16.03.2011

Poor outrigger set up costs $22,000

Rotorua, New Zealand-based mobile crane company Taslo Steel Security has been fined $22,000 after admitting a charge of failing to take all practical steps to ensure its crane was operated safely.

The accident, one that we appear to have missed at the time, involved a crane carrying out steel erection work on an old hospital site in Hamilton. The crane operator had set the crane on a sandy access road and had placed wood cribbing of some kind under the crane's left hand outriggers in order to level up on the sloping ground...

However he failed to notice that the cribbing was not holding and the cribbing appears to have slipped or sunk causing the crane, with its fully extended boom to tip over. The boom came down across a footpath and into a city street, but fortunately there were no bystanders or traffic and no one was injured.

Judge Josephine Bouchier stated that the crane operator had not been formally trained to operate the crane and was not aware of the New Zealand Crane Association's safety practices, including the fact that lifts should never be attempted from soft or unstable ground.

The judge said the company's culpability related to its failure to train its employee to the appropriate industry standards. The fine was well below the maximum possible of $250,000.

The company said that since the accident it had taken steps to prevent a repeat incident and had engaged a health and safety expert.