07.03.2014
Tower cranes collide in London
Two tower cranes collided over Canary Wharf in London, UK today seriously injuring a 35 year old man.
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A hammerhead tower crane was oversailing a luffing jib crane
A flat top Yong Mao saddle jib tower crane was set up over the top of a Jost hydraulic luffing jib crane, and we are told that the jib of the higher crane was low enough to strike the luffer which had its jib in the out of service position.
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The damaged crane
Subsequent reports have confirmed that the injured man was the operator of the Jost crane which is owned by LTC (London Tower Crane Service). We understand that the man suffered lacerations to his head but is stable.
The principle contractor on site is Balfour Beatty which has confirmed that an incident occurred and that a man was injured. The HSE is investigating.
Vertikal Comment
Balfour Beatty is exceptionally safety conscious, so it seems implausible that the luffing jib would have been set up so that it could reach into the path of another crane's jib. However our sources on this are highly reliable. The point is that setting up a saddle jib crane over the top of a luffer is never a good idea.
Ric
THE REAL REASON FOR THIS FROM A CRANE OPERATOR WITH EXPERIENCE!!
1- Contractors disregard for health and safety
2- If you dont do the lift they way they want you sack!
2 a- They have no training or experience on it!
RECRUITMENT AGENCYS FRAUD
1- Employing and getting people trained with no experience or any type of care to Health and safety many times done in fraudulent way with test that the trainer have before the training start!
2 - ALL THIS TO GET THEM PAID HALF OF A NORMAL AND SAFE TEAM GET PAYED!!
3- Easy to find out those dodgy agencys just google it and see the ones with low wage payment's!!
PLEASE PEOPLE GET TOGETHER AND LETS DO A PROPER STRIKE THIS TIME WE KNOW THE CRANE SIDICATES AND ALL ARE DOING WHAT CORPORATIONS WANT AND NOT GETING ANY ATENTION TO THE WORK FORCE IS ALL A COVER UP SO LETS DO A 3-6 WEEKS or MONTH'S STRIKE WE WANT THE WAGES WE DESERVE AND HARD WORK AND TRAIN FOR!! wages are toping 500k in some places in uk are going down from 30-40k, whats next we will need to pay for work no
I understand that the Anti Collision device was switched off...
Nick Latham
I agree with Float your Load.
First, we should be thankful that the crane Op is safe. I wish him a speedy recovery.
For this collision to happen the combination of the 2 cranes had to be selected and installed in the configurations present on site at the time of the accident. As such, a decision was taken to install the 2 cranes in those configurations. A question to be addressed: Was this borne of a competence issue or a financial priority decision?
Many UK legislation items exist to prevent such an accident occurring. Let us hope that the authorities report sooner rather than later.
PS. - My thoughts go out to the poor sod who got injured here - no matter what we think about the cranes involved some poor chap got hurt - lets all wish him a speedy recovery - nothing we do is worth getting hurt for !
Tristam - my point was not regarding the wibbly wobbliness of a Jost luffer - I drive past one every day and look with amazement as it still stands - my point was about the height of the saddle jib crane - surely it should have been higher than the tip height of the Jost's jib when parked !
Tmayes
Float your load, to answer your Question it's a Jost crane they don't weather vain the just snap and fall down at a slight breeze so the jib won't be in the way of the other cranes.
Question :
If the Jost luffer was parked in its out of service position, and the tip of its jib was higher than that of the saddle jib crane. What happens on a windy day when all cranes are our of service and set to weathervane ? Surely at some point these cranes would be bound to collide - hard to see how they could actually avoid this situation. Surely a saddle jib crane would have been the wrong choice of crane in this situation or should at least have oversail clearance over the height of a parked luffer ? What do others think ?