11.07.2007

Counterweight fatalities

Two men were killed in separate incidents involving the removal or installation of mobile crane counterweights on Monday in the town of Toledo Ohio.

The first occurred at Toledo's Bay View Wastewater Treatment Plant construction site when Tommy Zunk, 51, a long standing employee of Mosser Construction was struck by an eight tonne slab of counterweight that fell from the crane.

Zunk was one of the drivers of three trucks that were due to transport the boom sections of the 80 tonne crane that had finished a job at the treatment plant.

He was helping remove the counterweight for transport and had apparently removed some retaining pins when the eight tonne segment suddenly dropped on him from around 1.5 metres.

In the other accident, at the Westfield Elementary School construction site on Western Avenue in South Toledo, barely five hours later, Walter Minarik, 50, a subcontractor for Willson Builders was caught between a cranes superstructure its counterweight stowed in the travel position on the chassis.

The crane was a 120 tonne Grove GMK 5120B owned by Connelly crane of Detroit.
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The Grove GMK 5120B after the accident

Minarik apparently made an unexpected move along the deck of the crane, out of the crane operator's view. He was pinned between the superstructure and counterweight for only a few seconds until the crane operator, felt something and immediately reacted.

Both sites have been closed down while investigations continue.