16.11.2019

Crane overturn in Norway

A five axle All Terrain crane overturned near Sande - due south of Drammen, Norway on Tuesday – November 12th - crushing two vans from a tower crane company and narrowly missing a truck cab. Miraculously no one was actually hurt in the incident.
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The incident occurred at the Nordre Jarlsberg Brygge harbour on the south east side of Sande on Tuesday morning around 8:30. It seems that the crane, a Grove GMK 250L owned and operated by Drammen based Mikkelsen Kran og Transport, had arrived on site to install a tower crane from Craneway, it had just unloaded the main components and was lifting a jib section - said to weigh less than 1,000kg - when the 250 tonne crane lost stability.

We have no idea if the crane was short rigged, as the outriggers most likely retracted as the crane went over, or if the ground gave way under the rear jack. Most of the crane’s seven section boom was extended, but it was working without counterweight.
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The outriggers were pushed in when the crane went over

As the crane began to go over the operator screamed a warning, the truck driver, who had just delivered the tower crane components had started to reverse into a turn to drive off site, when he saw the crane begin to tip and thankfully put his foot down and backed away as fast as he was able, the boom nose struck his front bumper!
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The truck driver had a narrow escape

The tower crane erectors had parked their vans close to the crane, both vehicles were crushed as the crane went over. The erectors were fortunately well away from the crane when it tipped.
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The crane was only lifting a jib section at the time

The local police carried out an investigation , while the Labour Inspectorate will be looking into the cause. – Mikkelsen chief executive Bent Mikkelsen speaking to a local reporter said: “An incident like this is a crane owner's biggest nightmare I very happy that no one was physically harmed. Human lives have not been lost and we are very happy about that. There is material damage but that can be repaired. We have no idea why this has happened, but our technical staff are investigating along with our insurance company, while the police and the Labour Inspectorate have als done their investigations. We hope we find out and that we can learn from this.”

If and when we learn more we will of course update this item.