21.11.2013
Crane goes over on wind farm
A 750 tonne All Terrain crane overturned yesterday on a wind farm in Germany as it was moving – partially rigged - between turbine installation areas.
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The overturned crane
The crane, a new Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 owned by Cologne based crane specialist Colonia, had already completed its work on two turbines at the wind farm in Düren-Echtz - between Aachen and Cologne - and was moving along one of the wind farm roads to the third turbine, when it went over.
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The emergency services had to rescue the operator from his cab
Local police say that a strong gust of wind caught the crane, but this was most likely combined with the uneven ground at the point where it went over. The crane was said to have overturned slowly, which suggests that some of the wheels had left the main part of the road. It was rigged with an extension and jib and had most of its counterweight in place.
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The ground had a dip where the crane went over
The operator was rescued from his cab by the emergency services and was taken to hospital suffering from shock. No one else was hurt in the incident, although the crane which was delivered in July will have sustained some serious damage.
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The incident occurred at a junction
UPDATE
click here to see video
video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9gythYTFOz0
mr_gottwald
I don't think the regulations need to be changed. It is obvious more necessary to start with operator permissions. Nothing would have been happened when they would work according the manual.
I will never understand why a crane owner invests 2-3 Mio € in steel, but nothing / not much into his stuff which operates it...
Twitwoo
Axle weights of rigged machine ??? Permissible axle weights of constructed Haul road ????
John
Good to see that no one has been injured. However when will the manufacturers realise the rates are far too low, and the hirers have to rush and sometimes travel rigged on poor quality roads and standing platforms this may not have been the case with this incident though. Totally agree with the last statement the movement of rigged and partially rigged cranes should be as the manufacturers recommendations and not on substandard roads,The ESTA meeting March 2012 discussed the issues with the Turbine manufacturers and we are still seeing accidents which may have been prevented .Sander Splinter produced an excellent document "WIND a turbulent business" which out lines the WTG industry.
Bigboy
You think that company's would have learnt by now as quite a few cranes have now turned over on wind farms whilst moving cranes partially rigged doesn't work out that cheap in the end hope the driver is ok.
It is possible to move a crane partially rigged (with an extension and jib)but only on flat, equal and hard underground as written in the manual and,in this case, with the outriggers minimum on half extended. Tell me if I am wrong. Maybe that wasn't possible on this road. Too bad this happened. Fortunately, there were no injuries
Sherm
Why they didn't retract the boom to transport mode each time it would be moved beats me. If they left the boom up to save time...they lost thirty times or more by losing the rig.