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19.10.2018

Crane mishap in Scotland

A telescopic crawler crane tipped over rearwards yesterday at a site in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The crane, a 100 tonne LTR1100 owned by Hawks Hire, was working on the St James Shopping centre and hotel redevelopment when it seems the operator had the tracks fully retracted, over the side with full 32 tonnes of superstructure counterweight in place, and then either raised the fully retracted boom to the point where the crane became back heavy and tipped or slewed into that position?

The crane does not have a 360 degree chart with the 3.5 metre track width. Fortunately the crane was close to the building and the boom came to rest against the structure. No one was hurt – apart from the operators pride perhaps – and the damage looks to be minimal.
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A photo taken shortly after the incident occured


We have no information on whether the crane operator was employed by the contractor or the crane owner. And assume that it was in set up mode or a wider track width was programmed into the crane management system.

UPDATE

The following statement has been received from Hawks managing director Elliot Hawkins following a personal visit to the site:

“Hawks is currently working with the manufacturers and investigators to determine why the crane tipped over. We are grateful that no-one was hurt in the incident. At present it is thought an error occurred during derigging and rigging the crane resulting in it toppling over."

“Friday and the days following the incident in Edinburgh have been a difficult time for both us as a company and for the individual operator. This is the first incident of this type we as a company have been involved in during our five years of operation, a testament to how seriously we take health and safety regulations on all the work we undertake."

“The accident has been a big shock to the team working in Edinburgh and those at our headquarters in Dartford. At present we do not know the definitive reason why, or how the crane tipped over. We continue to support the operator, who has provided many years of loyal service to Hawks and will continue to help him in whatever way he needs to overcome the shock of being involved in this incident."

“Once the investigations are concluded we will be able to comment further, but until such time we will not be making any further statement or answering any further questions that could prejudice the outcome of these investigations."



Comments

o
FAO Elliot Hawkins esq
Managing Director.
Hawks Crane Hire Ltd
Dartford, Kent.

Good Morning Mr Hawkins,

You were badly advised to remain silent this past 90 days, because Secrecy is the Enemy of Safety. This was particularly obvious as you promised IN WRITING on 19 November 2018 to publish the the Results of your Formal Investigation into the root cause of your Crawler Crane tipped to rear above.

Moreover to also publish the remedy required to ensure no repeat of this type of Crane overturn incident depicted above in Edinburgh on 181018

This lack of formal report confirms to the world that you did indeed find something wrong. Most likely that the LMI was left in Rigging Mode, which with the Boom Elevated to 82 degrees, plus Full Ballast of 32t and Tracks Retracted to 3500 MM overall width was a potentially fatal scenario.

Therefore when the Ballast Block was slewed over the Tracks, gravity took over and your Crane tipped to the Rear, all of which was foreseeable for anyone who cared to look and all done with the LMI left in in Rigging Mode to silence the audible alarm in the cab instead of the LMI being correctly Operated in Crane Safety Mode.

Therefore as I have researched and recorded 512 Men, Women and Children Killed by Cranes and/or Lifting Ops worldwide since 070507, with 43 Fatalities in the UK alone. It is now very obvious that the Crane Industry is SILENT on how to improve Crane Safety Standards.

In the interim 90 days yet another TWO Telescopic Crawler Cranes have tipped to the rear in nearly identical circumstances on Tuesdays 041218 and 181218 making a total of 558 crane incidents in 12yrs. All of which was researched by me because someone needs to speak up for the dead. Therefore in the absence of any other Crane Safety Initiatives may I suggest that

a) Start a Crane Safety Training programme ASAP and call it How to Avoid Crane Incidents by Creating a Culture of Safety.

b) Please ensure that the Newtonian principles of Force, Mass and Gravity are also included in your Crane Safety Training proggramme.

c) Train all Directors and Managers in Risk Assessments and Method Statements RAMS as this will identify SSoW and all of the necessary Control Measures to ensure Crane Safety.

Therefore please now publish the record kept by the Data Logger to be found in the Engine compartment of your LTR1100 Crane above. Why, because Worker Safety is important, Very Important and much too Important to leave it to chance ?


Kind Regards
Mike Ponsonby

Jan 18, 2019

o
FAO Elliot Hawkins esq
Managing Director.
Hawks Crane Hire Ltd
Dartford, Kent.

Good Morning Mr Hawkins,

Thank you for your kind words, it was nice of you to write.

You were badly advised to start your reply by attempting to insult me, instead it is my submission to you that your time would be better spent in Training all Directors, Managers and Staff in how to uphold the Employers Common Law Duty of Care to all others affected by your Cranes.

The reason being that my research details 508 Crane Related Fatal Injuries worldwide since 070507, with 41 Lifting Fatalities in the UK alone, all arising from 549 seperate crane incidents. Therefore if you really wan to prove me wrong, you should publish the download of the LICCON Load Moment Indicator and or Data Logger fitted to your LTR1100 Crawler Crane above as that information will show precisely what occured in Edinburgh on 181018.

The Common Law obligation to Train your Staff is because Worker Safety is Important, Very Important and much too Important to leave it to chance.

The World now looks forward to reading your Honest Report on what was the Root Cause of this potentially Fatal Crane Incident ?

With Kindest Regards to all at Hawks Crane Hire Ltd.
Mike Ponsonby

Nov 21, 2018

Elliot Hawkins
ATT: Mike Ponsonby,

Thank you for your comments and also for your guesswork on what happened in the incident in Edinburgh with one of our LTR 1100s last month. Your assumptions are very wrong and your 'blame culture' tends to be the very reason why companies and people try to cover up these sorts of incidents instead of working on a collaborative and transparent approach with all the stakeholders involved with the incident.

Because there are a number of stakeholders involved, it takes longer than one week to come up with findings of the investigation and with the appropriate preventative and corrective measures to stop incidents like these from happening again.

If you reread my statement within the article you will see that we were always intending to release details once the investigation had been concluded. We will do this because in situations like these we want to take a collaborative approach to work with all parties involved (such as site and manufacturers) with the end result of finding safer alternatives to control the risks that have been found in situations like these.

A meeting is scheduled for the 21st of this month to review all the findings of the incident with all the stakeholders involved. From this a final report of preventative and corrective actions will be released, along with the details of the incident itself.

Kind Regards,

Elliot Hawkins

Nov 19, 2018

o
FAO Elliot Hawkins esq
Managing Director.
Hawks Crane Hire Ltd
Dartford, Kent.

Good Afternoon Mr Hawkins,

Thank you for your silence this past Month, as it does tend to confirm to the world that your Investigation found something wrong with your Crane above. The most likely defect being that the LMI was left in Rigging Mode, like the Cranes in Dunbar on 080517, Durham on 211216 and Washington on 070911. All done to silence the audible alarm in the cab, instead of the LMI being correctly Operated in the Crane Safety Mode.

Therefore as I have now researched and recorded 508 Crane Related Fatal Injuries worldwide since 070507, with 41 Lifting Fatalities in the UK alone. It is now very obvious that the Crane Industry is SILENT on the initiatives required to improve Crane Safety Standards. Therefore as your Crane above Tipped to the Rear in Edinburgh is number 541 of 549 seperate crane incidents worldwide, all researched and recorded by me in the past 11yrs. May I suggest that

a) You Start a Crane Safety Training programme and call it How to Avoid Crane Incidents by Creating a Culture of Safety.

b) Please ensure that the Newtonian principles of Force, Mass and Gravity are also included in your Crane Safety Training proggramme.

c) Train all Directors and Managers in Risk Assessments and Method Statements RAMS as this will identify SSoW and all of the necessary Control Measures.

Why, because Worker Safety is important, Very Important and much too Important to leave it to chance ?


Kind Regards
Mike Ponsonby

Nov 18, 2018

o
FAO Elliot Hawkins esq
Managing Director.
Hawks Crane Hire Ltd
Dartford, Kent.

Good Morning Mr Hawkins,

Thank you for your Press Release which details your correct response to this potentially fatal incident depicted above in Edinburgh.

Therefore as 10 days has now elapsed since this Crane Incident, this is more than enough time to download the LICCON system fitted to this particular LTR1100 Crawler Crane and to compare the actual configuration on-the-day with the Mfrs Load Chart for that Boom Angle and Ballast configuration based upon Retracted Tracks.

Please advise us of the Results of your Investigation as the World needs to know in order to avoid any repeat of these very same circumstances.

Because after researching and recording 507 Crane Related Fatal Incidents worldwide since 070507, with 41 Lifting Fatalities in the UK alone. It is now high time that certain sections of the Crane industry upped its game as Worker Safety is important, very important and much too important to leave it to chance.

I look forward to reading your honest report ?

Kind Regards
Mike Ponsonby

Oct 29, 2018

Vodac22
Sitting in a LTR1100 right now I cannot select a program with full ballast and belly weights on 2.6 tracks without setting 30 degree slew, just saying.

Oct 26, 2018

Done! :-)

Oct 22, 2018

Dave better lift
Crane instructor, I am not saying that the crane wasn't configured wrong, you are correct it was. The operator had not selected the right configuration.
You are incorrect when you say the crane has no duty for 32 ballast, 360 slew, tracks fully in, it does have this duty!
You are looking at the product specs from the internet not the proper duty chart from the crane. Push the button!

Oct 22, 2018

Mr. Dave better lift, how come that the person called "crane instructor" can't find a 360° slew with 3,5m tracks with 32 tons counterweight load chart on the Liebherr crane site? It shows a "nv"(Nach Vorne) German means Over front and a "nh" (Nach Hinten) means Over rear load chart. And maybe the crane can lift at a minimum radius like you say, of 7 or 8 meters, but how comes that the crane didn't stop booming up? Hey maybe I'm wrong and in that case I'll push the thumb up button.

Oct 22, 2018

Dave better lift
it shows what state the industry is in when a person called "crane instructor" doesn't have the correct facts. The LTR100 can in fact slew 360 with full ballast with 3.4metre tracks. The radius must be either 7 or 8 metres, with the jib retracted!
Sad times indeed!!

Oct 22, 2018

LML program on fully extended tracks? This crane don't have a 360° load chart with 32tons counterweight with the 3,5m track width .

Oct 19, 2018

Tmayes
Definitely not the first time a crawler has sat on its arse thru operator error and it won?t be the last time either, I?d say every crane hire company has had this happen to them at least once over the years, the good news is nobody was hurt and that?s all that matters, metal bends it can be replaced, we don?t bend so easily. I wonder if the company will be man enough to make a full statement of what the investigation has concluded so lessons can be learnt from this in the hope it stops it happening again soon? Time will tell.

Oct 19, 2018

Crane expert
Oh dear me looks like a classic case of no experience in the seat, such a shame aswell cos Hawks seems to have some nice looking kit, maybe pay a bit more for the operators. Glad to hear nobody was hurt in this incident and the operator was able to walk away from this. Also looking forward to the statement from Tristam Mayes haha this should be a good one.

Oct 19, 2018