27.09.2008

Yet another outrigger accident

A brand new 250 tonne Liebherr All Terrain crane working on the first floor of a new building under construction in Castle Hill, north of Sydney.
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The crane a 250 tonne Liebherr sets up for work

The crane, which had only been deliverd nine days earlier is owned by local rental company Gillespies, and was installing prefabricated walls when one of the outriggers punched through the slab floor causing the crane to tip, until the boom came to rest on the wall of the building. The operator managed to jump from the cab falling around three metres to the floor.
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Then over it goes

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The cause? the outrigger loadings proved too much for the floor

The crane remained in an unstable condition and within the hour it had fallen through the first floor to the ground level, with the boom resting on the remainder of the first floor wall and hanging over an adjacent industrial premises.
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It did not stop there!

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The 'floor' gradually swallowed the crane

The crane driver suffered minor bruising to his ankle, but no one else was injured.
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Unitil.........

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...It came to rest on the ground floor

Engineers are continuing to monitor the site and WorkCover inspectors have commenced an investigation.

Vertikal Comment

Gillespies is a first class reputable company that takes safety extremely importantly. Established since the early 1950's it prides itself on providing a quality service.

Given this, it is hard to understand how this accident happened, it looks as though the new floor simply did not perform as intended, however, one cannot but help wonder if this woud have occured if larger outrigger mats had been used to spread the load reducing point loadings?

It does go to show that even when you have the engineers information on alowable loadings it is wise to assume they are off and build in a larger margin of safety.