26.05.2022

AT overturn on wind farm

An All Terrain crane overturned yesterday on a wind farm near Wilstedt north east of Bremen, Germany.

It seems that the crane, an older model five axle Tadano Faun, which appears to have been pensioned off at some time from the KVS Michael Mross fleet - but now unidentified, was lifting a generator onto the top of a shipping container at the end of the working day, in order to prevent it from being stolen.
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The crane’s two lower boom sections were fully telescoped, while the upper three were half extended. The crane had no counterweight installed and may have been short rigged? with just a few timber scraps serving as outrigger mats. It also looks as though one of the outrigger beams may have buckled as the crane tipped, while the lift side ones retracted.
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The boom came crashing down onto the container narrowly missing a man waiting to receive the generator. He only escaped by diving out of the way and suffered some minor injuries. The boom also damaged a van belonging to the crane rental company MaxiKraft which had a Liebherr LG 1550 on site. The crane operator was also unhurt.
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Vertikal Comment

This incident could have been so much worse, what on earth such an apparently poorly maintained crane was doing on site or what the operator thought he was doing is anyone’s guess. The entire lift screams of sloppiness. From the outrigger set up to the long boom at a long radii with no counterweight. This time they were lucky.