06.01.2011

Crane accident in chemical plant

A six axle All Terrain crane went over at the Orica Chemicals refinery at Kooragang Island, near Newcastle New South Wales, late last week, after one of its outriggers punched through the ground into some sort of void. No one was
injured and it is possible that the damage will not be too severe.
Please register to see all images

The outrigger clearly punched though into a void

Please register to see all images

The stricken crane

The crane owned by rental company Boom Logistics was set up with decent sized mats for routing use, but the operator was clearly unaware of the void. The crane tipped badly but came to a rest before going over completely.
Please register to see all images

The crane came to a rest before going over

Please register to see all images

Decent outrigger mats were employed

Orica Chemical has said that it has recorded this as a high risk near miss/potential fatality incident. The plant produces ammonium nitrate for the agricultural and mining industries.

A team from Boom Logistics were working with a large lattice boomed crane yesterday to rescue the crane after having stabilised it after the accident.
Please register to see all images

Please register to see all images

Another view

WorkCover was on site and interviewing those involved to review their systems of work in order to prevent a similar incident occurring again. At the moment this is all the information we have, once we receive more we will of course update this report.