Crane & Bucket Truck Accidents page 1

Crane Accidents #1

Damaged Ohio 29 bridge to remain closed until late December

November 3, 2001 – Ohio Department of Transportation representatives met Thursday to discuss the repairs of the bridge on Ohio 29 over Interstate 75 damaged earlier this week when a truck hauling a crane struck the bridge, which will remain closed for several weeks. Dave Fisher, ODOT County Manager, said a contract had been agreed upon, and work will begin next week on the repair work. As expected, two beams will have to be removed and replaced. The work is scheduled to be complete sometime before the end of December. The bridge will remain closed until then. ODOT spokeswoman Rhonda Higgins, reported that Eagle Bridge of Sidney was awarded the contract. The repairs are expected to cost in the neighborhood of $200,000. She could not say yet where the liability and subsequent responsibility for payment for the repairs would fall. The detour for Ohio 29 is to take Interstate 75 to either the County Road 25A or Ohio 47 exits and get back on the route.

 

50-ton traffic stopper

By James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer

A gust of wind toppled a 50-ton hydraulic crane onto the northern end of Route 53 early Thursday morning, closing all three southbound lanes and leaving traffic a mess. In an instant, the expressway became a parking lot. And, as minutes and hours went by, traffic ground to a halt not just on Route 53 but on streets and roads that feed the expressway. Palatine Police Commander Alan Stoeckel said the accident happened around 4 a.m. Stoeckel said Palatine assisted until Illinois State Police personnel arrived on the scene around 6:30 a.m. Illinois State Police Sgt. Bill Burge said all lanes were finally opened at 6:10 p.m. The delays stretched far beyond the accident site – into DuPage County, along I-90, and on side roads throughout the North and Northwest suburbs. They tied up traffic far into the afternoon. John Bianchi said he was traveling from Long Grove to his job as a Rolling Meadows police dispatcher at 4:30 p.m. Normally the trip would have taken him 15 minutes. “It took me probably an hour to get here,” Bianchi said. “It was pretty bad. Lake-Cook was just stopped.” Buffalo Grove Police Corp. Rich Hyland said congestion was created along Dundee Road and Rand Road, due to traffic being diverted. “There were more cars trying to enter 53 through the Dundee entrance,” Hyland said. Stoeckel said Palatine police received a lot of phone calls from angry motorists, particularly during the middle of the day. “Tempers were getting a little heated because people had to stay in traffic a little longer,” Stoeckel said. “We were trying to inform them that it was the state police’s jurisdiction.” It all started as workers were maneuvering the over-the-road Dundee Road exit sign at the Route 53 and Lake-Cook Road interchange to switch it from a steel support frame to an aluminum frame, officials said. A wind gust grabbed the exit sign just as it was being moved. The sudden shift of the sign caused the crane, owned and operated by Crane & Steel Inc., of Addison, to be flung backward, officials said. The crane teetered and the workers bolted just as the steel support beam crashed to the ground, officials said. Nobody was hurt, but a steel erector beam sliced through a 25-foot-high wooden retaining wall along the highway and crashed onto a steel roadside barrier. Diesel fuel and hydraulic fluid spilled onto the road. The Palatine Fire Department arrived and draped the spilled chemicals with sand. The entrance to Route 53 from Lake-Cook Road was closed, and traffic was diverted to the Dundee Road entrance. No official finding on the cause of the accident was released Thursday, but fire officials and representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration all pointed to powerful winds as the likely culprit. “Nothing was done wrong,” said Diane Kinser, president of Crane & Steel Inc. “It was definitely the wind. One minute it was there, the next it wasn’t.” “It’s like driving your car on a windy day,” Kinser said. “If you’re trying to put something one place and the wind’s trying to put it in another, it can be difficult.” Crews decided it would be no use trying to right the crane because it was too heavy, so they decided to dismantle it and remove it in pieces, an Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman said. Blow torches were used to slice up the crane’s extension arm and another crane was brought in to set the cabin compartment back on its wheels as continuous gusts of wind hindered the cleanup, officials said. Diane Turek, area director at OSHA’s Des Plaines office, said little is known about the accident so far, but citations will be issued if any safety violations are uncovered. Crane & Steel, Inc. does not have any significant history of safety violations, Turek said. “They haven’t been a major thorn in our side, but they’ll get to know us now,” she said. OSHA recently launched a special initiative in the Chicago area to assure safe crane operations. The most recent data from Illinois and the U.S. Bureau of Labor show Illinois had 50 crane accidents involving worker injuries, including a fatality in 1999. That, combined with several Loop-area crane incidents in recent months sparked the safety initiative, officials said. Daily Herald staff writer Steve Zalusky contributed to this report.

 

Crane topples over at Rock Prairie construction site

A truck crane toppled backwards while being used at a shopping center construction site near the intersection of Rock Prairie Road and Longmire Drive in College Station on Wednesday. No injuries were reported in the accident and the owner of the crane could not be reached for comment.

 

Accident snarls I-65 traffic

Oct 10, 2001

LACON — A Rogersville man was injured Tuesday when he reportedly lost control of the huge 180-ton crane he was driving northbound on I-65 down Lacon Mountain, struck a guardrail and flipped upside down in the median, snarling southbound interstate traffic for more than five hours. David W. Roach, 35, was airlifted by Medflight helicopter to Huntsville Hospital where he was listed in stable condition. According to a report by State Trooper Kenny Waldrop, the 12:50 p.m. accident started in Cullman County and ended up in the southern edge of Morgan County, about three miles south of Falkville. Trooper Waldrop said Roach, a driver for the Barnhart Crane Co. in Rogersville, said he was northbound on I-65 and was travelling downhill on Lacon Mountain at a speed of between 50 and 52 miles per hour when his right front tire dropped off the edge of the pavement, sending his rig into the right side guardrail. According to the driver, he attempted to correct his vehicle and guide it back onto the interstate, but instead over-corrected and drove through both northbound lanes before coming to rest upside down in the median. Troopers estimated that the rig traveled a distance of close to a quarter of a mile from the point of the initial impact to the point where the huge machine finally came to rest near the 318 mile marker. No other vehicles were involved, troopers said.  The northbound lanes of I-65 remained open, but the southbound lanes between mile markers 318 and 310 (Alabama Highway 157 exit) were closed to through traffic until around 6:15 p.m. while wrecker and crane crews worked to upright the massive crane. “They tried for the longest to lift the crane using three huge wreckers, but all they succeeded in doing was gouging some holes in the interstate where the wreckers dug in an attempt to lift the crane,” said State Trooper Stan Livingston. “They finally had to call in a second crane to help flip the crane back onto its wheels.” Once the crane could be moved, workmen with the Alabama Department of Transportation began patching holes created by the wreckers and crane. The southbound lanes were then reopened to through traffic at about 6:15 p.m.  For 5 1/2 hours southbound traffic on I-65 was detoured to U.S. Highway 31 through Vinemont and Cullman. At one point, the two lanes of traffic on the highway were backed up past Hurricane Creek Park. Members of Falkville Rescue & Fire and Vinemont/Providence Volunteer Fire Department assisted with traffic control at the scene.  Meanwhile, a Cullman teenager critically injured in a two-vehicle accident Monday was upgraded to serious condition in the intensive care unit at UAB Hospital in Birmingham. Erica Gibbs, 16, was injured when the 1998 Mazda 626 she was driving collided with a 2000 Chevrolet Suburban driven by Cynthia Hogue, 32, of Vinemont at the intersection of Brantley Ave. Northwest and Second Avenue around 1:24 p.m. Monday.  Her brother, Emory C. Gibbs IV, 15, was also injured, but was later treated and released from Cullman Regional Medical Center.  According to investigating Cullman Police Officer Jeff Warnke, witnesses indicated that the Gibbs vehicle was travelling west on Brantley Avenue and was attempting to cross Highway 31 when it apparently pulled into the path of the Hogue vehicle, which was travelling northbound in the inside lane of U.S. 31.  The Hogue vehicle reportedly struck the Gibbs car in the driver’s side door, trapping Erica inside for a time. She was airlifted from the scene to the UAB Trauma Center.  There were no injuries in the Hogue vehicle.

 

Crane near World Trade Centre topples over

A WORKER managed to scramble to safety after the crane he was operating toppled over at a construction site next to the World Trade Centre yesterday morning. A site supervisor said that the operator was warming up the crane, which was not fully extended, when it began to fall. Workers said the site was mostly deserted when the accident occurred at 8.30 am. ‘The crane was tipping over slowly and then it crashed to the ground with a bang,’ said Mr Yeo Poh Beng, 58, a boatman at the Singapore Port Institute.  ‘Luckily, it was still early, so there weren’t a lot of people about – the crane operator seemed pretty shaken though.’ No one was hurt, although the toppled crane blocked part of the road near the Cable Car Towers. The company responsible for the crane, Samsung Construction, said the accident was due to human error.

 

Man electrocuted in crane accident
From AAP, October 10, 2001

A MAN is in hospital in a serious condition after receiving an electric shock from high tension powerlines while operating a crane in Melbourne’s west. The 50-year-old man was in the crane at the Victoria University of Technology, on the corner of Geelong and Ballarat roads in Footscray, when the crane hit the overhead powerlines about 9.20am (AEST). A Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokesman said the man was hit by 100,000 volts of electricity and suffered entry and exit wounds.  He said the man was taken by MICA (mobile intensive care) ambulance to Western Hospital in a serious condition.  The spokesman said the man was conscious and talking to paramedics.

 

Man, 41, in good condition after crane runs him over

Wednesday, October 10, 2001

Recent rains are the likely reason a 41-year-old construction worker was able to get up this morning after he was run over by a boom crane outside the Kinder Morgan energy plant, 2219 Chapin St.  Brick Whitehead of Sand Creek didn’t see the crane before it backed over him, Jackson Police Deputy Chief Matt Heins said. The boom crane operator said he did not see Whitehead, Heins said. The soft, muddy ground cushioned the impact and pushed him into the ground, Heins said. Whitehead was able to get up and walk away. The imprint of his body was visible in the mud as rescue workers arrived around 7:30 a.m., Heins said.  Whitehead was taken to Doctors Hospital by ambulance to be examined because he had no visible injuries, Heins said.  Whitehead could not be reached, but he was listed as in good condition this morning at Doctors Hospital. The former Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. site is undergoing $250 million worth of construction. Kinder Morgan officials hope to complete the project by the summer of 2002 and said when complete, the 550-megawatt plant could supply up to one-third of Michigan’s current energy shortfall.

 

Wayward crane knocks out power to some

Tuesday, October 9, 2001, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF

Power to 5,900 Seattle customers was knocked out for about two hours yesterday after a crane struck some overhead power lines. The accident happened about 4 p.m. near Eighth Avenue North and Roy Street, Seattle City Light spokesman Larry Vogel said. The crane operator was not hurt in the accident. Homes and businesses in the Magnolia and Queen Anne neighborhoods were affected, he said. Power was restored shortly after 6 p.m. “We were very lucky the damage was minimal,” Vogel said.

 

Crane Operator Rescued From Perch

A crane operator who had complained of feeling faint at his perch about 150 feet in the air, had to be lowered to safety Friday at Greenville Memorial Hospital. Several rescuers climbed the crane to secure the crane operator to a rescue basket, which they then lowered to the ground. The crane is in place as part of the construction of a new patient wing at the hospital on Grove Road in Greenville. The operator was taken to emergency room and released from the hospital this afternoon.

 

Two trapped, two missing after silo collapse

CARSON, California (CNN) — A wastewater treatment cylinder collapsed at a construction site Thursday, trapping several workers. Six were rescued with fractures or minor injuries, but two or three were still missing. The workers were in construction cranes or on scaffolding 100 feet above ground that fell when the concrete cylinder to be used for wastewater treatment collapsed, officials said. The missing workers could be buried under wood, cement or other debris, they said. Urban search and rescue teams were trying to find them. The rescued workers suffered fractures and sprains and were taken to Harbor-UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles, about 15 miles to the north. The accident happened at 8:15 a.m. (11:15 a.m. EDT)

 

Worker links crane strap, sculpture damage

A crane operator, criticized after part of The River Speaks was dropped onto Second Street, says he was overruled when he recommended a metal strap be used to hoist the artwork.

By Jason Brudereck, Eagle/Times

William M. Layton a crane operator for 36 years said it is not his fault that a 31/2-ton section of a sculpture crashed onto Second Street after a strap securing it to a crane snapped. Layton offered to use a metal strap to secure the sculpture to the crane, but the sculpture’s manufacturer instead chose a fabric strap, he said. I said, ‘If there are any sharp edges, they could possibly cut the strap,’ Layton said. Representatives from A.R.T. Research Enterprises, the Lancaster firm that constructed the sculpture and is conducting the installation, told Layton that their choice for the strap was fine, he said. Obviously, there was a sharp edge up there that cut that strap, Layton said. On Thursday, half of a 40-foot-tall outdoor sculpture called The River Speaks was accidentally cut loose from the crane as the twisting, stainless steel sculpture was being lifted into place at Second and Penn streets in front of the Gateway Building. The $189,400 sculpture hit the ground and toppled over into a lane that was not closed to traffic, but no one was injured. The sculpture’s mirrored finish was tarnished and dented by the fall. The joint used to attach the bottom and lower halves of the sculpture was damaged. Repairs were made and the top half was attached Thursday after Layton was replaced by another man at the insistence of representatives from A.R.T., who said installation might not be finished until later this week. It may take longer to replace several of the sculpture’s tarnished and dented steel plates. Donald Dickinson, Layton’s boss and owner of Dickinson Crane Service, Bern Township, said he was not at the site Thursday and could not confirm Layton’s account. He added that the matter will be handled by insurance companies. A.R.T. officials did not return calls seeking comment. William S. Kirkpatrick, chairman of the Reading Fine Arts Board, arrived at the scene Thursday just as the accident happened. He had said he was told the strap securing the sculpture was old and worn out, and that Layton was impatient, perhaps moving the sculpture too quickly. Layton disputed that and claimed the strap was new and that he is an expert crane operator. Numerous completion dates for the project were set and missed over the past two years. In May 1999 the board recommended the Reading Redevelopment Authority commission the sculpture, with the hope it would be installed by December 1999. The money for the project came from the authority, which requires developers who want to build in a redevelopment area to pay 1 percent of the project cost into a fine arts fund or install art with the same value.

 

Boeing worker killed in launch pad accident

The Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A Boeing employee was killed while performing routine maintenance at a launch pad that is under construction, officials said Tuesday. Bill Brooks, 47, a 10-year employee of the company, was pinned by an overhead crane Monday evening at Launch Complex 37 inside Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Boeing officials said. He was dead on arrival at Cape Canaveral Hospital. The crane was being moved slowly, as part of monthly maintenance, when the accident occurred, said company spokesman Ron Larivee. Launch Complex 37, once completed, will accommodate Boeing’s new Delta IV unmanned rocket. Boeing, the Air Force and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the accident. A subcontractor employee was killed in another part of Launch Complex 37 in July; he was struck by a high-pressure pipe.

 

Hedgesville man killed when crane goes off road

By GEOFF BROWN

HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. – A 51-year-old Hedgesville man was killed early Thursday when the 25-ton crane truck he was driving ran off a narrow road a half-mile from his house and rolled down a steep embankment, West Virginia State Police said. William R. “Bill” Weigle, of Butts Mill Road, worked for Mack Trucks in Hagerstown, and also owned and operated Weigle’s Welding and Crane Service, according to his family. It was unclear where Weigle was heading at about 7:25 a.m. Thursday. State Police Cpl. J.L. Folk said Weigle was driving the crane north on Butts Mill Road a mile short of W.Va. 9 when he apparently got too close to the edge of the narrow road, “dropped a wheel over and tipped … and rolled down a 20-foot embankment.” Weigle was trapped inside the cab of the crane and died at the scene of the accident, Folk said. Rescuers answered a 7:30 a.m. call to the accident, Folk said. There were no other vehicles involved and no witnesses to the accident, Folk said. Mike Weigle, the brother of William Weigle, said the road is narrow with nothing but a gravel shoulder, and has steep dropoffs. William Weigle used his crane to help raise rafters for churches free of charge, and used it for a side business in construction, his brother and father said Thursday. Weigle found out just Wednesday that he was going to be a father for the first time, Mike Weigle, said. “I was aggravating him yesterday, said ‘You’re going to be 70 by the time the kid’s in high school,'” said Mike Weigle, who also lives on Butts Mill Road. William Weigle and his wife, Delia, were excited about the prospect of a child, and were making plans about where the baby should sleep and what kind of a bed to get, Mike Weigle said. “He’s a hell of a brother,” Mike Weigle said. “He’s helped a lot of people.” Weigle’s father, Vaughn Weigle, described a hard-working son who was trying to save for the future. “He seemed to work all the time,” Vaughn Weigle said. “He paid his bills and tried to make as much money as he could, but it didn’t do any good.”

 

UPDATE, Lacoochee worker crushed by highway support beam

The 32-year-old was working on a project along the Florida Turnpike when a cable holding the beam snapped. By BRADY DENNIS ) St. Petersburg Times,published September 11, 2001

A construction accident in Kissimmee early Monday killed a 32-year-old Pasco County man. David Knight of 21026 Palmer Ave. in Lacoochee was killed about 2 a.m. when a cable hoisting a 150,000-pound support beam snapped. The beam crushed Knight and Enrique Aguilar, 22, of Mount Dora. It also covered the road with debris and closed the northbound lanes of the Florida Turnpike. Knight and Aguilar were working for a construction company on a county contract to build a pedestrian walkway over the highway, said Carole Garcia of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office. After the accident, a medical helicopter took both men to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead. The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Highway Patrol and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were investigating the accident Monday. A 51-mile stretch of the northbound highway was closed between Yeehaw Junction and the Osceola Parkway, FHP officials said. Traffic headed north from South Florida was detoured at Yeehaw Junction for hours. Only one southbound lane was open. Knight’s family could not be reached for comment Monday.

 

Two workers killed, northbound Turnpike closed in Osceola County

The Associated Press

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The northbound lanes of the Florida Turnpike were closed Monday after a cable hoisting a 150,000-pound support beam snapped, fatally crushing two construction workers and covering the road with debris. The workers were identified as David Knight, 32, of Pasco County, and Enrique Aguilar, 22, of Mount Dora. They were helping build a pedestrian walkway over the highway when the cable snapped. They were taken to the Orlando Regional Medical Center in Orlando where they were pronounced dead. A 51-mile stretch of the northbound highway was closed between Yeehaw Junction and the Osceola Parkway, said Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Chuck Williams. Traffic headed north from South Florida was detoured at Yeehaw Junction for hours. The southbound lanes later were put to use for both directions.  The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office was investigating the deaths as accidental.

 

Crane mishap closes Hathaway

TONY SIMMONS, The News Herald

Hundreds of motorists were forced to idle on both sides of the Hathaway Bridge Friday morning after a crane that is being used to build the new bridge knocked power lines across all four lanes of the current span. No one was injured, and property damage was minimal. Utility workers cleared the obstruction, and traffic was moving again by 10 a.m., about 40 minutes after the lines fell. The Florida Highway Patrol and Bay County Sheriff’s Office said a crane operated by Robert Waters, 40, of Panama City, struck power lines beside the bridge. With the lines draped across the crane, Waters stayed inside the vehicle until the flow of electricity could be cut off. “I don’t know that he was ‘trapped,’ but he was complying specifically with recent instructions we have given equipment operators,” said Bill Jackson, a spokesman for Granite Construction, the Tampa-based firm contracted to build the new bridge. “It is important to stay inside the equipment until the electricity can be disconnected, unless the equipment is on fire,” Jackson said. “That’s to protect him from the possibility of being electrocuted.” Waters was not hurt. The crane was not on the bridge, said Jackson, who spoke by telephone from Granite’s corporate office in Tampa. It was in a work area by the northeastern corner of the bridge. “They were in the process of loading the crane onto a low-boy trailer to carry it to the other end of the bridge,” Jackson said. “It backed toward the bridge into a driveway, then pulled toward the roadway. “It was on the shoulder of the road, facing westbound, with its boom lowered 10 degrees from the horizontal” when the accident occurred, Jackson said. “With it down at that angle, it significantly obstructs the view to the operator’s right.” A Bay County deputy helped control traffic and called for assistance from Gulf Power Company. “In the beginning, we had the eastbound lane totally closed and the westbound lane moving very slowly,” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Emily Balazs said. “We escorted Gulf Power trucks to the scene, and within just a few minutes they had the lines off the bridge.” Steve Higginbottom, spokesman for Gulf Power in Pensacola, said no customer outages occurred as a result of the accident. “The crane got into a secondary line that crosses U.S. 98 and feeds into some roadside lighting, so no stores or customers were involved,” Higginbottom said. “The only vehicle in contact with the wire was the crane.” Higginbottom said Waters did the right thing by staying put and waiting for help to arrive. “That was a smart thing for him to do,” Higginbottom said. “If there’s a wire on your car, you do not want to get out of the car. Never assume it’s dead. Always assume it’s live, and if it’s on your vehicle, stay in your vehicle.” Florida Highway Patrol Trooper R.K. Hunley, who investigated the accident, estimated damage to the crane at $1,200. The bridge was not damaged. Compared to the larger, floating monster cranes that are employed in bridge construction, this crane was relatively small, Jackson said – a 35-ton rough terrain crane designed for mobility and use in smaller workspaces. Jackson said he was not aware of any other significant traffic delays that had been caused by the construction work. The new, $80 million bridge will have twin spans with three lanes each. The first 200-ton segment will be placed on pilings this fall. Completion is scheduled for summer 2003. Work began with about 60 workers on-site, and employment should peak at about 200 workers.

 

UPDATE, OSHA fines marine company after accident

By: Karyn-Lynn Fisette September 06, 2001

Three citations were issued to M.G. Marine for misuse of a crane that collapsed early last month, landing on a dry dock behind the former Harbor Marine on Water Street. Mark Ginalski, owner and operator of M.G. Marine, was fined $1,500 by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) for failure to comply with the limitations specified by the manufacturer of the crane. A second violation was issued for failure to post load capacities, operating speeds, hazard warnings and instructions on the equipment. And a third citation was issued for failure to have the crane inspected by “a competent and/or recognized person.” The OSHA Citation and Notification of Penalty also stated that the three citations were grouped “because they involve similar or related hazards that may increase the potential for injury resulting in an accident.” Mr. Ginalski and his lawyer refused to make a comment regarding the condition of M.G. Marine equipment or the citations issued by OSHA.

 

An Evergreen Park man was killed Saturday when the crane he was operating at the CSX rail yard in Bedford Park collapsed, fire officials said.

Bedford Park firefighters were called to the rail yard at 7000 W. 71st St. at 5:52 a.m. to try to rescue a worker, said Lt. Wayne Hanson. The employee, identified as Warren Kubick, 58, by the Cook County medical examiner’s office, was using the crane to lift train cars onto trucks when the machine collapsed, Hanson said. The cause of the accident was uncertain Saturday, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Bedford Park police were investigating, Hanson said. It took firefighters using hydraulic lifts and other equipment more than 5 1/2 hours to extricate the crane operator, Hanson said. Kubick, of the 2900 block of West 101st Place, was pronounced dead at the scene, Hanson said.

 

Damages Awarded In Freeway Crane Accident

A rental company paid almost $500,000 in restitution Wednesday to settle a case in which a truck driver towing a crane took an unauthorized route and struck an overpass on Interstate 8, 10News reported. The criminal charges against Anthony Crane Rental, doing business as Maxim Crane, were dismissed when the company paid for damages stemming from the Aug. 15, 2000, accident. As part of a plea agreement with city prosecutors, Anthony Crane Rental also agreed to establish written procedures for drivers and dispatchers to follow when transporting cranes on California freeways, according to 10News. “Companies and their employees that violate Caltrans transportation permits are going to be held accountable to pay for the damages they cause,” San Diego City Attorney Casey Gwinn said. The driver of the truck, Leonard Francis Putt, and a dispatcher for Anthony Crane Rental, Jon Patrick Senecal, pleaded no contest in June to violating the terms of the special permit by allowing the crane to be driven off the permitted route. Each defendant was ordered to pay a $500 fine, $100 in restitution and serve three years probation. In addition, they were ordered to pay restitution to Caltrans for damages to the overpass. No one was injured in the accident, which happened when Putt drove the truck southbound on state Route 163 in Mission Valley, causing the crane to strike the Interstate 8 overpass, 10New reported. The accident shut down the freeway and overpass lanes for several hours. Repair work was completed on the overpass last March.

 

Construction worker loses arm in collapse of historic Savannah building

By Russ Bynum, Associated Press

SAVANNAH — A construction worker preparing to move a Civil War-era building from its foundation was critically injured Thursday when the building collapsed. A trauma surgeon had to amputate the man’s arm before he could be pulled from the rubble. A construction crew had raised the one-story brick building, part of Savannah’s old manufactured gas plant, onto steel rails so it could be moved to allow environmental cleanup work beneath its foundation. The injured worker was checking the rigging that held up the building Thursday morning when the building collapsed. A steel beam pinned his left arm, which was amputated so rescue workers could free him. ”It would have taken a very heavy piece of equipment, a crane, to free his arm, and it would have taken a very long time,” said Assistant Savannah Fire Chief John Rintoul. ”The whole idea is to get him out alive.” Authorities said the worker was in critical condition at Memorial hospital in Savannah. His name was not immediately released. A second worker also pulled from the debris was treated for minor cuts and bruises. Both men worked for International Chimney Corp. of Buffalo, N.Y., which had been hired to move and preserve the historic building by Atlanta Gas Light, which owns the 10-acre property near Savannah’s riverfront. The site on the edge of the Savannah historic district was used to convert coal into natural gas to heat homes and power industry from 1853 to 1953. The collapsed building, built in 1866, housed engines that powered the gas plant. Most recently it had been used as an apartment. The cause of the collapse was not known. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. Atlanta Gas Light plans to sell the property to a developer, but first must remove coal-tar residue beneath the engine building, said company spokesman Shawn Davis. The building was to be moved a few hundred feet from the site so it wouldn’t be damaged during the clean up. ”It was an admirable effort and it’s a shame it wasn’t successful, and more regrettable that someone was injured,” Davis said. The building sat about 15-feet above street level, and its collapse sent bricks and its roof crashing onto the sidewalk below. Police were forced to close the east end of Bay Street, one Savannah’s busiest downtown streets.

 

Worker injured at convention center site

From staff reports, The Natchez Democrat
Published Friday, August 31, 2001 12:07 AM CDT
A Vicksburg construction worker’s arm was amputated Thursday afternooon in an accident at the site of the new Natchez Convention Center. Danny Warner was transported to University Medical Center by ambulance Thursday just after noon after his right arm was severed at the shoulder when a 5,100-pound piece of concrete was dropped on him, said Natchez Police Chief Willie Huff. Robert Shook, project manager for Carothers Construction at the Convention Center, said Warner and Mike Pickering, both with South Central Heating and Plumbing in Vicksburg, were working to install a concrete grease trap. The two were installing metal baffles in the underground grease trap at the center’s kitchen on the Wall Street side of the site when the accident happened. When the two finished the installation, Pickering began to lower the trap’s concrete lid into place with a crane. As Warner was guiding the lid over the trap, one of the straps holding the lid broke, and it fell on Warner, severing his arm. Shook said Pickering and several fellow plumbers followed Warner to the hospital, and that Pickering went all the way to Jackson. “It’s a sobering thing whenever something like this happens,” Shook said. “It’s part of the job, (but) I hate to see anybody get hurt.” Shook said the mood at the Convention site was quiet after the accident. “It was pretty sober after that,” he said. “Something like this wakes everybody up.”

Construction worker killed in Gardnerville accident

Associated Press, Thursday August 30th, 2001

GARDNERVILLE (AP) — A 39-year-old construction worker was killed Wednesday when he apparently fell from a crane in an accident at a new housing division in southwest Carson Valley. Raymond Eric Bauer, who recently moved to Nevada from southern California, was working in an aerial bucket on a crane when the machine tipped over, Douglas County Sheriff’s Sgt. Lance Modispacher said Tuesday. Bauer fell or jumped, struck his head and died, Modispacher said. The apparent cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, he said. The accident occurred just before 10 a.m. at a housing subdivision called the Job’s Peak Ranch in an area off Foothill Road in Gardnerville. Bauer was employed by M.C. Neuffer Co. of Reno. He had no permanent address in Nevada. An autopsy was planned and the accident remained under investigation. Modispacher said it was not clear whether the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration would join the probe.

 

UPDATE, Sunken crane to be pulled from river

By EILEEN STILWELL, Courier-Post Staff,

CAMDEN – Donjon Marine Co. is expected to pull a 110-ton cargo crane from the Delaware River today, a week after it toppled from a collapsing cargo pier. It will be placed on a barge and sold for scrap. The removal marks the first phase of what portends to be a lengthy investigation into what caused Pier 2 at Beckett Street terminal to give way and pitch the 55-year-old crane into the river. Normally, a bustling place, the pier was empty at the time, so no injuries were reported. At a regular meeting of South Jersey Port Corp. on Tuesday, board member Richard Alaimo said it was essential to determine the cause, not just fix the damage. The corporation is a quasi state organization that owns and operates Beckett Street and Broadway terminals in Camden. While old age and obsolete design of the 72-year-old pier are likely suspects, there are others. Pier 2 is surrounded by invasive work being done in the river to berth the USS New Jersey, an 888-foot battleship that is slated to open as a museum in September. Ninety- thousand cubic yards of river bed have been excavated to accommodate the 30-foot draw of the ship and massive pilings have been sunk 80-feet deep into the river bed to hold anchor plates.  Piers 1 and 2, which represent about one-third of the berthing space at Beckett Street terminal, have been closed since the accident, along with two transit sheds. Remaining space is tight, but August is a slow month, said SJPC Executive Director Joseph Balzano. “I hope to rebuild as quickly as possible, but I don’t think we’ll replace the crane,” he said. SJPC is insured up to $5 million to replace the pier, said Paul Sherwin, of Sherwin Associates, a Cherry Hill firm that insures the port. Insurance also will pick up the $150,000 cost of removing the sunken crane. Any disturbance to the riverbed could have twisted the pilings that supported the pier, said Michael Fasnacht, vice president of engineering at S.T. Hudson Engineers Inc., which represents the port. Fasnacht sent divers down to look at the piers two days before the collapse to examine work recently completed by W. H. Steit Inc. of Hammonton. The company had replaced about 80 pilings under the 2,700 feet of wharf. The $2.6 million project began in January. When some irregularities were reported under Pier 2, Balzano shut it down.  On Wednesday, the pier cracked open. Despite efforts to support the crane, it fell into the water.  Had the divers not discovered underwater gaps, Balzano said, a ship carrying plywood from South America would have been docked in front of the crane Wednesday. “It could have been a disaster,” said Balzano. Construction of a hotel next to the Moshulu on the Philadelphia side, opposite Beckett Street, also is stirring up the river. While engineers and insurance inspectors begin to search for a cause, a private auditing firm hired by the New Jersey Department of Treasury is combing through the port’s corporation’s finances and management policies. The investigation began last week after acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco vetoed the corporation’s budget. A recommendation is expected by the end of October. The state began investigating SJPC after two board members submitted receipts from a port conference in Mexico that included visits to strip clubs. The port corporation’s finance director, Marc Orsimarsi, also has been demoted to an accounting position for failing to submit the expense vouchers to the full board for approval. Neither directors Robert Workman and John Clark, whose actions triggered the investigation, nor Orsimarsi attended Tuesday’s meeting.

 

Another Camden pier fails, sending crane into river

By JASON LAUGHLIN, Courier-Post Staff, CAMDEN

Port officials will retrieve a 110-ton crane that toppled into the Delaware River on Wednesday after an unstable pier gave way. The 55-year-old gantry crane should be recovered Monday but won’t be usable, South Jersey Port Corp. Executive Director Joseph Balzano said Thursday.  The 70-year-old pier is the second in two years to suffer structural failure on the Camden Waterfront. Balzano hopes the pier can be repaired. “There are always concerns,” Balzano said, referring to the safety of the older piers. “It’s up to the engineers to come out and take a look at it.” Longshoremen noticed a 125-foot crack in the dock near the crane about 8 a.m. Wednesday, Balzano said. Throughout the day, dockworkers sought a way to prop up the steel- framed crane as it settled lower and lower into the pier. It finally toppled into the river about 4:20 p.m., Balzano said. An inspection earlier this week revealed several of the pier’s pilings were dislodged, prompting the port corporation to try to stabilize it, Balzano said. The 1,000-foot private pier, which runs parallel to the river, didn’t completely collapse, but droops near the crane’s former site. A rail line servicing the Beckett Street Terminal pier also was damaged by the crack and is temporarily unusable. No one was injured. The port corporation placed an oil-absorbant containment boom in the water near the crane as a precautionary measure, though no oil had leaked. The state Department of Environmental Protection has not received any calls about environmental risks, a spokeswoman said Thursday. Officials hope to use a larger crane Monday to pull the fallen crane from the river. The fallen crane, which was used to load and unload cargo ships, could lift 25 tons, Balzano said. It was built in 1945, and the pier was constructed in the early 1930s. The pier is one of three on the Delaware River to experience problems in recent months:

In April 2000, a portion of another pier at another port corporation terminal collapsed into the river, taking several cars with it. That pier, at the Broadway Terminal, was nearly 100 years old, authorities said. In May 2000, Philadelphia’s Pier 34 collapsed, killing three employees of the New Jersey State Aquarium. That pier was more than 90 years old. Pier 34’s sea wall collapsed, authorities said. Balzano said the Beckett Street Terminal pier’s sea wall is still sound.

Worker crushed to death
Federal officials are investigating why a 5,000-pound sheet of metal fell on the plant manager at New York Depot Corp., killing him Aug.9. Police said that Jose Carlos Forte, 32, of Rosedale was on the ground directing the movement of a steel plate attached by chain to an excavator at the plant in Inwood that recycles soil. Witnesses said the chain either snapped or slipped off, causing the 8-by-20 foot roadway plate to drop on Forte’s head at about 9:15 a.m. “As they were lifting it up, the chain wasn’t secured properly, so it fell down and crushed him,” said Det. Sgt. William Cocks of the Nassau County Homicide Squad. “It’s a tragedy.” The employee operating the machine was able to get the plate off Forte, and Mike Grottola, who was hired last week to complete on-site crushing of cement, ran up the dirt mound to perform CPR on Carlos, as Forte was known. “He had no vital signs. I didn’t feel a pulse, so I gave him light CPR and he started breathing again,” Grottola said. He said he poured ice on Forte’s chest and wrapped a tourniquet around his head to stop the bleeding from the only visible wound. Grottola said Forte was still breathing when he carried him into the ambulance. No one else was injured, police said. Forte was rushed to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway, where he was pronounced dead at 9:55 a.m. A funeral was held on Monday morning at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale. His family could not be reached for comment. “He was close to me like my brother,” said New York Depot owner Joseph Aragona. “He’s been a friend for 17 years. Carlos was a construction specialist second to no one. This accident is something I will be trying to figure out for a while.” Aragona said Forte, who was born in Portugal, is survived by his wife. “I only met him last week, but he was so nice,” Grottola said. “It was a freak accident for a guy who didn’t deserve it.” The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating the cause of the accident. “Typically, these kinds of investigations could take up to six months,” said OSHA area director Harvey Shapiro. “We try to go as slowly as possible, looking for if whatever happened were violations of OSHA.” If there were violations, OSHA would issue citations against New York Depot, which would probably be accompanied by penalties, Shapiro said. “I hope that OSHA does a complete investigation into the entire operation of the facility because there are numerous occupational and health hazards on that site,” said Inwood resident Elisa Hinken, a main opponent of the plant. The site on which New York Depot operates is owned by the state Department of Transportation.The plant has been beset by many problems during the past year. Last July, neighbors took the Depot to court over the environmental concerns about the mountain of dirt on the site at 2 Bay Blvd. They are concerned that dust blowing off the roughly 40 feet high pile of dirt may be noxious. That question has delayed the Town of Hempstead from granting Aragona a permit to operate on the Inwood site. On Aug. 3, the Department of Environmental Conservation made a surprise inspection, said DEC spokesman Bill Fonda. “The DEC issued them a warning regarding dust abatement operations for not using a sprinkler system to keep the dust wet,” Fonda said. “If it happens again, the Depot could get a notice of violation and have to pay a fine.” The piles of dirt are also not to exceed 30 feet, but Fonda said the DEC gave the Depot permission to remain at 40 feet while it makes room for a new crusher device that will grind up concrete. After that, the pile heights will have to be in compliance. Fonda added that if the facility is operating without a town building permit, then it is up to the Town of Hempstead to enforce compliance, not the DEC. Another public hearing before the Board of Zoning Appeals about the dirt mountain has been scheduled for 3 p.m. Sept. 12, at the Town Hall Pavilion on Washington Street in Hempstead. The Department of Transportation required Aragona to post a $500,000 bond to guarantee that the mountain of dirt will be removed in the event that the recycling company vacates the property. “My facility has gotten shortchanged over the past seven months,” Aragona said. “I can’t understand why.”

 

Firm fined $125,000 after worker crushed

Welder was making steel frame at time of accident

CAMBRIDGE – A Cambridge company was fined $125,000 yesterday after one of its employees was crushed to death by a three-tonne steel frame. Jorge Ferreira, a 38-year-old welder, died April 4, 2000, at Orchid Automation on Fountain Street around 12:45 a.m., just before the end of his shift. Yesterday, company president Grant Bibby pleaded guilty in court to a charge of failing to ensure proper workplace procedures were followed under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act. The fine includes a $25,000 government-mandated victim surcharge. “It has been a very tragic experience for everybody. Everybody has taken this extremely seriously,” Bibby said after court. Ferreira’s widow, Paula, didn’t attend court. Ferreira has a teenage daughter from a previous marriage. Brian Fukuzawa, lawyer with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, told Justice of the Peace Dave Stafford that on the day of the fatality, Ferreira was welding a large steel frame that was secured by two large clamps and an overhead crane. Another worker needed the crane and it was detached, leaving only the clamps to secure the steel frame, Fukuzawa said. The worker told Ferreira to take a break as the frame wasn’t properly secured. Instead, the frame tipped and fell on top of Ferreira, crushing him to death. There were no witnesses to the accident so it isn’t known whether Ferreira continued working or not, Fukuzawa later said. Fukuzawa told Stafford that Orchid has no prior convictions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and has since spent $270,000 in workplace safety improvements, including the hiring of a health and safety manager. That money also includes $50,000 the company paid Ferreira’s widow, in addition to payments and benefits she was entitled to receive.  The company has also planted a tree and placed a plaque at the plant in Ferreira’s honour and marks the anniversary of his death with two minutes of silence, Fukuzawa said. Bibby was granted a year to pay the fine because he said the company is still struggling financially. He later said that when he and his partner bought the company in 1999, they assumed a debt of $3.6 million, which they have whittled down to $200,000.  At the time of the accident, Orchid, which makes automatic die-changing machines for the automotive industry, employed 85. Now it has 58 employees because of an economic downturn, he said.

UPDATE, ISU crane accident damage pegged at $100,000
By KEVIN SIMPSON, Pantagraph staff

NORMAL — A July 27 crane accident at Illinois State University caused about $100,000 in damage, mostly superficial, to the Performing Arts Center building and adjacent Williams Hall. The accident may have been caused by an unexpected change in wind direction that caused a massive steel arm from a tower crane to fall. There were no injuries. The ISU estimate includes materials and labor to make repairs to both buildings, spokesman Jay Groves said. Big Hook Crane Service President John Weaver was piloting one of three mobile cranes being used to lower the 15-ton, 240-foot steel arm, or jib. An easterly wind shifted to the northeast and caused the load to become unstable, Weaver said. The weight shift tipped Weaver’s crane, creating a chain reaction that crumpled booms on two other cranes as the tower arm crashed onto the arts center and Williams Hall. The peak wind speed was measured at 17 miles an hour, according to ISU weather gauges. Weaver initially estimated the total cost of the accident at $300,000, about $200,000 of which involved damage to the tower crane arm and the three smaller cranes. Weaver said his company’s insurance would cover most of the cost. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident, but an OSHA representative at the Peoria office could not be reached for comment Monday. The arts center is located on School Street west of downtown Normal and is scheduled for completion this fall. Williams Hall, which was built in 1940, is home to the College of Business.

Foreman Crushed To Death at Site

Theresa Vargas, August 10, 2001

A construction foreman from Queens died yesterday morning when a 5,000-pound sheet of metal fell on him at an excavation site in Inwood. Nassau police said Jose Carlos Forte, 32, of Rosedale, was on the ground directing a crane, which was moving the 8-by-20 foot roadway plate.  “As they were lifting it up, the plate slipped and it fell down and crushed him,” Homicide Squad Det. Sgt. William Cocks said. “It’s a tragedy.”  Forte was pronounced dead at St. John’s Hospital in Far Rockaway at 9:55 a.m. His family could not be reached for comment. No one else was injured, police said. Forte worked as a foreman for New York Depot, a soil-excavation recycling plant in Inwood. The company could not be reached for comment yesterday. Police said that it was Forte’s duty to secure the chain but that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is conducting an investigation.

Crane crash shock
STAFF at a North Sea service company in Aberdeen had a lucky escape yesterday when the jib of a 90-tonne mobile crane crashed through the roof of a workshop. Employees inside the building, including two female members of staff, escaped uninjured in the accident at Halliburton’s Don facility in Howemoss Crescent, Dyce. But one male member of staff who watched the accident happen had to be taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary suffering from shock. The accident happened shortly after 2pm when the mobile crane, which was being used in the back yard at the company’s facility, toppled over and struck the equipment repair workshop.

 

Crane collapses at ‘jinxed’ demolition site

By N. Srinivasan

A CRANE deployed at a demolition site opposite Mariah Cinema at Al Najda street in Abu Dhabi collapsed yesterday, the third accident at the site in less than ten days.  The crane operator is reported to have escaped unhurt and the debris hurtling down the building under demolition did not cause damage to any of the parked cars. According to eye-witnesses, the accident occurred around 8.30am and there were no passers-by, close to the site. “We are alarmed at the regularity with which the mishaps occur,” said a salesman at a shop in the vicinity, while expressing the fear that the entire site where massive building and demolition works are being carried out, is jinxed. The washrooms attached to his shop are inaccessible due to the debris strewn around, which he says, “has caused us considerable inconvenience,” he said. A worker at another construction site close by cited the need for proper training to crane operators as well as periodic maintenance of construction equipment, in order to prevent the recurrence of such accidents. “Fortunately, nothing untoward has happened, as far as human life and property are concerned. But anything could have happened,” he remarked. Police cordoned off the area and diverted traffic for a couple of hours, after the accident to clear the way.

 

UPDATE, Crane death sparks review

By MEAGHAN SHAW, PAUL ROBINSON and RICHARD BAKER, 7 August 2001

Tough new guidelines for cranes on building sites were issued late yesterday following the death of a construction worker on Sunday. Victoria’s biggest construction union has also called on the State Government to reintroduce laws to regulate crane safety. The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union outlined plans for an independent crane inspection service funded jointly by the union and employers through the building industry’s long-service-leave fund, Incolink. CFMEU state secretary Martin Kingham said unions had been campaigning for the Victorian WorkCover Authority to resume inspections since the Kennett government deregulated inspections in 1994. “We’re not sitting on our hands and waiting for the government to reintroduce a government-funded independent inspectorate,” he said. “The employers and unions have agreed to use our own resources to fund an independent inspectorate in the meantime.” A meeting of employers, union representatives and WorkCover yesterday endorsed new guidelines for raising the height of tower cranes after a 53-year-old worker was crushed during such an operation by four five-tonne counterweights on Sunday. The worker’s body was recovered yesterday from the Southbank site but police advised Whiteman Street would remain closed while the crane was dismantled. The guidelines, issued by WorkCover in a safety alert, state a crane engineer must inspect the counterweight trolleys before a crane is “jumped”. The alert advises that only the crane operator and erection rigging crew should be inside a safety zone when a crane is being raised, and no one should be permitted behind the tower, under the counterweights, during the operation. The guidelines are not backed by regulation, but failure to follow them could be used as evidence against a company being prosecuted for safety breaches. The government also announced a special team of WorkCover inspectors would conduct a blitz on construction sites using tower-assisted cranes. Mr Kingham also urged the government to speed up its proposed “industrial manslaughter” bill, which would provide jail sentences for company directors who endangered the lives of workers. The government later said it would introduce the laws in the spring session, which begins on August16.

Another worker dies in accident

By ZOE SMITH, Monday 6 August 2001

Construction workers will stop work today after Victoria’s fourth workplace death in 10 days. A 53-year-old construction worker was crushed yesterday by a steel counterweight that fell from a crane on a high-rise apartment building site in Melbourne’s Southbank. Today’s walkoff comes after building workers left the job last Friday over the death of a 42-year-old construction worker at a western suburbs building site. The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union said workers on all construction sites would leave work today as a mark of respect for their dead colleague. CFMEU state secretary Martin Kingham said he had known the worker well and was shocked by his death. Mr Kingham said the man, from Broadmeadows, was a long-time construction worker with a wife and adult children, who had been a union shop steward for 12 years. “It is just shocking,” he said. He condemned the death as outrageous and a shocking waste of life. The company operating the site, Central Equity, did not return phone calls yesterday. The union’s health and safety secretary, Pat Preston, said construction workers at the Whiteman Street site were “in severe shock” and were being counselled. Whiteman Street remained closed to traffic last night as police and WorkCover officials examined the scene of the accident. The accident happened about 12.30pm yesterday. The steel counterweight, of more than 20 tonnes, fell from a crane, demolishing four balconies. The worker, who was in a hoist on the side of the apartment block, was crushed by the weight. “A preliminary engineer’s report has said the site is safe but the crane must be dismantled as soon as possible,” Mr Preston said. Mr Kingham said the accident happened as the crane was being “jumped” – moved higher to accommodate the building’s upward progress. “It is work that takes place on a Sunday when there are not a lot of workers around because it is quite a dangerous job,” he said. Yesterday’s fatality was the fourth workplace death in Victoria in the past 10 days, including two on building sites. Last Thursday a 42-year-old father of four from Yarragon in eastern Victoria was crushed to death under a scissor lift while building a refrigerated storeroom at a site in Melbourne’s west. At the time Mr Kingham said workers would not return to work until a top-to-bottom safety inspection had been conducted on all sites. Last Monday maintenance worker Franjo Kupina, 45, died after being crushed by a furnace door at West Footscray. Another man, 62, was hit by a tree being felled at a farm at Koondrook, on the Murray River, on Wednesday. Their deaths take the number of workplace fatalities this year to 18. Last week the Master Builders Association estimated that Friday’s stoppage would affect 20,000 workers and cost $20 million in lost productivity, but the union suggested those figures should be doubled. The deaths come after Justice Philip Cummins fined Esso $2 million last Monday for breaching occupational health and safety laws that contributed to the deaths of two workers in the Longford gas explosion.

 

Crane topples in Wellington

A crane mounted on a truck toppled on The Terrace in Wellington when it tipped while attempting to lift a concrete block structure. No-one was injured and police diverted traffic while workers cleared the area. The concrete structure is on the side of the road and will be coned off overnight before attempts to move it into the drain on Friday. Senior Sergeant Paul Berry says it appears a support leg on the crane failed. Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the accident. It is the second crane accident in Wellington recently. And Tranz Rail’s Lynx Ferry was late into Wellington on Thursday afternoon due to a combination of high winds and a fishing boat taking up space in the busy port. Tranz Rail says very high winds meant the ferry was unable to safely manoeuvre around the fishing boat.

 

UPDATE, Outlook good for injured LES worker

BY MARGARET REIST Lincoln Journal Star

“Hi, mom.” Those two words made Anita Pellan’s day Thursday, if not her year. They probably rank right up there with the best two words she’s ever heard. Because such greetings – such casual, every-day kind of remarks — take on added significance when they’re said by your 34-year-old son just three days after 7,200 volts of electricity coursed through his body. They mean everything when you’ve sat by his bed in the Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center’s burn unit, when you’ve prayed for your heavily sedated son, a tube down his throat, life support equipment attached to his body. “We just took it moment by moment,” Pellan said Thursday of the accident that critically injured her son Mike Pellan – a Lincoln Electric System employee hit in the neck by a live electric line while he worked near 70th Street and Bluff Road Tuesday morning. “It was really great to hear his voice and realize he recognized us,” said Pellan of North Bend. Mike Pellan, who is unmarried and has two sisters and a brother, has had family members by his side since the accident. Dr. Chet Paul called the recovery miraculous – and he credited the Lincoln man’s survival to a co-worker who got him safely down from the “bucket” he was working in and performed CPR until help arrived. “In all likelihood, he saved his life, so that fellow is a hero,” Paul said. LES officials declined to name the co-worker, who they said was still very upset by what happened. But they also commended him for the action he took – procedures employees are trained in but seldom need to use. The last time contact with an electrical wire injured an employee was in 1997. Before that, it was in the 1980s, said LES Operations Manager Neil Engelman. “It catches our attention and makes us aware of how dangerous electric work is,” he said. Mike Pellan was working on a nonenergized line when he rotated his bucket and inadvertently touched a live line, Engelman said. LES officials are reviewing the accident, and it appears he thought the live wire was below him. Employees were just as happy to learn that their co-worker – who has worked for LES since December but had about five years of experience before that with Nebraska Public Power District – was alert and off most of the life support equipment Thursday. “It’s remarkable in my mind,” Engelman said. “We’ve been with Anita for three days now, we didn’t know what permanent damage there might be.” Dr. Paul said the prognosis for a full recovery is good. Mike Pellan suffered third-degree burns on his neck where the wire touched him, and his right hand where the electricity left his body. He will likely have to undergo some skin grafting on his right arm and hand, Paul said. But the electric contact was not long enough to cause significant damage to his muscles, he said. His mother credits her son’s quick recovery to faith – an important part of their lives. E-mails came to her from acquaintances all over the country who sent their prayers online, she said. “We were just putting our trust in the Lord and our faith, and taking it day by day,” she said.

 

Crane Accident Blocks Street

By Staff Reporter Leigh Catley at 3:47pm, 2nd August 2001

A rolled truck and fallen crane blocked traffic on central Wellington street The Terrace for about an hour and a half this afternoon. The crane was mounted on to the back of the truck and appeared to slip over as it was lifting a concrete block. It is unknown if a power cut in the central city at about the same time was related to the accident. Only one lane of the street was open.

 

Wharfie crushed in Lyttelton

Occupational Safety and Health is investigating what plans were in place to manage hazards at the Port of Lyttelton after a stevedore was severely crushed while unlodading a ship on Wednesday afternoon. The man is in now in a serious condition in Christchurch Public Hospital. Margaret Radford of the Canterbuy West coast branch of OSH says two cranes were used during the unloading of a ship and when the vessel rolled on a wave, one container swung and trapped the man against another container.

She says while the use of both cranes at once is customary, OSH will be looking closely at what plans were in place to manage the potential hazards.

 

Crane Crashes, Kills 2

Authorities are investigating the cause of a deadly accident in Davie County.

Investigators said that two men died when a crane tipped over on Highway 801 just north of Farmington. Emanuel Bonaparte told NewsChannel 12 that he witnessed the accident. Bonaparte was working in his yard, which is next to the construction site where the tower was being built. Workers were using a crane to build another crane for the construction project. Two workers were on top of the second crane, which is 15 stories in the air. “It began to bend, and it fell with the two guys on top,” Bonaparte said. “It went crashing through the trees and made a tremendous noise.” “The end of the crane buckled, and it started going down into the woods on the back side of the site,” County Manager Ken Windley said. Bonaparte said that the crash shook the ground. Inspectors spent the afternoon looking over the damage to figure out what happened. The names of the two men who died haven’t been released. The worked for a company in Kentucky that builds water towers. OSHA’s report isn’t expected for several weeks.

 

UPDATE, Damage from crane crash estimated at $300,000
By KEVIN SIMPSON, Pantagraph staff

NORMAL — An unexpected change in wind direction apparently led to an estimated $300,000 in damage caused by a crane accident Friday at Illinois State University.  A massive steel arm from a tower crane was being lowered when it crashed into the four-story Performing Arts Center building and adjacent Williams Hall about 9:50 a.m. There were no injuries. Big Hook Crane Service President John Weaver was piloting one of three mobile cranes being used to lower the 15-ton, 240-foot steel arm, or jib. An easterly wind shifted to the northeast and caused the load to become unstable, Weaver said. The weight shift tipped Weaver’s crane, creating a chain reaction that crumpled booms on two other cranes as the tower arm crashed onto the arts center and Williams Hall. Friday’s peak wind speed was measured at 17, according to ISU weather gauges.  “The wind had shifted during the lift and had changed directions,” said Weaver. “It really had an effect on the cranes.” Weaver said his company’s insurance would cover most of the cost. The arts center is located on School Street west of downtown Normal and is scheduled for completion this fall. The accident did damage to the arts center and to Williams Hall, which was built in 1940 and is home to the College of Business. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident.  University spokesman Jay Groves said construction delays will be minimal because most work at the arts center is being done inside. Groves could not verify the damage estimate provided by Weaver. Weaver said the incident represents a minor setback for his company, which has 23 cranes. The tower crane was not immediately scheduled on another job site.

 

French Train Derailed by Crane

PERIGUEUX, France (AP) – Two passenger trains collided in southwestern France on Monday, after one of the trains derailed when it hit a crane that had fallen onto the tracks from a nearby construction site, police said. Eleven people were injured in the collision outside Perigueux, 250 miles southwest of Paris. Nine of the injured were being treated at a nearby hospital, police said. The crane caused an eastbound train traveling from Bordeaux to Lyon to jump the tracks and collide into the second train, passing by on its way south from Limoges to Perigueux. Officials were investigating how the crane fell onto the rails.

 

ISU crane arm collapses

No one hurt in accident

By KEVIN SIMPSON, Pantagraph staff

NORMAL — No one was injured Friday when a 100-foot-long steel arm — being lowered from a tower crane above the Illinois State University Performing Arts Center — crashed onto the four-story building and adjacent Williams Hall. The accident took place at about 9:50 a.m. at the site of the Performing Arts Center construction project. It appears one of three mobile cranes from Big Hook Crane Service in Normal malfunctioned or was affected by a wind gust. The arts center, scheduled for completion this fall, is located on School Street west of downtown Normal. Two of the cranes were being used to lower the third crane’s massive extension arm, or jib. The accident tipped one crane and crumpled the booms of the other two. “We had just walked out of the (arts) building when we heard it,” said Bill Brockett, a foreman for Union Roofing in Bloomington also working at the site. “It looked like the wind caught the jib, and then it got away from them. All we saw was everything going that way (west) and it hit. “It sounded like a train crashing.” Friday evening, university spokesman Jay Groves said the accident did minimal damage to the under-construction arts center and to Williams Hall, which was built in 1940. At Williams Hall, home of the College of Business, damage was limited to a broken window, broken bricks and siding, and some damage to a top-story mechanical room. There was also some damage to the top of the arts center, where roofing work is being done, Groves said. A damage estimate probably won’t be available until Monday or Tuesday, Groves said. Inspectors from the university’s safety office were examining Williams Hall on Friday, and if the building is deemed safe, it will reopen for university use today, Groves said. For safety reasons, the area immediately around the cranes had been cleared of workers before the attempt to lower the jib. Others were taking a break inside the arts building when they were shaken by the violent jolt. “We knew something wasn’t right as soon as we heard it,” said a construction worker who declined to give his name. “It was a small boom and you felt a small shudder like an earthquake kind of for a second or two. It could have been a lot worse, that’s for sure.” The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident, which forced the evacuation of more than 100 people from Williams Hall. John Weaver, president of Big Hook Crane Service and operator of the mobile crane that was toppled, declined comment. A spokesman for Pontiac-based Vissering Construction, the general contractor on the project, could not be reached for comment. Two workers who had helped disconnect the jib from the tower crane were standing atop the crane’s cab at the time of the accident. The boom on the 14-wheeled crane operated by Weaver struck the southeast corner of Williams Hall and prevented the crane from fully tipping over. That crane’s arm snapped from the boom and fell onto the top of Williams Hall. ISU painter Bill Bieber was glazing and caulking windows on the south side of Williams Hall when he heard the sound of buckling steel. He looked up as the jib from the crane toppled onto and over the roof’s edge about 20 feet from him.  “It made a thundering crash and everything was swaying my direction,” said Bieber. “You can’t predict where it’s going to bend and buckle. You just start trying to get away and hope you moved in the right direction. “It’s a miracle nobody was hurt. It’s a noise I don’t ever want to hear again,” Bieber said. More cranes were brought in to help remove the damaged equipment from the rooftops Friday afternoon. The crane’s base tower is 120 feet tall. The jib, or extension, can be up 240 feet long and is used to shuttle building materials. The crane can lift a 6,600-pound load when the trolley is 135 feet from center and up to 24,000 pounds when it’s closest to center. When in use, tower cranes are the most stable hoisting devices at a construction site, said Steve Fonderoli of Country Crane in LaSalle. “Once a tower crane is assembled, they’re the safest crane on the site because of all the limit switches, which won’t allow the crane to pick up more than its capacity,” said Fonderoli. He said the degree of difficulty in assembling and disassembling it is “the most dangerous aspect of the tower crane.” OSHA standards require the crane to be shut down when the wind reaches 20 mph. The top wind speed as recorded by ISU Friday was 17 mph.

 

UPDATE,OSHA surveys damage at church site; 3 workers remain hospitalized at UK

HERALD-LEADER STAFF REPORT

Investigators spent yesterday trying to figure out what led to the collapse of a Lincoln County church roof that injured four workers. Meanwhile, three of the injured workers remained in the University of Kentucky hospital in fair condition yesterday. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration arrived in McKinney yesterday to survey the accident site, along with the building’s architect, the State Fire Marshall’s office and the Lincoln County Building and Codes Division. According to police, 12 wood trusses, weighing about 1,000 pounds each, collapsed and fell to a concrete floor around 3:45 p.m. Monday. Workers Bobby Statom and Jacob Ison were flown to the UK Hospital by helicopter shortly after the accident. Shawn Reynolds was taken to the Fort Logan Hospital in Stanford and then to UK. All three remained in fair condition at the hospital yesterday. A fourth worker was treated at the scene. The church, which was founded in 1921, is in the process of building a new sanctuary in Lincoln County. The construction work was being performed by Allen Builders.

 

Crane Worker Rescued After Collapsing Far Above District

By Clarence Williams, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, July 22, 2001

A crane operator suffered a seizure and had to be rescued from a height of about 200 feet by the D.C. fire department yesterday evening in Northwest Washington. High atop the construction site at 1625 I St. NW, Gary Keller, of Huntsville, Ohio, collapsed about 6:30 p.m. Paramedics and members of the high-angle rescue team who were called to the site climbed to the top of the school-bus-yellow crane to secure the patient and check his condition. Rescuers then used a second, taller crane that stood 260 feet above the site’s excavation ditch to hoist a basket to the paramedics. Keller was strapped to the gurney and then gently glided down to the safety of I Street, almost an hour later. “I had the easy part,” said firefighter James Gordon, who rode the cable with Keller to keep the patient calm. “My partner had to climb back down.” Keller, 42, takes medication for seizures, but officials did not know for what illness, said Alan Etter, a fire department spokesman. Keller was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where he was in good condition last night. Gordon joined the Rescue Squad 1 high-angle team about a year ago, and he said the rescue was his first ride of this type. “We don’t do this every day,” he said. “This is what we train for.” Yesterday was Keller’s first day on the D.C. construction job, Etter said. He was in and out of consciousness during the episode, Gordon said. The crane work was part of the construction of a nine-story office and retail building at the site.

 

Falling crane part kills one

A Cambodian worker was killed and three Thais were injured when a giant scoop on a quayside crane smashed through a warehouse roof at a privately-owned port beside the Chao Phraya river in Samut Prakan, yesterday morning. Police said Manas (surname unknown), 40, was controlling the 20-metre high, 12-wheeled crane to lift fertiliser out of a ship to feed a packaging machine at Sap Sataporn port in Phra Pradaeng district.  He lost control of the machine and the five-ton steel scoop plunged inside the 10m-high warehouse and crushed Thuan Yuan, a 35-year-old Cambodian labourer to death.  The scoop also hit Yodying Yaithong, 19, his mother Sompit, 48, and a 10-year-old boy called Ton. They suffered bruises and minor cuts. The crane driver fled the scene.

 

UPDATE, OSHA proposes fines for company over worker’s death

By Andy Powell, Times Staff Writer, July 20, 2001
OSHA has cited a company working on the replacement of Thompson Bridge near Walnut Grove for safety violations and proposed penalties totaling $85,400 after the investigation of a Feb. 2 accident that killed a worker. The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Clark Construction Co. of Headland for four safety violations in connection with the accident that killed Phillip Timothy Robinson, 41, of Colbert County. Robinson was killed when a crane boom collapsed and fell on him. The company has 15 working days to contest the penalties and proposed fine before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.  A safety spokesman for Clark could not be reached Thursday for comment. According to OSHA, on the day of the accident four bridge construction company employees were removing a 21-foot section from an 80-foot link-belt crane. Thompson was standing under the crane and while he was pounding out a pin, the boom collapsed and fell on him. The company was issued a willful citation with a proposed penalty of $63,000 for not properly supporting the crane, which was about six feet off the ground. “Had this employer followed the manufacturer’s instructions and OSHA regulations regarding the dismantling of the crane, this fatality would have been avoided,” said William A. Burke, acting director of OSHA’s Birmingham office. The company also was cited for two alleged safety violations with proposed penalties totaling $11,200 for failing to inspect the crane each day prior to use to make sure it was in safe operating condition, and for failing to properly train employees to recognize and avoid unsafe conditions. The company also received an additional $11,200 proposed penalty for a repeat offense of failing to barricade the accessible rear-swing-radius area of the crane cab so employees could not enter that space and risk being crushed as the cab turned. The company was cited in 1999 for a similar violation.

 

UPDATE, 33 workers feared dead as 600-tonne crane topples

A staff reporter, Hong Kong iMail and agencies

AS many as 33 people died when a 600-tonne crane collapsed at a Shanghai shipyard early yesterday, a day after at least 47 people were killed in an blast at a Shaanxi explosives depot. The shipyard accident, the latest in a string of catastrophic accidents on the mainland, happened at 7.55am when the gantry crane collapsed onto dozens of workers at the plant operated by Hudong Shipbuilding Group, the official Xinhua News Agency and mainland websites reported. Xinhua said 22 workers were confirmed killed, while another 11 were still stuck under the collapsed crane “with little chance to come back alive”. Nearby residents said they heard a huge crash and felt the earth shake under them at the time of the accident, leading many to believe they were experiencing a minor quake. At least 47 people were killed on Monday when illegally-stored explosives blew up in a Shaanxi province village, Xinhua reported yesterday. But people in the village of Mafang said the toll was probably much higher after the early morning blast razed at least 30 cave houses cut out of loess hillsides. “The explosion came in the middle of the night when the whole village was asleep,” said one man in the village, 400 kilometres north of the provincial capital of Xian – the home of the famed Terracotta Warriors. “It tore down several rows of cave-houses. At least 30 of them just disappeared,” the villager, surnamed Ma, said by telephone. “I saw more than 50 dead bodies pulled from the ruins yesterday.” A village woman said: “I think there were at least 150 people killed. The blast could be heard from a dozen kilometres away.” A local government official, who gave his surname as Li, said rescue teams were busy combing the rubble for more victims. Some 50 injured, including children and babies, were taken to hospitals in the nearby city of Yulin, where doctors said most were in a stable condition. Xinhua said police were looking for a man who had hidden explosives in his brother’s house in April to avoid a crackdown on illegal explosives. In another report yesterday, Xinhua said 21 coal miners who had been trapped underground for two weeks had been confirmed dead. The miners were buried on July 1 after water leakage caused a collapse in their mine at Baishan city in the northeastern province of Jilin. Beijing recently ordered all privately-run small coal mines to close following frequent accidents. Xinhua said the Baishan mine was one of those that should have been closed. 18 July 2001 / 03:31 AM

 

Norfolk man dies in accident at weapons station

By R.W. Rogers, Daily Press, Published: Tuesday, July 17, 2001

YORKTOWN NAVAL WEAPONS STATION – A Norfolk man was crushed to death Monday at the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station when a concrete block slipped from a crane — the seventh work-related death there since 1996. Gary McCracken was helping move a large piece of concrete from a barge onto the weapons station pier when it fell on him about 9 a.m., according to Navy and civilian sources. McCracken, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene. There were no other injuries. The weapons station pier is undergoing an $18.8 million renovation by the McLean Contracting Co., which specializes in pier and bridge work. The company is headquartered in Glen Burnie, Md., although McCracken worked for the company out of the Chesapeake office as a laborer. He’d been with the company since May 2000. “We aren’t sure what happened,” said Fred Rich, executive vice president for McLean. “We are trying to conduct our own investigation. “The work being done was setting a concrete cap on top of a pier piling. It was at that point that something happened,” said Rich, who described the block of concrete as “sizable” and said it arrived on a barge. The Occupational Safety and Heath Administration and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are investigating the incident. A Navy Judge Advocate General investigation is also likely, said John Peters, a spokesman for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic Region, which contracted McLean to do the renovation work. Pier work has been temporarily halted. The marine contracting company won the award to replace the south pier and railroad trestle in December 1999. Work started in March 2000 and was expected to be finished in early 2002. This is the seventh work-related death at Yorktown Naval Weapons Station since 1996. Four men died in September 1996 when they were overcome by fumes while working in a sewage tank. In 1998, two more people died. A sailor was crushed when the forklift he was driving tipped over on an incline. Less than a month later a man died after being hit by scaffolding.

 

Crashing crane kills 20 in Shanghai

Tuesday, July 17, 2001 at 18:15 JST

BEIJING – About 20 people were killed and at least 10 injured at a Shanghai shipbuilding yard on Tuesday when a 600-tonne gantry crane crashed down on them, an executive at the yard said. The toll could rise as an unknown number of people were trapped underneath the wreckage and hopes that any of them survived were slim, she told Reuters by telephone. The crane fell from “an enormous height” on a group of workers and engineers at Hudong China Shipbuilding Plant in Shanghai’s Pudong district, she said. “There are still an uncertain number of workers and engineers trapped under the crane and efforts are being made to rescue them,” she said. Doctors at the Shanghai Dongfang Hospital said three injured people were undergoing operations and were still in danger. Several other people with lesser injuries were in stable conditions at the shipbuilder’s own hospital, doctors said. The executive said an investigation had begun into why the crane toppled. (Reuters News)

 

Man killed at Weld pump site

Story By Staff Reports, Posted on Friday, July 13 @ 01:22:31 EDT

An employee of a Fort Lupton energy company was crushed to death by a piece of equipment on an oil well Wednesday afternoon about two miles south of Wattenberg near the Weld County-Adams County line. The man was identified as Martin Mireles, 48, of Burlington. He had been staying with relatives in Evans. He was employed by Key Energy Services of Fort Lupton for about a week before he died in the accident. According to Weld County Coroner Scott Anthony, Mireles was working with his brother-in-law on a pump that had a leaking line. He apparently reached under the pump arm to pick up a wrench when the counterweights from the arm hit and killed him. “Death was probably instantaneous,” Anthony said. At Key Energy, employee Baxter Haley said Mireles was a professional tree trimmer in Burlington before he went to work for the company last week. Inspectors for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration were at the scene Thursday, inspecting the site of the death. Haley said the inspection is a standard requirement in the event of an industrial death.

 

Electrical worker critically burned on the job

By Eve Sullivan, Staff Writer

STAMFORD – A Canadian man was severely burned while working on a utility pole yesterday morning on High Ridge Road. Yvon Primo, 53, was listed in critical condition at Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., where he was taken after the 9:25 a.m. incident. Primo, who lives near Montreal, was working for Thiro, a Newington company that subcontracts to Connecticut Light & Power. His crew was transferring wires from one pole to another at 856 High Ridge Road. Witnesses said they heard an explosion, then saw an arc – a luminous discharge of electric current – and a bright flash. “You couldn’t really see the guy in the bucket for a second or so,” said police Officer Paul Mellett, who was stationed at the site. Mellett radioed for help and had Primo’s co-workers lower his bucket to the ground. He said Primo’s flame-retardant clothing partially caught fire. “He was actually conscious,” Mellett said. “He wanted to climb out of the bucket, but we made him stay in.” Deputy Fire Marshal Frank Docimo, who arrived first on the scene with the Turn of River Fire Department, said Primo was standing in the bucket and speaking in French. “It was instantaneous,” Docimo said. “It was just one bright flash, and it was over. In a millisecond, he went from being OK to being severely burned. It was almost like being struck by lightning.” Rescue workers removed Primo’s protective clothing and saw he was extensively burned on the front and back of his body. “It was apparent that this was a life-threatening injury,” Docimo said. “I told my partner to make sure the burn units were on alert.” Docimo said Primo had burns on about 75 percent of his body. Police officers said Primo appeared to be in shock and the skin was peeling off his back. “You could see he had second- and third-degree burns; his clothing was partially burnt off his body,” police Sgt. Clifton Weed said. Deputy Fire Chief Lewis Belmont said rescuers removed Primo’s clothing and placed a sterile sheet around him. They doused the sheet with water. Primo was initially taken to Stamford Hospital and later transported to Westchester County Medical Center’s burn unit. John Swanson, a CL&P supervisor in Glenbrook, arrived on the scene shortly after the accident. “All I know is they were going to do the pole shift,” Swanson said. “They were changing the wires to a new pole.” Swanson said it’s typical for CL&P to work with “energized conductors” and not shut off the power. He said he didn’t know what caused the arc. “There’s so many different things that conduct electricity,” Swanson said. “It could have happened many different ways.” Swanson said Primo appeared to be doing everything right, including wearing protective clothing. Several pieces of Primo’s clothing were scattered around the roadway near the charred bucket, including a burnt orange coverall, rubber gloves, pants and a belt that had to be cut off him. “It happens time to time. It’s not totally unheard of,” Swanson said of the accident. “There are some hazards with the job that need to be taken into consideration.” Primo came to Connecticut with a crew of other Canadians, authorities said. The state Occupational Safety and Health Administration was investigating at the site yesterday afternoon.

 

Crane accident barges in on Whitewater celebration plans

(Published Friday, June 29, 2001 10:35:26 AM CDT) By Frank Schultz/Gazette

WHITEWATER–The boom was in the lake this morning, casting doubt on whether there would be any booms over the lake tonight. Whitewater City Manager Gary Boden could see it from his office window this morning–the crane lying on its side next to Cravath Lake downtown, its boom in the water. The crane was key to setting up Whitewater’s fireworks displays, scheduled for tonight and Saturday. “We are all going to wait today to find out what’s going to happen,” Boden said. The crane was lifting a barge into the lake Thursday afternoon when it toppled. The barge was one of two that were to be joined to form a platform from which fireworks were to be shot. It was the first time anyone had tried to stage fireworks on the lake, in view of the new lakefront park. As the barge entered the water at about 3:15 p.m., the crane flipped over, Boden said. No one was injured. “The operator apparently was pretty shook up because he got sideways,” Boden said. “He had to crawl out rather precariously.” “It’s funny how things happen in slow motion,” said Bill Bowen of the nonprofit Fourth of July Corp., who saw the accident. “It was probably all of 15 seconds, but it seemed like two minutes. You’re watching it happen, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Three other cranes were brought in but could not lift it out of the lake, Boden said. This morning, three larger cranes were said to be on their way to try again. Bowen said the boom might have to be cut off to rescue the machine. A second barge was still sitting on a flatbed truck this morning, waiting to be lifted into the 86-acre lake. As The Janesville Gazette went to press this morning, Bowen said he was hopeful the second barge could be put in the lake in time for tonight’s fireworks. “I think it’s going to work,” he said. Bowen seemed determined that the show would go on if at all possible. He said the Fourth of July Corp. was set up about 20 years ago to ensure that the community would have a celebration, “and we have. And we will.”

 

Crane Causes Traffic Drama

By Staff Reporter Leigh Catley at 4:13pm, 3rd July 2001

A collapsed crane in downtown Wellington is causing huge problems for traffic and is likely to continue to do so through rush hour tonight. At about midday the crane was lifting a bin of bricks at a construction site on Cambridge Terrace when it collapsed aross the street. Trolley bus wires were cut and the accident has closed the north end of Cambridge Terrace and forced the evacuation of several nearby buildings. No one was injured in the accident but witnesses say it was fortunate the traffic lights had held up traffic at the moment the crane fell. Wellington Police said the Occupational Health and Safety investigators must finish their evaluation of the accident site before the road can be cleared. They don’t expect to be able to move the crane until at least 7pm.

 

Courthouse crane snaps

A giant crane being used to construct the new downtown Federal courthouse broke in half Monday with a loud crack, sending workers and nearby pedestrians scurrying. There were no injuries and only minor damage to the building. The accident happened in mid-afternoon. The crane, working on the Julia Street side of the building, snapped about halfway up its length. The broken half of the crane grazed the facing of the building, but officials at the Beers construction company, which is handling the project, said damage was slight. Work was halted on the project while the crane was removed and replaced, and it was expected that the construction would be back in full operation today.

 

Fall River man electrocuted

BLACKSTONE — A 50-year-old construction worker is dead after being electrocuted while maneuvering high-voltage wires in a steel cherry picker bucket at the town’s High Rocks sewer project Thursday, police said. The Fall River man was felled by a line with 73,500 volts of electricity. He dropped about 15 feet from the bucket onto the dirt road below and died instantly, police said. Police Chief Ross A. Atstupenas identified the victim as Luis F. Sousa of 271 Glasgow St., Fall River. He was reportedly a foreman on the crew employed by ODF Contracting Co. Inc. of Dorchester, Mass., which has a $2 million contract with the town to install sewerage into the High Rocks area that includes Main and County streets, town officials said. State Police taking charge at the site, between 12 and 13 Staples Ave., about 150 yards from the Blackstone Gorge and dam, immediately shut down the work after the 2 p.m. accident. Local authorities contacted the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is expected to investigate the accident today. “He was in the bucket tying the wires up to raise them,” said Officer Howard McGourty, one of the first emergency personnel to respond. McGourty said that Sousa was 15 to 18 feet off the ground inside the bucket of a piece of heavy equipment that operates like a back hoe with a huge crane-like arm to dig the sewer trenches when something went horribly wrong. He had tied together two or three sections of wires with nylon cord — electrical, cable, telephone — and was attempting to do the same to another section, McGourty said, when apparently a part of the machinery arm attached to the bucket hit the electrical wires. While Sousa was standing in a bucket that was three-quarters filled with sand, rescue workers surmised that Sousa “must have moved or turned,” McGourty said, striking the metal machinery with his back. That’s where the electricity shot into his body, flinging him from the bucket truck, face-first onto the ground, police said. “The (police) detail guy said it was like an explosion, it sounded like a shot,” McGourty said. One older couple living nearby at 13 Staples Ave., Vincent and Marie Erickson, were home when the accident happened. “I was inside ironing and I saw the sparks and I came out to see what happened,” Marie Erickson said. Like everyone nearby, she knew immediately the victim had little chance to survive. “It’s sad. I feel bad for his family,” she said. “The first officer who arrived checked for a pulse and there was none,” said McGourty, who arrived just afterwards along with fire department EMTs. Shortly before 5 p.m., about three hours after the accident, Cartier’s Funeral Home in Bellingham removed the body and transported the deceased to the Worcester County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy. Police said a work crew of six or seven people from ODF Construction was at the site. Police said they were told that by tying the wires together, the crane-like arm of the machinery, with the bucket attached to it, would be able to swing virtually in a circle on the narrow street, which was supposedly a safe maneuver. “It’s a very unfortunate accident and we’ll just have to see what OSHA says,” said Town Administrator Michael J. Guzinski, who was summonsed to the site as the person responsible for the town’s sewer contract. While Guzinski said he could offer no further details about what happened, he was certain the often-delayed High Rocks project would be postponed indefinitely, pending the OSHA investigation. “They will have to give the town and the contractor the OK to proceed,” he said. Guzinski acknowledged the town has been unhappy with the progress made by ODF Construction, which began work last summer, stopped for the winter and resumed work about three weeks ago. “Our main concern has been the fact they haven’t been as eager to complete the project as quickly as we’d like,” Guzinksi said. Because of additional costs associated with the delays, town meeting voters this spring appropriated an additional $500,000 for the High Rocks sewer project. The initial contract was for $1.8 million. This is part of several sewer projects in various stages of start-up that will cost about $8 million. Guzinski also said ODF “has been switching crews,” causing problems for sewer engineers. He did not know how long Sousa had been working on this project. The accident also caused lost power in the immediate area, although some homeowners, like the Ericksons, said theirs had been restored. Massachusetts Electric Co. was contacted to restore power. Police had no explanation for why the utility company was not asked to move the power lines prior to the accident. “Right now our thoughts and prayers are for the person who was killed and his family,” Guzinski said.

 

Crane Crushes Car on U.S. 98

The car’s driver and passenger and the crane’s operator were sent to the hospital.

Friday, July 6, 2001; By WILL VASH, The Ledger

LAKELAND — A construction crane toppled onto a car traveling on U.S. 98 South on Thursday afternoon, injuring a father and his 14-year-old son and trapping the teen-ager in the crushed vehicle for more than an hour before rescuers could free him. Driver David L. Adams, 41, and Ryan Adams, both of 2731 W. 10th St., were traveling south past Lakeland High School about 2:45 p.m. when the crane belonging to Miller Bros. of Florida, out of Tampa, crushed their white Dodge. Ryan Adams was pinned in the car, with a portion of the crane across his shoulder, according to witnesses. “The kid was saying he was hurt and didn’t remember what happened. We told him not to move and hold on,” said Brian Cheek, 24, one of the drivers who stopped to help. “All we could do was try to reassure the dad (who had been helped from the car) that he was OK.” David Adams was listed in stable condition Thursday night at Lakeland Regional Medical Center, and Ryan Adams was in fair condition at Tampa General Hospital. The operator of the crane, Thomas Maxwell, 51, of Tampa was treated for injuries at Lakeland Regional Medical Center and released. Police said he was injured when the force of the falling top of the crane caused the cab to snap off from the base of the unit. Lakeland police were investigating. Sgt. Monty Mathis said what caused the crane failure hadn’t been determined. “Apparently, the crane and the boom portion broke loose from the tractor part,” Mathis said. “It was one of those one-in-a-million things.” The crane, which can reach a height of about 60 feet when it is fully extended, was being used in a state Department of Transportation project to improve drainage and resurface a portion of U.S. 98 South. It was on the edge of the southbound lanes and being used to pick up metal sheets that had been used for bracing in holes dug by construction crews. Witnesses said they watched the crane start to wobble, lean to the east over the road and quickly topple into traffic, which was moving slowly because one of the southbound lanes had been closed as part of the roadwork. Aaron Harris, 18, a city parks department worker who was mowing grass across the street at Lake Bonny Park, said some drivers apparently saw the crane sway and tried to get out of the way. “The crane was leaning to the side, and a bunch of cars were swerving,” Harris said. “It was wobbling and then just gave in.” The Adamses’ Dodge was the last of a group of cars that were in the one-lane portion of southbound U.S. 98. Cheek said those cars were hemmed in by concrete slabs on one side and a curbed median on the other. “If you have one lane of traffic, where can you go?” Cheek said. “There was no place.” Trevor Taylor, a Miller Bros. worker who was near the crane when it snapped, said the accident occurred in seconds. “Our cranes go through inspections every year,” he said. “It was just a fluke accident.” Traffic traveling south on U.S. 98 was routed around the accident for more than two hours while workers cleared the area.

 

Crane breaks in attempt to remove plunge truck

Michael Ng, Angela Kwok, Joyce Li and Edward Chan; 10 July 2001 / 03:29 AM

EFFORTS to remove the wreckage of a fully-loaded garbage truck from the roof of a Happy Valley building failed yesterday when the arm of the crane snapped. The 24-tonne truck, which had plunged 150 metres from Stubbs Road on to the roof of the two-storey building in Village Terrace on Sunday, remained on the roof for a second night as officials mapped out fresh plans to remove it. Two garbage workers were killed and another was injured in the freak accident. Workers are expected to try breaking up the wreckage into smaller pieces before it is lifted by another crane early today. Police planned to close a section of Stubbs Road between 4.30am and 6am today to enable work to be carried out. The clean-up operation came to a halt yesterday when the arm of the crane – capable of lifting loads up to 50 tonnes – bent and snapped as it lifted the truck, sending the wreckage plunging back on to the rooftop. The impact damaged the walls of Blocks 15 and 17 of Village Terrace, which are directly in front of the building on which the wreckage rests. Food and Environmental Hygiene Department workers cleaned up the area and sprayed pesticide after a large amount of rubbish fell from the truck. More than 20 families living in Blocks 13, 15 and 17 were barred from returning to their homes for a second night because of fears for their safety. Only a few were allowed to return when police partially re-opened the buildings in the evening. The two dead men were named as driver Sze Chun-hing, 32, and worker Leung Yuk-chun, 32. To Hing-sum, 21, remained in a stable condition at Queen Mary Hospital. Mr To, a two-way permit holder, had been in Hong Kong for a week, his cousin, who wished to be identified only as Ms Lam, said. “I do not want to talk about it again,” mumbled Mr To, when asked about the accident. Ms Lam said her cousin, who suffered a broken right leg and bruising, had been lucky to survive the crash. “He had been living with us in Wong Tai Sin, but I didn’t know he had a job,” she said. The truck was travelling downhill along Stubbs Road at 7.30am on Sunday when the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle. The truck veered into the opposite lane, crashed through guardrails and plunged down the slope.

 

Worker missing after falling from crane

MOUNT PLEASANT (AP) – Authorities planned to continue to search the waters of the Wando River for a subcontractor who fell from a crane at the Wando Port Terminal here. Juan Sanchez, 28, of Moncks Corner, fell from a boom into the river Wednesday. Crews dropped a line from the crane arm to determine where he landed. Tides and currents complicated the search, and as the day wore on, divers, helicopters and rescue boats widened the search area. A spokesman for the State Ports Authority says power to other cranes and equipment was shut down in order to prevent it from interfering with sonar being used in the search. The search was suspended about 5 p.m. and was expected to resume early Thursday. Sanchez worked for Palmetto Industrial Services, a subcontractor for Konecranes, a Finland-based crane company, Ports Authority spokesman Byron Miller said. The authority recently hired Konecranes to replace rails on the cranes’ arms. Crane operators sit in small cabins that move along these rails as they pick up and lower containers from ships. Sanchez reportedly was wearing a harness when he fell. The accident is under investigation.

UPDATE, Worker’s body found in river

Friday, June 1, 2001

After a two-day search involving more than 30 divers, rescue workers found the body of a Moncks Corner contractor who fell off a State Ports Authority crane Wednesday. Divers found the body of Juan Sanchez, 28, Thursday afternoon in the Wando River below the crane from which he fell. Witnesses said Sanchez stepped onto a temporary platform on the crane’s arm to do some welding when the platform gave way. He fell about 130 feet into the river. An autopsy will be done today, said Susan Chewning, Charleston County coroner. Sanchez was employed by Palmetto Industrial Construction Co. The SPA set up a fund for his wife and children. Donations can be made at any First Federal branch or sent to First Federal in care of Jeannie Sanchez, P.O. Box 118068, Charleston, S.C. 29423.

 

Crane Hits Landmark

Building slightly damaged; theater seems OK

Sunday, June 10, 2001, By Luis Perez

A crane fell onto the Landmark Theatre building on West Jefferson Street about 7:50 a.m. Saturday after the sidewalk below it gave way. The crane’s supporting jack broke through the sidewalk, causing it to fall onto the building, said Syracuse Deputy Fire Chief George Hart. A load of building materials the crane was lifting to the sixth floor for office renovations fell onto the awning of the Carmelcorn Shop at 116 W. Jefferson St., he said. No one was injured. Several windows on the upper floor broke and concrete chipped from the building, Hart said. There was no apparent damage to the historic Landmark Theatre. The building will be checked for structural damage, Hart said. A second crane was brought in to lift the first crane off the building. Representatives from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Department of Labor were called to the scene.

 

Crane operator crushed to death at warehouse

By A Sun Staff Writer, Originally published June 19, 2001

A 28-year-old man was crushed to death by a stack of steel rail-car wheels at a warehouse in Cockeysville yesterday morning, according to Baltimore County police. Aitor Dorronsoro, who was operating a crane at the time of the accident, was crushed by at least two steel wheels, or “trucks,” when the stack in which they were piled shifted, said police Cpl. Vickie Warehime. Dorronsoro worked for Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A., of Beasain, Spain, which was leasing space from AAI Corp. AAI, in the 100 block of Industry Lane, does overhaul work on light-rail, railroad and subway cars, said spokeswoman Susan Flowers. Police received an emergency call regarding the warehouse accident about 10:45 a.m. yesterday, said Warehime. Dorronsoro was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center where he was pronounced dead, she said. A spokeswoman for Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles’ U.S. operations, based in Washington, declined to comment on the accident. Through a secretary, she said she was busy dealing with the victim’s family in Spain. Officials at the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Program could not be reached for comment.

 

3 hurt in scaffolding fall at a Cambridge work site

By Jennifer Medina, Globe Correspondent, 6/21/2001

CAMBRIDGE – Three construction workers were hurt yesterday, one of them seriously, when they fell from third-floor scaffolding on a parking garage near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, officials said. Also yesterday, next door to the parking garage site, a construction worker suffered a fractured shoulder when a steel beam struck him as it was being lifted with a crane, according to Cambridge fire officials. The workers on the scaffolding fell 40 feet, and cinderblocks they had been laying on the exterior of a six-story building then toppled onto them, said a deputy chief for the Cambridge Fire Department, Michael Morrissey. The workers, whose names were not released, were taken at 11 a.m. to Massachusetts General Hospital, Morrissey said. The workers may have piled too much onto the scaffold, said a construction worker on the job. ”It looks like they just overloaded it,” said the worker, who did not wish to be identified. Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials are investigating whether the proper amount of weight was placed on the scaffolding, said an OSHA spokesman, John Chavez. The parking garage is one of five buildings in a $750-million construction project near Landsdowne and Pacific streets. Forrest City, a Cleveland-based developer, is leasing 27 acres from MIT to build biotechnology research facilities and a 175-unit housing complex, said company spokesman Jay Kiely. The men were working for the Milton-based D.J. Construction Co., but Julian Crane & Equipment Co. in Watertown owns the scaffolding. Neither company would comment or say who built the scaffolding. D.J. Construction was cited 10 times for safety violations from 1986 to 1994, according to OSHA records. Twelve violations were for scaffolding problems, according to the records. The main contractor on the project, William A. Berry & Son in Danvers, said in a statement yesterday: ”Clearly our main priority is the safety and concern of our employees.” In 1999, there were four fatal falls from scaffolding in Massachusetts, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This story ran on page B3 of the Boston Globe on 6/21/2001.

 

Equipment accident damages bridge, I-77

By LORI MONSEWICZ Repository staff writer

CANTON TWP. – An excavating machine fell off the back of a construction truck when its boom struck the Faircrest Street bridge over Interstate 77 on Friday and scooted several feet north, gouging the highway. The fallen equipment caused traffic to be rerouted for more than six hours. Township Fire Capt. Jonathan Smith said the excavator’s boom was too high and hit the bridge as the truck it was on drove under the bridge at 2 p.m. Another piece of equipment called a Bobcat also was aboard the truck, owned by Glick Co. of Dalton, but did not fall. No one was hurt. A 40-foot section of the beam supporting the bridge was bent, and gouges were cut into the highway. At least three of six lines running under the bridge were ruptured. Firefighters called utility, telephone and gas company officials to the scene to determine the extent of the damage. An Ohio Department of Transportation representative also called for a state engineer to examine the bridge. A damage estimate to the bridge was not available. Northbound interstate traffic was stopped south of the Faircrest exit, and routed up the exit ramp and down the on-ramp back onto I-77. Traffic over the bridge resumed. Smith estimated that the regular flow of traffic would resume at 8 p.m. Selinsky Crane Co. was called to lift the toppled crane from the highway as the boom was cut from the excavator. Smith said they hoped to load the damaged excavator back onto the truck. Smith said the truck was being followed by two other construction trucks from the same company when the accident occurred. Drivers of those vehicles were able to stop as the excavator hit the highway, and were not injured by the debris. Firefighters estimated the damage to the excavator at $100,000. Stark County sheriff’s deputies continued to investigate Friday night.

 

Tree crashes into crane, killing operator

Seattle Times staff reporters

A man was killed yesterday afternoon when an elm crashed onto the cab of a crane he was operating near Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle. Sellen Construction has been clearing the hospital grounds at Northeast 45th Street and 45th Avenue Northeast to make way for a parking garage. Yesterday, workers had been using a crane to move the tree to the edge of the property, Sellen Executive Vice President Scott Redman said. The elm fell on the crane about 3:30 p.m. Two people on the ground were hurt. One was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he was in satisfactory condition last night with head injuries. Medics treated the other for minor injuries, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said. Henry Brehmeyer, compliance safety supervisor for the state Department of Labor and Industries, said an investigation by his department could take up to three weeks. The crane that had been lifting the tree was run by Sunnen Crane Services of Tacoma. Another crane was called in yesterday evening to lift the fallen tree so rescue workers could reach the operator’s body. Dorothy Scholz, who lives in the neighborhood, had been watching efforts to transplant the tree during the past few days. “I was standing here yesterday, and I saw it standing up straight and tall,” she said. “I have never seen anybody try to move anything that big.”

 

Welder’s spark ignites fire at Milford power plant

MILFORD – More than 100 workers were forced to evacuate the Milford power plant on Bic Drive when a welding procedure sparked a fire inside a wall, fire officials said. Fire Capt. Richard Mohr said no injuries were reported as a result of the blaze, which took firefighters nearly two hours to douse because the flames were inside a wall made of 10-inch-thick steel. Milford Power Co. reported the fire at 11:27 a.m., Mohr said, and more than 10 emergency vehicles and fire trucks were dispatched to the plant, parts of which remain under construction. The power plant was the site of a deadly accident a little more than a year ago, when tons of construction equipment plunged to the ground. Two men were killed and a third man lost his leg after being pinned under debris for nearly eight hours. Mohr said the fire was under control by 1 p.m., but workers were not permitted back into the building until after 3 p.m. “It wasn’t a big fire, but they did lose (about) four hours,” Mohr said. “All work stopped and everyone was evacuated. There were well over a 100 people.” Mohr said dousing the blaze was time consuming because firefighters had to saw through the steel walls to get at the fire. The inside of the plant is a large steel structure, with pipes running through the building. Mohr said the fire started when workers performed some type of welding that produced sparks, which ignited insulation, he said. Mohr said the fire damage to the power plant, in terms of cost, was “minimal.” Milford Power Co. officials could not be reached for comment. The earlier accident on Feb. 2, 2000 was blamed on the premature removal of temporary bracing that was securing the structure, thus leaving it vulnerable to collapse, the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration found. Black & Veatch Construction Inc. was fined $7,000. Robert Fitch, 63, of North Branford, the crane operator who lost his leg in the collapse, went back to work a year after the accident. Boilermakers Kevin Winslow of Newington and Wayne Most of West Hartford were killed in the accident.

 

Bishopville crane operator electrocuted

By Liz Holland, Somerset Herald

PRINCESS ANNE – A 28-year-old Bishopville man was electrocuted Thursday when a crane he was operating touched an overhead power line on Old Princess Anne-Westover Road. Michael Gray was pronounced dead at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, despite efforts by two nearby homeowners and Princess Anne Volunteer Fire Company paramedics to revive him. Gray, who worked for White’s Construction Co. of Willards, was installing new power lines to buildings owned by Eastern Shore Forest Products when the accident happened. Terry Shreaves and Tomeka Murray, who live near the site, said one of Gray’s coworkers ran to their homes for help. Both women called 911 and were directed to administer CPR until an ambulance arrived. Shreaves and Murray, along with two men they believed were employees of the construction company, stayed with Gray until paramedics arrived. Neither woman is trained in CPR, but followed instructions from one of the men, Shreaves said. ”Everybody really should learn (CPR),” she said. Gray apparently had his hands on the controls of the crane when it touched the power line. The crane was on the back of a truck parked just off the road on the side of a field, and Gray was standing outside the vehicle at the time. Shreaves said a jolt of electricity also ignited the truck’s tires. The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office blocked off the area until Conectiv Power Delivery workers were able to turn off the power so the truck and crane could be removed from the site.

 

Crane Crushes Worker to Death; Another Hurt

From Times Staff Reports

A construction worker was crushed to death Wednesday when part of a crane fell on him, authorities said. Raymond Paul Corder, 45, of San Gabriel was declared dead just after 3:15 p.m. at a construction site at Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway. A section of the crane came loose while it was being unloaded from a truck, a Fire Department spokeswoman said. A second worker was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange with internal injuries, she said.

 

Boy killed at well was working illegally

May 19, 2001, By Matt Joyce -Herald Staff Writer

Workers at a well pad south of the Durango-La Plata County Airport were using a crane to move equipment when a 200-pound metal ball fell and killed a 17-year-old Mexican boy, authorities said Friday. Luis Carlos Sotelo was killed Thursday, probably instantly, when the ball fell 50 feet from a cable and hit him in the head and shoulder, said Lt. Dan Bender of the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office. Sotelo was a Mexican citizen working with a New Mexico company, Bender said. “Apparently there was a crane at the well pad for another purpose, and some workers not associated with the crane decided to use it to move a piece of equipment they were working on,” Bender said. Sotelo was not wearing a hard hat, said his brother, Jose Sotelo, speaking in a telephone interview from Farmington. “Every day they talk about safety,” he said. “What kind of safety is that?” Jose Sotelo said that his brother did not have a green card and was working illegally in the United States. The Immigration and Naturalization Service had not been contacted about the accident, said Scott Weber, acting director of investigations for the Denver district office of the INS. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration will send a compliance officer Monday to investigate the accident, said Megan Champney, the acting director of the Englewood OSHA office. Champney said an unconfirmed report to OSHA identified Luis Carlos Sotelo’s employer to be Frank’s Field Services, of Bloomfield, N.M. Jose Sotelo also said his brother had been working for Frank’s. Frank’s Oil Field Services could not be reached for comment Friday. OSHA will issue a report based on the findings of its investigation, Champney said. “As with any OSHA investigation, the companies involved could receive citations if violations of OSHA regulations were found,” Champney said. La Plata County Coroner Dick Mullen said an autopsy was being conducted Friday, but the results were not available. A rosary for Luis Carlos Sotelo will be at 7 p.m. Sunday at Brewer Lee and Larkin Funeral Home in Farmington. A funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Farmington.

 

Worker cut free from crane after machine tips over in quarry

Rescue workers in Robertson County cut an operator free from a crane that overturned in a Springfield quarry yesterday, trapping the victim inside. The victim’s identity was not released last night. The operator, an employee of American Limestone Co., is lucky not to have been crushed to death, said Michael Clark, assistant director of Robertson County Emergency Medical Services. ”The patient’s very lucky,” Clark said. ”That’s a large piece of equipment.” Rescue workers found the crane overturned within minutes of the 911 call for help at 2:18 p.m. The crane was in a hole, and the operator’s leg was trapped between the steering wheel and a piece of metal. The victim was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and was listed in critical but stable condition last night.

 

Five hurt in blast from live crane

Five workers were injured yesterday when a crane brushed overhead wires at Cordeaux Dam near Picton. The electrical surge caused the crane’s front tires to explode, scattering debris over a large area. The driver, 46, who is believed to have suffered heart complications, and his co-worker, 38, were airlifted to Liverpool Hospital. The contractors, were allowed to leave late yesterday. The other workers – two contractors and a Sydney Catchment Authority employee – were taken to Liverpool Hospital with shrapnel injuries and later released. NRMA Careflight executive director Mr Ian Badham said the crane became “alive” when its jib came close to 33,000-volt power lines at the dam. “While the crane apparently did not touch the lines, electricity arced from the high tension supply to the crane,” he said. Ambulance spokesman Mr Jeff Woods said the men were extremely lucky, considering the high voltage of the wires and the widespread damage caused by the blast. A Sydney Catchment Authority spokesman said the dam and nearby picnic area was closed to the public yesterday while WorkCover officers investigated. The authority would also conduct its own investigation. The spokesman said the popular picnic area at Cordeaux Dam had later been reopened.

 

Man loses arms, but inspires many

By Carolyne Park, Staff Writer

Jesse Sullivan of Dayton, Tenn., may have lost both his arms, but that has not kept him from touching the hearts of many. Five weeks ago Mr. Sullivan, 54, was badly injured when 7,200 volts of electricity passed through his body. Severe tissue damage caused him to have his arms amputated. But family members, doctors and hospital staff said he has remained upbeat and positive, and has been an inspiration to all. Mr. Sullivan said he is just glad to be alive. “I just feel grateful that God spared me,” he said. “It should have gone straight through my heart and killed me. I got more left than I ever lost.” The accident happened the afternoon of May 9. Mr. Sullivan was working as a lineman for the Electric Power Board in Rhea County. The last thing he remembers before the accident was being in a lineman’s bucket on Spence Cemetary Road, Mr. Sullivan said. He had been on the job for 23 years and the work was routine. “I don’t remember a thing that happened in the bucket,” Mr. Sullivan said. When he awoke his co-workers had pulled him out. “The fella I’ve worked with for years and years was holding me and telling me not to leave,” Mr. Sullivan said. From Rhea County Hospital he was transferred to the burn unit at Erlanger hospital and remained semiconscious for 15 days. Carolyn, his wife of 17 years, has stayed with him throughout the ordeal. She said the first days were the hardest. “For the first five days I thought he would die,” she said. Dr. Lesley Wong is the medical director of Erlanger’s burn unit and has been treating Mr. Sullivan since he arrived. Electrical burn patients usually have organ damage, but Mr. Sullivan did not, she said. “He’s the worst that I’ve seen in terms of tissue loss,” Dr. Wong said, but added “he is almost miraculously lucky that nothing else happened.” As far as they know, Mr. Sullivan’s heart did not miss a beat, Dr. Wong said. Mr. Sullivan has had seven surgeries and is undergoing physical therapy to help him adapt, Dr. Wong said. In the next week or so he is expected to fly to Chicago to be fitted for specially-designed prosthetic arms. Even with everything he has been through, Mr. Sullivan has remained upbeat, Dr. Wong said. “He’s unbelievable,” she said. “His attitude is just a tribute to humanity.” Tammy Berens, a registered nurse in the burn unit, agrees. “He has been an inspiration to us and so many patients,” she said. “He’s been amazing, we’ve all just fallen in love with him. “He told us when he got his prosthetics he would come back and give us all a big hug,” she said. Mr. Sullivan speaks highly of those who have cared for him. They’re fantastic,” he said. “I call them my guardian angels.” He attributes his survival to the grace of God. “Most men that take 7200 volts like that are dead,” he said. “He left me here for a reason.” Mr. Sullivan and his wife have six children and eight grandchildren. Dr. Wong said the strength and support of his family and friends has made treatment easy, and helped in his recovery. Mrs. Sullivan said the accident has not changed her husband. “Jesse is the same man he has always been, but now everybody has the pleasure of meeting him,” she said of the many friends the couple have made since the accident. Mr. Sullivan said he and his wife, who he describes as his “rock,” plan to take life one day at a time. For now, he is looking forward to getting his prosthetic arms. “I’m going to get to be like Inspector Gadget,” he said.

 

City BLW worker electrocuted while fixing utility pole; Officials unsure of events leading to man’s death

By Jeffrey Widmer, Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

MARIETTA – A five and a half year employee of the Marietta Board of Lights died after he was electrocuted early Saturday morning as he tried to repair a damaged utility pole on Allgood Road near Cobb Parkway. William Ryan Evans, 24, of Jasper was on a bucket truck attempting to repair the pole at about 5 a.m. when he came into contact with 120 volts of electricity. The incident took place directly in front of Marietta Fire Station No. 6. The pole had been damaged at 5 p.m. Friday in a car accident during heavy rains, said city spokesperson Audrey Griffies. Evans, hired by the city in December 1995 as a member of the tree trimming crew, received medical attention from his co-workers and firefighters at Station No. 6 before being transported to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, where he died. Ms. Griffies said no one is exactly sure how the incident occurred. A safety investigation team from the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG), which investigates such incidents, has completed its study of the incident and a report will be made available to the public Monday afternoon, she said. “We’re not sure how it happened right now,” Ms. Griffies said. Evans, who was married with a 5-month-old baby, was a tree trimmer for several years before being promoted to an apprentice line worker in 1998. He was a junior line worker when the incident took place. O.D. Reynolds, Marietta Board of Lights and Water manager, expressed sadness at the loss of Evans. “All of us are devastated,” Reynolds said. “Ryan was a fine young man … most of us were not here the last time we had a fatal accident, and this is going to hit the BLW family hard. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ryan’s family.” Saturday’s incident is the first fatal accident involving the BLW since the summer of 1980. That incident occurred at a construction site off Kennesaw Avenue, when a worker was electrocuted and killed while working on a buried power line. Ambulance crews had trouble finding the location of the 1980 incident because at that time, there were no street names at construction sites. Ironically, the mayor and council ordered the city fire department to get into the rescue business as a result, said Phil Chovan, former deputy chief for the fire department.

 

Lineman stable after receiving 7,200-volt shock

By John J. Archibald, of the Northwestern

WINCHESTER A Wisconsin Electric Power Company lineman is in stable condition and headed to a Madison hospital after 7,200 volts shocked him on a town of Winchester line. The accident occurred about 1:30 p.m. Friday on Sauby Road just south of the Meyer Lane intersection. Linemen with bucket trucks had worked to restore power lost in Monday nights storm when the man touched a conductor. A resident of the area, Vernadine Knaack said her husband, Charles, saw the accident scene. They were bringing him (the lineman) down in the bucket and he was slumped over the bucket, she said. A ThedaStar helicopter landed in an oat field and flew the lineman to Theda Clark Medical Center, where he was listed as stable, said Chris Iglar, Wisconsin Electric spokesman. Since then, hes been transferred to University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison, Iglar said. A Wisconsin Electric Power Company man who didnt identify himself said repairs at the site had closed for the rest of the day after the accident. The location is a few miles west of the intersections of highways 110 and 150, about 12 miles northwest of Oshkosh city limits.

 

Cable worker dead after fall from bucket truck
A 42-year-old television cable lineman fell to his death Wednesday while he was working atop a bucket truck in Warren. Bryan Bohnsack, Warren Chief of Police said that the lineman, a resident of Fulton, about 10 a.m. fell approximately 20 feet from the raised bucket at the intersection of Galena Ave. and Bellevue St., on Warren’s east side. WARREN – “The victim’s name is being withheld pending notification of his family,” Bohnsack said. “He has a Fulton residence address, but many of his family live out of state.” Jo Daviess County Coroner, Bill Miller, pronounced the worker dead at the scene. “The investigation is still in the initial stages,” Bohnsack said. “An unconfirmed report by a witness to the accident said the bucket apparently was moving when it struck an overhead telephone wire, knocking the victim out of the bucket.” It has not been determined if a safety harness was in place. A second lineman was believed to be in the bucket at the time of the accident, but was not injured. The workers are employed by cable television provider, Mediacom, Inc., of Chillicothe. Assisting the Warren Police Department were the Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s office, the Warren Ambulance and Fire Department, the Illinois State Police Crime Scene, and Leamon’s Ambulance. “The Illinois State Police technicians are routinely called in to take accurate photos and a description of the accident scene,” Bohnsack said. “There was no evidence of foul play.” The investigation of the accident is continuing, and the name of the victim and further details will be released Thursday morning by Coroner Miller.