06.09.2018

Fatal crane incident in Melbourne

One man has died and two are injured, one very seriously, after a tower crane dropped a fully loaded 1.5 cubic metre skip of concrete onto the men, who were working in the three by three metre pour area below.

The incident occurred on the site for a new 12 storey apartment block on Box Hill, the three men were working in the foundation pit laying concrete when the bucket dropped. The cause of the failure was initially disputed, with police saying a chain gave way dropping the load, while a union representative claimed it was a hook failure. It now looks as though the issue was related to a trolley or hoist/cable issue.
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The crane following the incident

The man who died was Shaun Burns, 48, after he was struck by the falling load and pushed into the wet concrete, another man, 28, was also submerged in the concrete and is in hospital in a critical condition and fighting for his life. The third man, 27, suffered a broken arm and was sent to the local hospital.

The emergency services struggled to extract the two men from the rapidly setting concrete without causing more injuries. The crane operator was badly affected with shock and trauma and taken off site in tears.
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Thos close up photo of the crane seems to confirm the claim that this was a hook/trolley or cable failure

The crane, is a new Raimondi owned by Clark Cranes and the photographs we have received so far, do appear to confirm that the cause was a hook hook/trolley failure. There are reports that a stop has been placed on all Clark Cranes working in the city, until each is inspected, but we have not been able to confirm that. WorkSafe has arrived at the scene to start the investigation.

We will update this item when we receive more information, in the meantime many thanks for those readers in the area.