Istanbul

A reader has sent us details of a job that went wrong last week in Istanbul taking a man’s life and damaging a large crane.

The crane a Demag AC700 owned by Sistem Vinc was helping dismantle a flyover on the D-100 Metrobüs link road into the city. A crew was cutting a section free for the crane to lower it when an adjoining section broke free unexpectedly and crashed to the ground killing Jacob Poplar, 47, and we understand injuring at least two others.

The crane’s carrier cab was badly damaged but it did not overturn, or we understand drop its load. We have no further details at this time than this.

The post Highway Collapse in Istanbul appeared first on Crane Accidents.

Beaufort, South Carolina A bridge that connects downtown Beaufort to Lady’s Island has been closed after a crane being carried on a truck hit the structure. Beaufort police said Thursday afternoon they were closing the Richard V. Woods Memorial Bridge as a precaution until Department of Transportation inspectors from Charleston Read More

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Monroe, Louisiana

A Department of Transportation and Development crane being used to construct a bridge on Martin Luther King Drive in southern Monroe toppled Tuesday afternoon, filling a drainage canal with dirt.

According to Charles Westrom with the Monroe public works department, the crane fell when loose dirt underneath it shifted.

The crane’s operator was not injured in the incident. However, the collapse filled a large drainage canal with dirt, with Hurricane Isaac approaching.

Weather officials said Isaac could drop between 8 and 10 inches of rainfall as it approaches northeastern Louisiana late Wednesday.

“The crane has partially obstructed the canal,” Westrom said. “This will affect drainage, but workers have been instructed to have the canal cleared by Wednesday afternoon.”

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Costa Rica

A truck crane crossing a Bailey bridge in Costa Rica on Tuesday proved to be more than it could handle

The crane an old Grove TM1275 or TM1400 belonging to Grúas Quirós, weighs between 82 and 86 tonnes and the bridge is likely to have a capacity of 40 tonnes or so.

The bridge is a temporary structure taking the General Cañas Highway over a sinkhole that developed in recent heavy rains. The bridge buckled and came down on top of a large bull dozer working below, but thankfully no one was injured in the incident. The highway connects the capital – San José to the country’s main international airport.

The National Roadway Council says that the crane is too heavy to have been travelling on the highway and that the crane company will be obliged to cover the cost of clearing up the damage and replacing the bridge.

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Tyrol, Austria A crane section estimated to weigh a tonne fell and struck a scaffolder standing beside a lorry yesterday at the Fendlerbach bridge site at Imst bei Ried in Tyrol, the force of the blow directly on his head killing him instantly.

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Cairneyhill, Fife, Scotland

A five axle All Terrain crane slipped off a railway bridge earlier today in Cairneyhill, Fife, Scotland.

The crane, a Terex Demag owned by rental company Forsyth of Denny was travelling along the A985 road and crossing the unprotected bridge, when the rear wheels slipped over the edge.

We understand that no one was hurt in the incident which closed the road for a good part of the day.

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Omaha, Nebraska

One person was hospitalized following a crane accident south of Bellevue on Tuesday morning.

Authorities were called to the work site of the Highway 34 bridge project over the Missouri River just east of La Platte Road around 9:30 a.m.

Initial reports indicate that two people were on top of a 100-foot crane at the time that it rolled onto its top.  The two people fell into the Missouri River about 20 to 30 feet from the bank and swam to shore.

The crane operator was trapped inside until other bridge workers freed him by using cutting torches.

Bellevue Fire Department’s medic unit took the crane operator to a trauma center.

The two people who fell into the river refused medical treatment.

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BURLINGTON, Kansas

Kansas crane operator killed after machine tips over

A northeast Kansas man is dead after a crane he was operating at a construction site tipped over and he was pinned beneath it.

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Oakland, Calif.

A piece of the temporary support, (right) under the eastern section of the new Bay Bridge which fall onto a crane below is moved away from the toppled crane in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday Feb. 21 2013

A midday construction accident on the new Bay Bridge east span Thursday toppled a crane with a 160-foot boom, sending it and part of a temporary steel trestle that was being removed plunging toward the bay.

No one was injured and no oil spilled in the accident, which occurred when one of two large ringer cranes, which were attached to the barge and reached to the underside of the new bridge, tipped over at 12:15 p.m., said Andrew Gordon, spokesman for the Bay Bridge project.

The cranes were working in tandem on the north side of the bridge, just east of the span’s lone tower, using a steel lowering frame to remove a section of the steel structure that had supported the deck of the bridge’s signature span until the tower was assembled and the suspension cable installed.

Positioned at opposite ends of the 88-foot-by-99-foot barge, the cranes were lifting the steel segment from its ends when it slipped loose from the lowering frame and fell to the barge, pulling one crane with it. The steel crashed to the deck of the barge, piercing one section of it and sticking into the bay, Gordon said, though no steel fell into the bay.

The accident occurred beneath the single-tower suspension span where crews have been working for a month to remove a rust-covered temporary support system that was installed in 2009 while the steel bridge deck was being assembled. But as of November, the bridge has supported itself, so construction crews are removing the now unneeded support structure.

Bridge officials said the new east span suffered only minor cosmetic damage – scraped paint – in the accident.

“Nothing happened that would affect the integrity of the structure,” Gordon said.

Construction on the span was suspended after the accident, Gordon said, but is expected to resume Friday. However, the dismantling of the temporary trestle will stop while the accident is investigated. John Goodwin, a spokesman for the Bay Area Toll Authority, a toll bridge oversight agency, said the removal of the temporary supports is not critical to the opening of the $6.3 billion bridge, scheduled for Sept. 3.

American Bridge/Fluor, the contractor building the span, and the Coast Guard will cooperate on an investigation, Gordon said. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which looks into workplace accidents, could also investigate.

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Lincoln County, Oregon

The pic. are from the video

CLPUD project to replace high voltage line support structures across the bay. NO INJURIES.

News Lincoln County has sent the video to all four Portland TV stations which will be running the video throughout the evening during news breaks.

The top video of the actual collapse of the crane boom was shot by Rob Bishop with a Nikon P510 camera. Rob is a Port of Alsea Commissioner.

The second video, the aftermath video, was shot by News Lincoln County. 9:55pm

CLPUD Public Information Officer Chris Chandler reports that linemen will be working until at least midnight trying to shore up the old wooden structures that were damaged in the accident.

That has not be confirmed. The new structure leaned back, causing a huge strain on the crane boom. The boom buckled, and everything fell toward the south…boom and the structures falling into the bay.

The New metal support structures, which were dropped, have a combined weight of 14 tons.

No one injured. The crane was lifting a new support structure to replace the wooden structures that hold up high voltage power lines that cross the bay.

While lifting the structures, one of them caught onto one of the power lines.

Witnesses say the crane operator tried to free the structure from wire.

Possibly a float under one of the structures may have failed.

The part holding the operator never left the barge. The operator is reported to be fine.

Earlier reports said that the crane itself fell into the bay.

The boom is part of the crane, but as you can see from the Pic’s, it is not ALL of the crane.

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GALLATIN, TN

The crane, a Terex/American 165 owned and operated by Mountain States Contractors.

Federal safety officials are investigating what caused a crane to collapse Tuesday and topple on to a moving car, and the Channel 4 I-Team has learned the company in charge of that crane has a history of work

In fact, according to inspection reports, the company had construction workers die on previous jobs.

Some said it was a miracle nobody was seriously hurt on Highway 109 in Gallatin when the crane came crashing down.

“We do know there were strong winds at that time in the afternoon, but we don’t know if the wind contributed in what happened,” said Gallatin police officer Bill Storment.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be in charge of making that call, and an OSHA spokesperson said it could take as long as six months before that inspection is done.

Now, the Channel 4 I-Team is learning new information about the company the Tennessee Department of Transportation said was in charge of the crane at the time of the collapse.

According to OSHA records, in December 2005, a worker was killed on a Mountain States Contractors LLC construction site in Nashville when a wall collapsed.

Then, in November 2010, another employee died in Memphis from asphyxiation after a hammer fell from a crane and hit the guardrail to which the worker was tied, sending the worker into the water below.

And in 2011, TDOT temporarily suspended construction projects by Mountain States Contractors and another company following a second fatality on a bridge project they were working on in Knoxville. After completing a safety review of projects across the state, TDOT later allowed work to resume.

The crane incident Tuesday in Gallatin was at the site of another TDOT bridge project. Federal OSHA officials are taking the lead in the investigation because the crane was sitting on a river barge.

The two men who were in the car when the crane hit are OK, but other drivers were surprised anyone was able to walk away.

“It was pretty bad. They never hit the brakes. They were doing probably 35 mph, and it was just a hard impact. It made a pop when it hit,” said witness David Smith.

A spokesman for Mountain States Contractors said the company is cooperating with OSHA and is also doing its own investigation to make sure this never happens again.

As for the previous accidents, the company said in each case it took action to improve safety.

“Safety and accident prevention are our top priorities, and we do our very best to protect our employees and the public. When we fall short of that goal, we investigate thoroughly and train or re-train in order to prevent as best we can any future occurrence,” said Mountain States spokesman John Van Mol.

Mol added the company has safety briefings every day at each of its job sites.

The Channel 4 I-Team asked OSHA officials if there are any standards in place for securing cranes in bad weather, but we have not yet received a response.

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

A bridge inspector lost his life yesterday after he was crushed between the boom lift he was using and a steel bridge beam.

The man, Tripat Mann, 58, reportedly an employee of the MA Beech Group, was inspecting a bridge over the I-279 highway in the north of the city, when something went wrong. He was spotted by a colleague who managed to lower the boom to the ground, a passing state trooper performed CPR on him until the emergency services arrived. He was then rushed to hospital and died later from his injuries.

The scene after the incident yesterday

Inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) were on site yesterday afternoon to conduct a full investigation into what happened. The lift was straight boomed JLG with articulated jib, rented in from United Rentals. The bridge is controlled by the Pennsylvania Department of Transport and the inspection work covered a recent repair.

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Boston Massachusetts

A man was died after a six ton steel beam arch dropped from an overhead crane at Boston Bridge & Steel yesterday evening.

The man – one of four men working in the vicinity at the time – was Marco Antonio Huezo Mancea, 46. Originally from El Salvador he has worked in the USA for 12 years and has a wife, son, and two daughters living in El Salvador.

The local police say that he was pronounced dead at the scene, an investigation into what went wrong is ongoing.

The post Crane Fatality in Boston appeared first on Crane Accidents.

1-585 Interstate highway,  South Carolina

A truck transporting a large boom lift struck a bridge over the 1-585 Interstate highway in South Carolina last week, moving one of the bridge decks over a meter and a half.

The damage on the boom lift is surprising light given the impact

The bridge deck was moved over 1.5 meters

The incident occurred last Monday near Spartanburg when a JLG Ultra Boom, owned by Ahern Rentals and transported by a private contractor, passed underneath the bridge at speed, ripping the lift off the trailer and moving the deck.

The bridge was built in 1957 and had a clearance of 13ft 10” or 4.2 metres. Thankfully no one was injured in the incident.

The bridge was damaged beyond repair

The bridge section has now been removed and the Interstate reopened. Police said that the driver of the tractor-trailer has been charged with discharging his load on the highway.

The truck looks as though it was from a third party hauler

The post Moving a Bridge appeared first on Crane Accidents.

 Switzerland

A driver who forgot to stow his loader crane, closed the Belchen tunnel between Olten and Basel, Switzerland last night. Fortunately no one was hurt in the incident.

The driver had apparently loaded a container at a rest area around midnight last night, and then headed off down the A2/E35 highway towards Basel, without stowing the crane. He struck the lights and tunnel entrance casing considerable damage. The one side of the tunnel was closed for several hours while the crane was extracted and the mess cleaned up.

The scene last night

This is apparently the second incident with a crane in the area so far this year, another hit a bridge over the highway near Birmenstorf in mid January.

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Tonbridge, Kent, in the UK

A van mounted lift tried to pass under a bridge that was simply too low and ended up on two wheels yesterday in Tonbridge, Kent, in the UK.

The unit hit the low bridge at speed+

The lift, a self-drive Versalift mounted on a Ford Transit chassis and owned by rental company PG Platforms was fully stowed but almost certainly too high for the low bridge, according to local reports claimed it was driven at fairly high speed into the 10ft 3’/3.1 metre high bridge, causing it to jam- this may not actually have been the case.

UPDATE 

The following has been received from PG

“With reference to the bridge strike in Tonbridge yesterday I can confirm it was on a self-drive hire to a local street lighting contractor.

Reports back in to us are that the driver was actually trying to turn around using the side street next to the bridge. he went across the road at an angle to reverse back and in doing so he struck the metal beam in front of the bridge sideways on causing the machine to go up on to two wheels and causing no damage to the bridge.

We have the machine coming back today where we will have it checked over by the manufacture for any damage.”

The post A Bridge Too Far appeared first on Crane Accidents.

Chesapeake, Virginia

A delivery truck carrying an articulated boom lift smashed into a bridge yesterday in Chesapeake, Virginia, wrecking the truck bed and ripping the top off of the lift.

The unit a relatively new JLG is owned by Sunbelt Rentals as is the delivery rig, the driver suffered from minor injuries in the incident. The bridge was damaged and the road was closed for some time while a large oil spill was cleaned up and the truck removed.

The superstructure is ripped off

he bridge is supposedly over four meters high (13’8”), which should have provided sufficient headroom as the stowed height of the machine is around three meters.

The lower bridge is supposed to have a clearance of almost 4.2 meters

The post Truly Bashed appeared first on Crane Accidents.

Southern England

A truck carrying a boom lift struck a pedestrian bridge in the UK yesterday ripping the platform and telescopic section out of the machine.

The incident happened on the dual lane Dorset Way near Poole in southern England, and involved a Haulotte HA16PX articulated boom on a three axle flat bed owned by High Level Platforms. The platform struck a pedestrian bridge over the highway.

Photos we have been sent seem to show that the boom, jib and platform were properly stowed which would meant that the jib knuckle which protrudes slightly caught on the underside of the bridge and jammed sufficiently to pull the fly section out.

The machine remained firmly on board

We understand that the boom section, jib and basket after striking the road remained attached to the machine via its hydraulic hoses and cables. The truck pulled up and help was called to load the section back onto the truck. Meanwhile the road was closed while the bridge was checked and the road surface patched. Thankfully no one was injured.

The boom section, jib and platform are recovered under the eye of a police car

The post Another Bridge Bashing appeared first on Crane Accidents.

Morat, Switzerland

A driver who forgot to stow his loader crane was injured yesterday near Murten (Morat) Switzerland after he struck a bridge on the A1 highway to the west of Berne.

The truck was turned on its side by the impact with the bridge, resulting in the driver breaking his arm. He had been unloading material and for some reason forgot to stow the crane before heading off down the road. The highway was closed for three hours, but an inspection indicates little to now structural damage to the bridge.

The overturned truck

The post Another Bridge Bashed appeared first on Crane Accidents.

GALLATIN, TN

The crane, a Terex/American 165 owned and operated by Mountain States Contractors.

Federal safety officials are investigating what caused a crane to collapse Tuesday and topple on to a moving car, and the Channel 4 I-Team has learned the company in charge of that crane has a history of work

In fact, according to inspection reports, the company had construction workers die on previous jobs.

Some said it was a miracle nobody was seriously hurt on Highway 109 in Gallatin when the crane came crashing down.

“We do know there were strong winds at that time in the afternoon, but we don’t know if the wind contributed in what happened,” said Gallatin police officer Bill Storment.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be in charge of making that call, and an OSHA spokesperson said it could take as long as six months before that inspection is done.

Now, the Channel 4 I-Team is learning new information about the company the Tennessee Department of Transportation said was in charge of the crane at the time of the collapse.

According to OSHA records, in December 2005, a worker was killed on a Mountain States Contractors LLC construction site in Nashville when a wall collapsed.

Then, in November 2010, another employee died in Memphis from asphyxiation after a hammer fell from a crane and hit the guardrail to which the worker was tied, sending the worker into the water below.

And in 2011, TDOT temporarily suspended construction projects by Mountain States Contractors and another company following a second fatality on a bridge project they were working on in Knoxville. After completing a safety review of projects across the state, TDOT later allowed work to resume.

The crane incident Tuesday in Gallatin was at the site of another TDOT bridge project. Federal OSHA officials are taking the lead in the investigation because the crane was sitting on a river barge.

The two men who were in the car when the crane hit are OK, but other drivers were surprised anyone was able to walk away.

“It was pretty bad. They never hit the brakes. They were doing probably 35 mph, and it was just a hard impact. It made a pop when it hit,” said witness David Smith.

A spokesman for Mountain States Contractors said the company is cooperating with OSHA and is also doing its own investigation to make sure this never happens again.

As for the previous accidents, the company said in each case it took action to improve safety.

“Safety and accident prevention are our top priorities, and we do our very best to protect our employees and the public. When we fall short of that goal, we investigate thoroughly and train or re-train in order to prevent as best we can any future occurrence,” said Mountain States spokesman John Van Mol.

Mol added the company has safety briefings every day at each of its job sites.

The Channel 4 I-Team asked OSHA officials if there are any standards in place for securing cranes in bad weather, but we have not yet received a response.

The post Car Smashed as Crane Topples onto Road appeared first on Crane Accidents.