30.09.2013
Fatal tower crane collapse in Singapore
A tower crane collapse has left two men dead and two seriously injured on the National Gallery site in Singapore. A third man has more minor injuries.
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The crane after the incident
The luffing jib crane was said to be lifting a large load this morning when it lost is concrete counterweight as the jib and load dropped onto scaffolding below. While it has not been confirmed, we understand from local sources that those who died – including a project manager – were struck by falling counterweight or jib parts.
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The crane was lifting a load at the time and is said to have lost its counterweight
The National Art Gallery is being developed on the site of the former City Hall by one of Japan's largest contractors Takenaka, in a joint venture with Singapore Piling - Takenaka-Singapore Piling Joint Venture - so far it has declined to comment.
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The Jib and counterweight came down on scaffolding
This is the second crane incident on this site in three months, a crawler crane went over in July, dropping its boom into Coleman Street.
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This seems a strange sequence of events - am no expert but how would a falling counterweight then trigger a jib collapse ? It sounds more plausible that the luffing hoist brake failed, causing the jib to drop and when the jib hit the building it caused the crane to shudder which could in turn cause a counterweight block to fall. Just a thought - am happy to be proved wrong here - what do other readers think ?