| Jul 25 |
Another construction crane kills, with no end in sightby Bruce Westbrook
The man was sitting in the front seat of his car as a steeple was being raised during the building of a new church in Oklahoma City. When the steeple had been lifted about 10 feet off the ground, the crane and its apparatus tipped over, falling on the man’s vehicle and killing him. His wife, who was in the back seat and managed to get out of the car, survived. This was a much smaller crane than the one which toppled in Houston last Friday. The OKC crane’s boom was only about 80 feet, while the crane which fell at the LyondellBassell refinery at the Houston Ship Channel was 300 feet tall and had a capacity to lift more than a million pounds.But it’s not necessarily the size of the crane that matters in such accidents. It’s the fact that towering construction cranes are inherently risky machines doing dangerous work, and too many states have too few laws and regulations governing their operation, leading to wildly varied standards among operators and those who should safeguard against such accidents. It’s often said that machines don’t make errors. Rather, the people who make and operate machines make errors, and machines simply carry them out. That’s certainly true in the case of construction cranes and the alarmingly high number of accidents in which they’re being involved across the USA. If you or a loved one has suffered due to a construction crane accident, a construction crane accident lawyer with Jim S. Adler & Associates can help. The law firm offers a free case review for your convenience.
2 Responses to “Another construction crane kills, with no end in sight”Leave a Reply |
Less than a week after a construction crane accident claimed the lives of four oil refinery contract workers in Houston, a 
It will emerge in the next few days that the accident in Houston was caused by human error, and the sad death of the gentleman in Oklahoma was likely caused by poor ground conditions. That incident also highlights that you don’t have to be under the load to get hurt. That man should not have been able to get into a position where he could be hurt by a crane falling.
Accidents are always caused, they don’t just happen. The two tower crane accidents in New York City were caused by poor rigging practices, and poor maintenance respectively.
Anything short of a lightening bolt or earthquake is avoidable and preventable.
I review lift plans submitted by contractors, and the level of knowledge in the crane and rigging industry is typically poor. There is a lot of “rule of thumb” work going out out there, and I’m sure plenty of accidents nearly happen without the personnel ever knowing about it. I even read a court transcript a while ago where the “expert” witness made an erroneous statement regarding a basic and fundamental aspect of lift planning. Nobody noticed.
Training always helps, but the training standards are rudimentary at best, and do little to educate the riggers and operators in the theory behind what they do. Most are ill informed, and often misled by site folklore and old wives tales. That leads to either overly conservative or dangerously risky behaviour, neither of which is good for the industry.
The crane rental market is booming at the present time, and good operators and equipment are hard to find. As this continues, we are likely to see personnel and equipment being used that a few years ago would have been “left in the dugout”
Just for the record, the large crane that collapsed in Houston last week is capable of lifting 5 million pounds. It was the largest crane in the USA of its type.
If you look at the pictures taken at the scene in Oklahoma City it’s obvious the ground isn’t at fault for the crane turn over. Operator error is playing a major role in the settup of this crane note the counter weights or should I say lack of.