2008-03-13

Check out the pictures provided you. The men in this basket were 80 feet in the air when the wire ropes came out of the drum, the men had enough time to release the safe equipment they were wearing as safety equipment, and jump out of the man basket, no one was injured. This is the same company that owned the 4100. The crane that was lifting this man-basket USED worn out part HOLDING THE CABLE IN THE DRUM.
 

2008-02-04 - Not a Mishap.... yet.

This is an interesting event of hypocrisy. What do they say after an accident? A company rented a crane that was inspected on 1-14-08 and passes by the crane rental company. Then on 1-16-08 the crane was inspected by a third party and passed in a few hours. Then on 1-31-08 it was inspected by a professional crane inspector approved by Federal OSHA and failed, see pictures.

The company that rented the crane knew something was wrong with it when it arrived on their site. This crane came from a long distance, and the crane rental company erected it. The crane was a Manitowoc 4100 series 2.

Listed below are the deficiencies that were found: The hook rollers were out of adjustment, and the house moved up and down. The cable rollers fell out of the boom when they were walking the crane. The drive chain broke two different times.

The anti-skid was missing. The machine was dirty. Guards were not secured. Sheet metal on the roof had holes. The boom angle indicator was sticking. The caution and warning signs were missing. The dome light not working. Gauges were not working in cab. Load charts were the wrong ones for the unit. The crane would not start without the help of a crane mechanic. There were gaps in the wire spooling. Large cut holes in the house above the boom hoist drums. Counter weight cotter pins missing. Large cut hole for retainer pins. Wing counter weights were welded to the main counter weights. Car-body and tracks showed movement. Steering adjustments out of adjustment. Steering & brake pins ready to fall out and upside down. The car body bolts able to turn by hand, tracks were worn-out, tracks out of adjustment, travel adjustment were out, operating controls were in backwards, no holder for the crane chart, load block had no tag, whip line ball had no tag.

This company that rented the crane for their work also questioned the mechanic that the Rental company provided and told him the controls were in backwards. His reply was they were not and were in the right way, that was the way they go. The professional inspector showed the operator the crane manual for the crane, and the controls were in backwards. After getting the schematic from the manufacturer the controls were shown to be in backwards. This crane rental company let this crane out to rent with worn out parts . see pictures

Now this is the interesting part that deserves the dunce award. The rental company’s CEO was a board member of a prestigious company which certifies crane operators. How do you account for such negligence by workers employed by leaders like this? Again we think that it’s all about the bottom line figure that counts above human life.

If you are a crane operator you are aware of all the responsibilities you have, and are required of you by federal laws. You would expect the equipment that is provided to you from a company whose CEO is on the board that sets the licensing for crane operators would issue a safe crane with the same high standards that he requires of you.
 

2008-04-11

The operator, who was actually the salesman delivering the crane, rotated the house while it was still on the lowboy.  No injuries.

2008-03-30

Terex ac 700

2008-01-07

In this case our attendance was requested in order to investigate, ascertain the extension, causes and evaluation of the damages allegedly sustained by the mobile crane ATF 50-3 FAUN .

The crane was part of a team of four units, which were used to lift one steel structure for training parachutists at Madrid Spain. It must be pointed out that the weight of such structure was only of 40 Tonnes.

Of the four cranes used, the one with lesser capacity was of 50 Tonnes and is the unit subject of this report.

During lifting operations, the stabilizer plate of the forward left leg of one crane of 80 Tonnes cracked and broke. As a consequence the left leg was imbedded in the ground and the crane toppled forward, pulling the structure down to the ground. The force of the jerk caused the damages in the crane mobile crane ATF 50-3 FAUN.

Based in al the above we concluded that the damages originated in the failure of the stabilizer plate (probably due to metal fatigue) of the 80 Tonnes crane. This failure triggered the chain of events leading to the incident.