04.04.2016
Crane overturn in Texas
A Rough Terrain crane overturned on Highway 99, near West Belfort, to the west of Houston yesterday.
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It looks as though the crane had just been unloaded
Details are scant, although initial police reports suggested that the crane had come off the back of the trailer, the photograph that we have received suggest that it was down to something else. Such as attempting to unload a beam?
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A closer look
Mike74
I think you are both right, guys. Nice to work with people like you. And thanx for your insightful explanations.
Red
From the picture, the blue debris on the pavement close to the hookblock is, I believe, a clamp used to lift the barrier ( in my area commonly called k-rail ). I think the crane was picking up and loading sections of k-rail. I have operated cranes for over 40 years, and I have loaded and unloaded many miles of k-rail. I have seen this type of incident many times. One section of k-rail weighs 8000 lbs. A contractor requests a crane for k-rail work, but the operator is told (because of limited space,) not to extend the outriggers, only to run them down. Many times this is the result.
Sherm
Mike's comment makes sense to me however my take on it is the crane was not large and strong enough to lift the long concrete barrier off the truck trailer. The operator may have tried to raise and slew the rear end of the barrier to left edge of trailer then move to the front to try to raise that end which would or could have destroyed the tractor. Had the operator attempted a full lift at the midpoint of the load to allow the truck to drive out from under the load the consequences might have been worse yet. Whatever size crane was employed to load the barrier should have been transported to this site to unload safely. I would like to see the investigation report of the costly error.
Mike74
It is looking somewhat strange indeed.Not that i am an expert in mobile cranes, but had the crane come off the back of the loader, would the truck not have come at least a bit farther? And had the crane come off the loader's left side, would it not topple to his own left? And, most od all, why is the boom up and telescoped? Wait! There is not enough room on the loader for such crane! There is a concrete precast element lying on it, that the crane was supposed to unload I guess.And what is the blue debris close to the main hook block? Remains of some car? Perhaps it struck the hook block and pulled un-outriggered crane to the side?...Or was operating the ceane without extended outriggers enough to have it topple and strike a car in the process? (I find it hard to believe they are that unstable)The outriggers appear to have been lowered but not extended,so perhaps the crane was actually attempting to lift that precast indeed.