08.11.2008

Another mystery accident

For the second time in two weeks we have received photographs of an accident, the information on which could prove to be very useful for trainers. However we have nothing apart from the photos and the notion that it is in Texas.
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The toppled crane and its load

The crane a relatively new 100 ton Mantis 20010 telescopic crawler crane appears to have been pick and carrying a long concrete pole with its boom extended and its undercarriage retracted. The Mantis 20010 is only 3.9 metres wide retracted, compared to 6.45 metres when the tracks are extended to their normal working position.
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The crane went over after leaving the timber mats

The crane does have a reduced load chart for operation with its tracks retracted but this is on firm level ground, the finally straw is likely to have been when it drove off the edge of the timber matting set down to cover the soft ground.
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First job was to remover the boom

Once off the mats, or even in the process of driving off of them, all it needed was for the tracks to sink slightly on one side, which was on the edge of a slope, causing the load to swing applying some lateral force to the long boom and its tip over was inevitable.
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The crane is uprighted before the counterweights are removed

The photos show the crane being recovered, the damaged boom was removed and then the base unit uprighted and loaded on to a trailer. It looks as though a large Liebherr All Terrain was used for the recovery work, working safely from a timber mat track way.
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The battered crane is loaded onto a lowboy

If you have any more details on this incident we would appreciate hearing from you.