20.02.2014

Boom bend in the UK

A crane working in the UK suffered a bent boom yesterday on a new supermarket site in Rotherham.
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The bent boom

The All Terrain crane owned by Emsley Crane Hire was apparently working on steel erection job at a new Tesco store when the incident occurred. While the cause could be down to a number of issues, it looks as though the boom sequence might have been inappropriate for the load being lifted at the time, with most of the heavier lower sections retracted or just partially extended, while the two lightest sections look as though they are fully out?

We understand that no one was hurt in the incident.
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A side view

UPDATE

The following clarification and statement has been received from the company which explains what happened but also shows how the crane operator reacted calmly and professionally to the situation.

Dear Sir

Ref: New Tesco, Rotherham

"Our crane was involved in an incident which you have featured and I’d like to clarify several points raised.

The 80 ton Demag crane was set on it its best working jib length duty for working between 18 and 20m radius. This is 20% of section 1, 20% of section 2 and 74% of sections 3 and 4, giving a jib length of 31.4m with the safe load code number 9.

This configuration was set to the method statement and lifting plan and has been confirmed and checked by site and the HSE. Unfortunately our crane was retracting piles with a pile extraction hammer under a CPA hire. Our crane was given a shock load from the hammer cuasing the jib failure. The crane driver realised there was a problem and reacted immediately by slewing round to a safe area to rest the jib. Our company have immediately stopped this crane operation."

Yours faithfully
John Emsley
Director