02.07.2010

Fatal crane accident at Wind power plant

A man has died after being crushed between two cranes at an LM Wind Power blade plant in North Dakota yesterday.

42 year old Joseph Schaff was said to be working on one overhead crane when he was crushed between it and a second crane. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Vertikal UPDATE and Comment

A subsequent report from within the plant claims that two men were working on the crane when a third person simply needed to remove a second crane from his work area and unwitingly ran it into the crane that was being worked on, causing the accident. IF this is the case it is unusal that safety lockouts were not employed - either electrical or mechanical - to prevent the two cranes coming together, particularly when one was being worked on.