In order to view all images, please register and log in. This will also allow you to comment on our stories and have the option to receive our email alerts. Click here to register
02.12.2011

Crane tips at Tate Modern

A 110 tonne All Terrain crane overturned at London’s Tate Modern TM2 construction project, fortunately no one was hurt in the incident.

The crane a five axle 110 Tadano Faun ATF110G, is owned and operated by Baldwins Crane Hire and was said to be lifting a steel beam at around 18:00 hours yesterday, when it lost stability. The beam apparently landed on another beam over an excavation stopping the crane from going over completely. The boom also came to rest on part of the steelwork.
Please register to see all images

The crane had most of its five section boom extended


From photographs that we have received it looks as though the crane sustained little to no damage and was being recovered today by two other Baldwins cranes, including a Demag AC70 City. A call to Baldwins this morning resulted in a no comment from the depot that supplied the crane.
Please register to see all images

The crane being recovered today


The main contractor on site is Mace which acknowledged the incident and said it would get back to us. Tate Modern has in the meantime issued a formal statement that says: “At approximately 18:00 on 01/12/2011 a mobile crane overturned on the Tate Modern development project in London. No injuries were sustained and the crane remained within the site boundary. The crane has been recovered.”

We understand that the crane was working for sub-contractor McGee which has been carrying out the civil and demolition work on the site.
Please register to see all images

The crane boom came to rest on a some vertical steelwork


Reports that the hoist cable on the AC70 snapped during the recovery have not been confirmed. All of the reports we have received from the site today suggest that the crane was overloaded/out of radius - possibly due to higher counterweight being programmed in than was actually on the crane.
Please register to see all images

A closer view


A team from the Health & Safety Executive is on site and was there for the recovery today. It will ultimately, one hopes, determine for certain what caused this incident and publish details for others to learn from.


Comments

ghost
Further, at the end of the day, the operator is the guy on the levers and he has the final say on whether he can lift a load or not - if he can't, he must have the confidence in his management to back him up if he calls off the lift and they should not put pressure on him to carry on. That said, remember some 4 years ago when a 70 ton city crane boom snapped (not Baldwins) - on downloading the data logger, Demag discovered that the operator had turned the overide key on numerous occasions....his choice...?

Dec 16, 2011

ghost
@ Scouser I'm in complete agreement with you mate. From what I can gather, the computer settings were wrong - programmed for more ballast that wasn't actually on the crane. I'm not familiar with the tadano 110 but does it have cheek weights and if so, had the operator set the computer to operate with cheek weights? If he did, was that his choice just so he could get a few extra feet of radius without triggering the alarms or had pressure been applied either from the client or from Baldwins? Only the operator knows.....that said, if Baldwins were serious about safety, they should have been hammering it into their operators in the light of recent events.

Dec 16, 2011

Old Sweat Old Sweat
Knowing this company,as has been said,the job was probably repped for a 160t and pressure has been applied to the operator.Good job the boom wasn,t over one rigger. It would have been a different story then.

Dec 9, 2011

Old Sweat Old Sweat
Knowing this company,as has been said,the job was probably repped for a 160t and pressure has been applied to the operator.Good job the boom wasn,t over one rigger. It would have been a different story then.

Dec 9, 2011


Very lucky that it rested on the beams as if it had gone over all the way it would have had major problems down the hole with men working on re-bar and other works.

Dec 8, 2011


Handy being at The Tate, they can just skate the crane in as an exhibit. Hey presto! It's got Tracey Emin written all over this one.

Dec 5, 2011


....And if I know steel erectors, after the crane tipped they probably still asked the driver if he could give 'em another half a meter.

Dec 5, 2011

Shifty
Hi All,
I take on board all of the comments made, i made the initial one. There is a responsibility for all concerned, Mace will go through this again with a fine tooth combe, McGee will probably have had a visit from their neighbour in Southwark Bridge Road "THE HSE". The Appointed Person is probably looking for another job, as he's had a firm phone call from RB or WB more importantly, Lifting Supervisors generally hold the trump card. These chaps hold a lot of clout and should dictate whether or not a lift is to go ahead. In this case a wrong decison was made, with possible pressure from the white collar dept upstairs.

We all have our problems, lets be fair, this sounds like a pukka 160t job that was out on the day and the AP was forced to take a 110t. The operator would have known straight away what the load weight was and would have known prior what the intended final radius would be.

When these situations occur the whole crane hire circle is affected, things tighten up even more, when its bad enough now.

Lets not get into a Forum Slagging match please gents.

Dec 5, 2011

vertikal editor
Just to remind everyone of the Rules of Conduct of the website:

Keep it clean, Don't threaten or abuse -TURN OFF CAPS LOCK, Be truthful- no lies, Be nice -No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person, Try and be positive and constructive.

Dec 5, 2011

smudge
I see Scouser is defending Baldwins, well let me put you straight, I waas on site when the Baldwins crane operator made it clear he could pick this load up, but claimed the office told him to just get on with it, so I think you should get your facts before blaming the operator, and any way Baldwins have not been the most safe of working company has this year has proven by the amount of accidents involving Baldwin cranes, which just can't be bad luck can it?

Dec 5, 2011

Scouser
Both Shifty and Ghost, who are we talking about here, McGee or Baldwins? If you knew anything about cranes, surely you would know it is the drivers, fault, not the firm that was hireing the crane. The driver should not lift a load at a radious that his on board computer would not allow him to. Did he overide his computer because he did not have enough balast? Hirer would be at fault if load was heavier than told to Baldwins AP or hirer gave wrong ground bearing presure to AP. So lets keep the comments in the real world.

Dec 4, 2011

ghost
With the economy the way it is, money is now the deciding factor not safety - pay peanuts etc same old story - completely agree with Shifty. HSE are already over this lot like a cheap suit so why are they still in business?

Dec 3, 2011

Shifty
I dont leave too many comments, but why is this company always in the news, they got the kit, claim to have the expertise, clearly not, they appear on these kind of projects when their safety record is ..... you know why cos they're cheap.
Sorry McGee`s you should know better.

Dec 2, 2011