A boom truck type truck crane belonging to a tree care company overturned onto a house in Montville, New Jersey, on Wednesday, causing considerable damage to the building. Thankfully no one was injured in the incident.
The crane is owned by North Jersey Tree Specialists which runs a couple of National Cranes, alongside aerial work platforms/bucket trucks. It was employed to trim the trees in the back yard, which included removing one that had died.
It seems that the front right hand outrigger slipped off its mat, which was set up in the drive close to the front door, however it is possible that this occurred as the crane went over due to an overload condition? The crane’s boom was fully extended when the unit went over.
It took round five hours for a local recovery company to remove the crane from the building, but this is likely to have included removing the upper boom sections due to the damage it sustained in the incident.
As we have reported many times, cranes and tree work seems to be a risky game, which requires extra vigilance and possibly over sizing the crane as a precaution, given the uncertainty of the load weight, but also due to the risks of setting up in driveways or suburban roads.
Your comments are well spoken and in my humble opinion, on point.
Boom trucks are not well suited to tree work. They apply better in light duty work, mainly AC applications.
Regular hydraulic truck cranes work much better.
From the picture this boom truck already has two strikes against it before even starting to lift.
1 Setup over the side, the least stable area of operation.
2 Zero counterweight
And not to mention main boom fully extended.
I think there should be a special section in the operator certification process dedicated to tree work/removal.
Chief
Nobody hurt and the damage is not the worst we've seen.
Unlike most crane lifts, with tree work you can't do a test lift or accurately determine the weight of the lift beforehand. Once the cut is made you've got it whether you like it or not.
Also when a large limb is cut you sometimes get a violent reaction increasing the dynamic loading on the crane and also possibly shaking the crane off its cribbing if used. Best way to avoid incidents is to only use about 30 -50% of the cranes capacity giving a wide margin of safety. Over 50 years I've learned from experience fortunately with no injuries or damage.
Red
Chief,
Your comments are well spoken and in my humble opinion, on point.
Boom trucks are not well suited to tree work. They apply better in light duty work, mainly AC applications.
Regular hydraulic truck cranes work much better.
From the picture this boom truck already has two strikes against it before even starting to lift.
1 Setup over the side, the least stable area of operation.
2 Zero counterweight
And not to mention main boom fully extended.
I think there should be a special section in the operator certification process dedicated to tree work/removal.
Chief
Nobody hurt and the damage is not the worst we've seen.
Unlike most crane lifts, with tree work you can't do a test lift or accurately determine the weight of the lift beforehand. Once the cut is made you've got it whether you like it or not.
Also when a large limb is cut you sometimes get a violent reaction increasing the dynamic loading on the crane and also possibly shaking the crane off its cribbing if used. Best way to avoid incidents is to only use about 30 -50% of the cranes capacity giving a wide margin of safety. Over 50 years I've learned from experience fortunately with no injuries or damage.