put up there. Ileana Malamud was one of the first to be removed from Avalon Cove Wednesday morning. Since then, she’s stayed either with friends, or in the Double Tree. She had hoped to get back into her home Friday night, but was disappointed when told that her adventure could extend through the weekend. “It’s hard because I have a baby, and I’m five months pregnant. I didn’t get any of my maternity clothes. I just grabbed two diapers and got out. I had to buy everything all over again.” Her 19-month-old son Eric has been behaving fairly well away from home. “Each morning he’s waking up in a new bed,” his mother said, “so he just starts jumping up and down on it, and he loves it. But this is getting tiring. There’s only so many things you can do away from home.” She was allowed back into her apartment briefly on Thursday, when she was able to grab some videos and a few toys for Eric. “It’s not great, but after September 11th, we’re lucky nothing happened to us. It could be a lot worse.”

 

Crane accident on I-35 injures 3 workers, shuts down portion of highway

By MIKE ANDERSON Tribune-Herald staff writer

Three construction workers were injured when a crane fell from an Interstate 35 overpass in Lacy-Lakeview Wednesday morning. The accident happened about 8:45 a.m. at the Interstate 35 bridge over Crest Drive. At the time of the accident, workers were using a crane that was sitting on the northbound overpass to lift a second crane that had overturned during the night, said Ken Roberts, a spokesman with the Texas Department of Transportation. The overturned crane suddenly shifted into its upright position, jerking the crane that was lifting it over the side of the overpass, Roberts said. That crane landed upside down next to Crest Drive. Two men in a basket that was suspended above the interstate were thrown several feet to the ground when the crane fell, Roberts said. Danny Norris, 38, of Otilia, Okla. and Romaldo Moreno, 38, of Longview, Texas were taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center with head injuries, Roberts said. They were both listed in critical condition late Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said. A third man who was inside or near the crane when it fell from the overpass, Roberts said. Ismael Flores, 28, of Hallsville, Texas was taken to Hillcrest, where he was listed in serious condition, Roberts said. A hospital spokeswoman said she did not have a record of Flores being admitted. The three are employees of Austin Bridge and Road, Inc., a Dallas-based subcontractor for the Texas Department of Transportation. The company was assisting Waco-based Young Brothers, Inc. Contractors in widening the bridge to accommodate an additional lane of traffic in each direction. The initial accident happened about 2 a.m., when the first crane, sitting at ground level, was lifting a 40-ton concrete beam to support the expansion, Roberts said. As the crane lifted the beam it tilted, and then its arm fell onto the northbound overpass, dropping the beam to the ground, Roberts said. Although southbound traffic had been diverted onto the access road, northbound interstate traffic was continuing at the time the crane fell, Roberts said. “There were two 18-wheelers approaching the bridge at the time,” Roberts said. “They saw the crane moving in the direction of the northbound lanes, and they stopped before it fell.” David Vance, a spokesman for Austin Bridge and Road, Inc., said he was not sure what caused the accident. He said the company’s president had been to the site and was looking into the cause. Roberts said the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration would also investigate the accident. Mark Gacke, Young Brothers general manager, said the fall ruined the beam and a replacement will have to be brought to the site. This could delay the project by as much as a month if a new beam needs to be manufactured, he said. Roberts said the bridge suffered only superficial damage in the accident and is structurally sound. Traffic was rerouted and southbound I-35 remained closed throughout the day Wednesday. Northbound lanes of I-35 were reopened between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Mike Anderson can be reached at [email protected] or at 757-5755.

 

Tilting crane forces evacuation of about 1,000 in Jersey City

Jersey City, New Jersey-AP — Hundreds of people in an upscale New Jersey neighborhood could be out of their homes for several days, while a construction crane teeters dangerously overhead. The 470-foot crane is attached to the side of a building going up in Jersey City. Officials think an electrical malfunction yesterday caused the crane’s boom to over-extend, and it began to tilt. Nearly 140 people were immediately evacuated from structures below. About a thousand residents in all were evacuated after crews stopped efforts to right the crane until engineers from the company that built it arrive today. Meantime, the Red Cross will provide residents with vouchers, good for hotel stays until they’re allowed back in their homes.

 

Crane boom falls, hits state office

By MARLENE NAANES, Advocate staff writer

A mechanical failure in a crane working on a downtown parking garage Monday sent the machine’s 130-foot boom plummeting to the ground and construction workers running. No one was injured, but many were shaken up after the crane’s boom, or arm, hit the Department of Education Building across the street from a construction site at North and Fifth streets. Becky Keeling, who works in the computer department in the basement of the education building, said many people inside at the time of the accident ran out. “We felt it, and all of us came running outside,” Keeling said. “We came out expecting a plane sticking out the side of the building.” The falling boom scratched off part of the building that read “Department of Education” and hit a digging machine parked next to the crane. Keeling said the man working the digger went running. “He ran,” she said. “He probably went home to put some clean clothes on.” The crane, which lifts and moves steel pilings in the construction of the Galvez Parking Garage, was not in use at the time of the crash. Mechanics were working on it when the boom fell about 1 p.m., said Lercy Romero, foreman for Lafayette Steel Erectors. The company is trying to find out exactly what caused the failure. North was closed between Fifth and Sixth streets for several hours Monday afternoon.

 

Minibus crashes into a construction crane in Iran, 19 people killed

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN, Iran, Jan. 5 – A minibus traveling along a road in Iran crashed into a construction crane, killing 19 people and injuring five, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Saturday. The accident happened Friday night just north of the city of Damghan, 217 miles east of the capital, Tehran, the agency quoted police officer Qodratollah Javidpour as saying. Iran has one of the highest road accident rates in the world, with more than 200,000 accidents reported a year, resulting in about 15,000 deaths, IRNA said. Experts blame the high casualty toll on unsafe vehicles, disregard for regulations and insufficient emergency services.

 

UPDATE, Man Dies in Crane Accident; He is killed when the crane’s 1,500-pound steel extension falls.

Thursday, January 3, 2002, By JOHN CHAMBLISS, The Ledger

LAKELAND — A Lakeland man helping a friend at a construction site at Grasslands Golf & Country Club on Wednesday was killed when a crane extension fell on him, Lakeland police said. Harry Weaver, 55, of 3614 Imperial Lane, was killed instantly when the 15-foot 1,500-pound steel extension fell, said Officer Tim Snyder. “We were folding the crane up and finishing the job,” said crane operator Kenneth McCollum. “I heard it (the extension) come loose when I moved the crane and I hollered to him.” But McCollum said he yelled too late, and Weaver, McCollum’s friend and fellow worker of 20 years, could not escape the falling crane extension. “This is the freakiest accident I’ve seen in my 20 years on the job,” McCollum said. Officials from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration will determine whether proper regulations were followed by workers and what caused the extension, known as a jib, to fall. The jib was about 8 feet off the ground when it fell, said Rusty Parsons, manager for Crane & Rigging of Florida. McCollum works for Crane & Rigging. Weaver visited him and offered to help him finish laying floor beams to a house being built at 3121 Winged Foot Drive. “He saw a friend in need and he was just helping him,” Parsons said. “He’s been best friends with the owner for 15 years.” In addition to working construction around Lakeland, Weaver was a truck driver and owned an injection molding plant in Lakeland. Weaver is survived by his wife, Ruth, and one son, James, 26, who is an Air Force pilot stationed in Turkey.

 

UPDATE, Contractor contests Miller Park workers’ status

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MILWAUKEE — The general contractor on the Miller Park stadium project has filed a court action seeking a hearing on the employment status of the three ironworkers killed during construction, a move that could reduce the $99 million verdict the company would have to pay. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries filed the action Friday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, asking Judge Dennis Moroney to order the state Department of Workforce Development to hold a hearing on whether the three ironworkers should have been considered employees of Mitsubishi at the time of the accident. Employees and their families generally can collect worker’s compensation benefits but cannot sue employers over workplace injuries. A Milwaukee County Circuit Court jury awarded more than $99 million to the widows of three ironworkers on Dec. 1, 2000. They were killed July 14, 1999, when the Big Blue crane crashed during construction of Miller Park. The jury decided that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America, the general contractor on the stadium project, should pay 97 percent of the verdict.

 

Man visiting construction site killed by falling crane

The Associated Press

LAKELAND, Fla. – A crane at a residential construction site snapped off its boom and fell on the crane operator’s 55-year-old friend, killing him, officials said. The victim, Harry Weaver, had driven the crane operator to the job site in a residential golfing community in south Lakeland Wednesday, said Rusty Parsons, an employee of Crane & Rigging of Florida, also known as Tru-Fab Inc. Weaver was “his best friend, really,” Parsons said. “It’s a tough time here.” Police could not confirm the crane operator’s name. Weaver did not work for the construction company, police said. “It certainly sounds like a case of an individual that was possibly somewhere where he shouldn’t have been,” said Chris Smith, a Pinellas Park construction safety consultant and owner of Crane Certifications. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. Information from: Tampa Tribune

 

Investigation into motorway electrocution
Investigation continues into the death of Greg Cousins, 20, who died before Christmas on an M1 slip road near Dunmurry, Belfast, after a crane contacted overhead power cables. Mr Cousins was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

 

Accident Sends Worker Flying 80 Feet

By KPIX – Joe Belden

Three people are lucky to be alive after a dramatic accident in San Francisco’s Union Square. Friday morning, a taxicab slammed into a cherry picker, sending the worker inside the basket flying 80 feet through the air. The lifting arm of the cherry picker crashed down on the cab, pinning the driver and his passenger inside. Amazingly, no one was seriously hurt. But all three were taken to San Francisco General for treatment of moderate injuries. For more Bay Area news and information, visit the PIX Page at kpix.com.

 

Falling Crane Kills 5, Injures 91 in Chinese School

By REUTERS, Filed at 4:51 a.m. ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – A huge construction crane toppled onto a school building in western China, killing five people and injuring more than 90 students as it sliced through the structure, officials and state media said Wednesday. “Four students aged under 12 and the operator of the crane were killed,” a city official from Tianshui city in the western province of Gansu told Reuters by telephone. Nineteen students from the Tianshui school remained in hospital, including three in critical condition, he said. The Lanzhou Morning News said some 91 students were injured in the accident, which occurred Monday while children were in their afternoon lessons. The crane was in use at a nearby construction site when it toppled over onto the school building and “tore through the three-storey building from roof to bottom,” the newspaper said. The cause of the accident was still under investigation but the official said a mechanical fault in the crane might be to blame, the official said. Dozens of frightened parents waited anxiously at two local hospitals while their children received treatment Wednesday. “My son’s wounds are not severe but he obviously suffered severe mental trauma. He is scared of going to school,” Zhao Jinji, father of one 10-year-old victim, told Reuters. The accident offered another reminder of China’s poor safety standards. In July, the collapse of a gigantic gantry crane onto a Shanghai shipyard killed 36 people and prompted a broad investigation of the use of heavy machinery in the city. In March, an explosion at an elementary school in Jiangxi province killed 43 people, most of them children, prompting Premier Zhu Rongji to apologize to the nation and pledge to raise safety standards. Authorities blamed that blast on a deranged bomber and denied allegations from local residents that the children were making fireworks in the school when the explosion occurred. State media have said more than 40 school children die every day in China from “unnatural causes.”

 

Accident at Toyota kills man Sunday

By CHAS HARTMAN, 12/26/01

A Toyota subcontractor died after a crane tipped over Sunday morning at the company’s Georgetown plant, officials said. James R. Cline, 47, of Mt. Sterling, was working in the plant’s stamping shop at 1:50 a.m. Sunday when the accident occurred, said Rick Hesterberg, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky spokesperson. A mobile-type crane being operated by Cline tipped over, resulting in a fatal injury, Hesterberg said. The accident remains under investigation, Hesterberg said. TMMK is in its winter shutdown period, and subcontractors like Cline are performing work in the plant that couldn’t normally occur during regular operating hours, Hesterberg said. Cline worked for a company called Atlas out of Columbus, Ohio, Hesterberg said, and was not a TMMK employee. Our sincerest sympathy goes out to his family, Hesterberg said. It’s a very difficult situation especially at this time of the year.

 

ALCOA worker seriously injured

2001-12-25

Gary L. Harris Jr., an employee in the anode department of ALCOA Inc.’s Blount County smelting plant, was listed in serious condition at University of Tennessee Medical Center Monday after an on-the-job accident. ALCOA spokesperson Mike Infante said Harris was operating a crane Sunday when the machine’s jaws became lodged open. Harris was trying to determine why the jaws were stuck when they closed on his arm, Infante said. The Alcoa Fire Department responded and opened the jaws, freeing the man, he said. Harris was taken to Blount Memorial Hospital, then the University of Tennessee Medical Center where he underwent surgery. Infante said Harris would not lose his arm and, as of Monday morning, was “getting pulses back to all areas of his arm.” ALCOA Inc.’s internal safety department is investigating the incident.

 

Crane Working on Unit 5 Topples

Thursday, December 20, 2001, By RICK ROUSOS, The Ledger

LAKELAND — A big industrial crane working on Lakeland Electric’s Unit 5 generator Wednesday morning went out of control and toppled. Officials at the site said nobody was injured. No major damage was caused when the crane, operated by a worker from S & B Engineers and Constructors, tipped over about 7:15 a.m. The crane, which is capable of lifting 100 tons, crashed into a steel pipe support and a metal hand rail. If the crane had to crash at the site, officials said, it crashed in just the right place. The falling crane missed the nearby generator, a steam line, a nitrogen line and a control building filled with computers and monitors. “It could have been way, way worse,” said Bob Greever, a retired city employee working at the site as a consulting supervisor. “A few feet either way . . .” Unit 5, the city utility’s natural gas fired generator, had repeated troubles and outages after it was supposed to start working in April 1999, but it worked well in the months before being taken down in September for additional construction. Unit 5 was taken down Sept 15 for construction that will boost its power-generating capacity from 260 to 375 megawatts. It was supposed to be fired up for a test Thursday, but the crane mishap will delay that probably until Monday. The generator is scheduled to work full-blast, with any troubles ironed out, by March 1. A crane capable of moving the crashed crane was being hauled from Orlando to Lakeland late Wednesday.

 

Crane Fall Causes Fuel Leak

Web Producer: Tracey Christensen, Reported by: 11Alive Staff, Last Modified: 12/17/01 2:21:25 PM

A crane being used to hoist air conditioning units onto the top of a newly-constructed building in Atlanta tipped over and rammed the structure Monday morning. While no injuries were reported, the sideways crane spilled diesel fuel, forcing a rush of fire crews to the scene to monitor the leakage. The 11 a.m. accident happened at the site where a new Publix grocery store is being built at James P. Brawley and Martin Luther King Drive. Officials have already determined that the crane fell because it was not properly secured.

 

Teenage electrocuted near Belfast

online.ie 16 Dec 2001

A man has been killed in an accident near Belfast last night. The victim, in his late teens, was electrocuted after a crane struck an overhead cable. Ambulances were sent to the scene on the M1 motorway at Dunmurry but failed to revive the man and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

 

Only minor injuries after crane drops roof on home

By GEOFF CUNNINGHAM Jr., Staff Writer

FRANKLIN – Although injuries turned out to be minor, rescue workers had a scare on Tuesday when a crane strap broke sending the entire roof of a modular home crashing down on the unfinished structure. According to Franklin Fire Chief Scott Clarenbach, his crews were called to 228 Chance Pond Road about 1:30 p.m. on a report of a building collapse with entrapment. The incident occurred at a construction site where workers from Shawn Smith General Contractors of Maine were erecting a modular home. Chief Clarenbach said the trouble happened when the strap on a good-sized crane broke, dropping the modular home’s roof. According to the chief, the roof stuck a worker on the way down, but did not pin or trap the individual. The chief added that while the roof was damaged, the rest of the home was intact and did not collapse. The victim, whose name is not being released, was taken to Franklin Regional Hospital with what were said to be minor head and shoulder injuries. The chief said the crane strap broke as operators attempted to set the roof on the structure. While the roof did land on top of the building, the snapping of the strap caused the load to rotate and land out of place, striking the worker. Chief Clarenbach said that the fire department has notified both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the state Fire Marshal’s Office regarding the incident.

 

Interstate reopens following crash, spill

The Associated Press, 12/8/01 4:24 PM

LAPLACE, La. (AP) — Both westbound lanes of Interstate 10 reopened west of here Saturday after workers righted a huge crane truck that overturned, spilling about 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel and hydraulic fluid, Louisiana State Police said. The crane’s driver, William D. Lauga sustained knee and internal injuries Friday morning when his crane overturned onto its roof as Lauga was trying to pass a tractor-trailer which had stopped on the highway’s right shoulder, state police said. Lauga was hospitalized at River Parishes Hospital soon after the 11 a.m. accident. State police said he would be ticketed for careless operation of his vehicle. The crane truck, owned by B&G Cranes of Metairie, blocked both I-10 westbound lanes, part of the highway’s median and its shoulder, state police said.

 

Family gets $1.9 million after suing for crane accident

By LISA BOSE McDERMOTT of the Gazette Staff

A federal civil lawsuit settled out of court for $1.9 million. A Monroe, La., family sued Luckett Crane Service and its owner, Harold Luckett of Commerce, in federal court in Texarkana, Texas, for an on-the-job accident. Andrew Bradford King was a Fluor Daniel Corp. employee at Lamar Power Plant in Paris, Texas. A Luckett crane and operator were also at the plant on Jan. 22, 2000, when the accident occurred. The Kings alleged that the crane operator did not check to see that the load he was lifting was properly stabilized. In the course of minutes, the crane’s intake was lifted and swung to where King was working. Before King could escape, his right leg was trapped between a pipe and the intake. The bones of his lower right leg were crushed and his leg was nearly torn off. It was later amputated by doctors at a Paris hospital. The Kings argue the crane operator was not safe, properly trained and failed to follow warnings and perform a safe test. The case, according to Brady Paddock, settled just before a jury was selected. Settlements are not typically appealed.

 

UPDATE, Crane operator fined S$8,000 for violating safety practices

by Chia Hui Kheng

A crane operator has been fined S$8,000 for carrying out a lifting operation that violated safety practices, and which resulted in the death of a construction worker. Investigations showed that Chong Kee Ling was operating the crane in an unsafe manner and had overloaded it when the accident occurred while working on a semi-detached house in February this year. As a result, the crane carrying buckets of cement mix tilted forward and hit a worker, who fell some three metres to the ground and died on the spot. The Manpower Ministry says Chong’s registration as a crane operator has been revoked following his conviction in court. And it reminded all crane operators to follow mandatory safety requirements. The Ministry says it will take legal action against anyone who carries out unsafe crane operations that endanger the lives of others.

 

Crane Collapses Near St. Paul School

Students Taken To Nearby School

Posted: 12:13 p.m. CST November 13, 2001

ST. PAUL — Students and staff members at a St. Paul school had a hectic morning after a crane collapsed at a nearby construction site. The large crane (pictured, left) tipped as crews were completing a construction project near East St. Paul Lutheran School. The crane, which was mounted on a truck, hit a power line and punctured a propane tank. The arm of the crane struck the ground, tilting the truck onto one wheel. School staff members and students were taken to a nearby school. No injuries were reported.

 

Student killed on first day at docks

Employer and manager deny charges of manslaughter

Paul Kelso, Thursday November 8, 2001

A student decapitated by the jaws of a crane excavator two hours after starting work at a dockyard was the victim of gross and criminal negligence on the part of his employer, the Old Bailey heard yesterday. Simon Jones, 24, was killed in May 1998 on his first day’s employment as a stevedore at Shoreham harbour, West Sussex. The jaws of a clam-shaped grab, used for moving large quantities of slag and aggregate, accidentally closed over his head and neck fracturing his skull and severing his head. He died within seconds. Shipping company Euromin Ltd and Richard Martell, the general manager of Euromin’s Shoreham base, deny charges of manslaughter. Euromin denies a further three charges of health and safety regulations in connection with Mr Jones’s death. Patrick O’Connor, opening the case for the prosecution, said Mr Jones had been sent to work for one day as a casual labourer at Shoreham harbour by employment agency Personnel Selection. He arrived for work at 8am, and was told to assist in the unloading of bags of stones and loose aggregate from the hold of the Cambrook, a Polish cargo ship that had docked that morning. Mr Jones was given no instruction by anyone in a position of responsibility, and was issued with no safety equipment. The court heard his job was to attach the bags of stones to chains hanging from the underside of the clam-shaped grab, which was open. He was killed when the lever that operated the jaws of the grab got caught in the clothing of the crane operator, Jim Harris, causing the jaws to close. Mr O’Connor said Mr Harris could not see inside the hold. “Simon Jones was placed beneath and at times between the jaws of that grab,” Mr O’Connor said. “He was placed in danger of his life because the grab weighs over two tonnes and closes silently and quickly in about two seconds. “At about 10.15am Simon Jones was killed when the jaws closed suddenly, crushing his head. He died of massive fractures to the skull.” The court heard the accident happened so fast that Sean Currey, who was working alongside Mr Jones, was not aware of it until he heard a noise. Mr O’Connor said that although Mr Martell was not present on the morning that Mr Jones was killed he was in sole charge of safety at the site, and had devised the system which led to the death. He said Martell’s actions had shown a wilful disregard for danger to human life. The role of Mr Harris, who had since died, was “inadvertent and accidental,” Mr O’Connor said. The court heard that operating instructions posted inside the cab of the excavator crane were ignored by Euromin in ordering Mr Jones into the hold below the clam-shaped grab. The instructions made it clear that no one should be in the grab’s area of operation during its use. The court heard that there was no need for the clam-shaped grab to be used at all, as Euromin had a hook attachment on site that could have been used, allowing the bagged stones to be removed with ease. Ten weeks before the accident Mr Martell ordered staff to weld hooks to the inside of the clam-shaped grab, so that instead of stopping work to change the excavator attachment, the hooks could be used with the jaws of the grab open. There were other factors that contributed to Mr Jones’s death. The “hatchman” responsible for communications between the crane operator and the hold was a Polish seaman, rather than an experienced hatchman. Mr O’Connor said that Mr Martell’s management of the Euromin site meant he was culpable in the death of Mr Jones. The trial continues.