10.11.2006

Third crane topples on Colorado job

A mobile crane tipped over last night on the COSMIX construction project near Colorado Springs, USA, the third crane to tip over on this $150 million contract so far this year.

On April 23rd the driver of a 30 ton Grove RT530 was crushed to death when it toppled over while handling a 1,000kg concrete barrier. Then the same crane tipped over again on June 2nd carrying out the same type of lift. See second crane tip over in 5 weeks

This time the accident involved a 230 ton lattice boomed crane which was carrying out a tandem lift to place a 100 tonne concrete beam over the off ramp of I-25 when it tipped over and dumped the beam into the road six metres below.

The cranes 50 metre boom crashed down accross the main Interstate which was open, but with little traffic, a quick thinking police officer, seeing the boom begin to buckle, ran into the road and quickly set up a road block.

The main contractor Rockrimmon Constructors has once again shut down the interstate highway, causing morning traffic chaos, while it cut the cranes boom into sections which were then hauled away or placed by the side of the road.

Rockrimmon is a joint venture between Sema Construction and CH2M HILL, both based in the Denver area.

Federal inspectors have cited Sema Construction and Sema Precast, a sister company, at least 22 times since October 2000 for an array of safety violations on five Colorado worksites. However it has always managed to have the citations reduced or withdrawn.

The company was fined $14,000 for the fatal April incident, which it is contesting, the June incident is still subject to an ongoing investigation.

Explaining away a third crane accident in barely six months is going to be a tough one. Construction has been halted.