02.12.2020

Boom failure ends crane's life

Video footage of a crane boom giving way in Costa Rica makes painful viewing and, if anything, shows how not to do it while almost certainly putting an end to the long career of a venerable mobile crane.

The incident occurred in the past month or two in Puerto Limón, Costa Rica, when an elderly 127 tonne Grove TM1400 on a seven axle Faun chassis was helping dismantle a large mobile portal crane.
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A large section was hooked onto the crane and cut free – clearly in addition to the weight there was dynamic loading going on and as the load gyrated around on the hook the crane teetered on the edge and seemed to be recovering but… well take a look yourself: www.facebook.com/100011329550096/videos/1559252441129059/

Thankfully no one was injured in the incident – purely down to luck, rather than judgement.

There are several other videos of this job, none of them particularly complimentary: Video one
Video two

Looks as though some operator training might not go amiss.