14.04.2009

Crane Death Wish

It is not too often that we are sent Death Wish photos of cranes in action but Death Wish 61 sent in by a reader in Arizona is just that..

Our reader photographed a mobile crane installing roof trusses, the company is using a truss hook to speed thing up – nothing wrong with that – however rather than using one of the products on the market with a rope or remote operated safety latch this company is simply using a open truss hook.
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The crane is using a truss hook to speed the work, but apparently with no safety latch

While gravity will certainly keep the truss on the hook, we all know that should it hang up while being lifted it can quite easily come free and being hit by a large roof truss falling form six metres or more is no fun.
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There certainly does not seem to be any safety latch

In our reader’s words: “Seems that here in Arizona, USA, trying to save time is more important than trying to save lives on the job. I wonder if crane insurers ever look at the Vertikal website??!! “