Toronto Tower Crane Collapse
Toronto Canada. A PECCO (Peiner Electric Crane Company formerly out of Millwood NY) 355 or 225 has collapsed. The operator has survived with some bleeding from his head but it is reported that he is not seriously injured. The crane collapsed onto the new construction of a 6 story building that it was helping construct. There were no other reported injuries. The crane failed in the turntable. Not unlike the New York collapse of the Kodiak tower crane, we have a crane approaching 30 years old still in use, that failed in the turntable. There are a litany of problems that can cause this.
There are sometimes up to 100 bolts that hold that turntable together. If they are not maintained, rust will accumulate. They do need to be periodically replaced. Cranes this old need to be torn down on a regular basis for through inspections.
Rotec or Rubella Bearings need to be disassembled and inspected regularly. Beyond regular wear and tear that can destroy the bearing, cranes get struck by lightning. The resulting electrical surge can arc across bearings and lead them to premature wear.
Metals bend and flex when put under stress. The ductility of the steel and the loads induced determine how much. after 30 years of use, microcracking can result. The cracks in this form are not noticeable and grow over time to the point of failure. All cranes have a useful life span.
Bearings being bought from companies that sell them cheap, may not be making a sound product. If a bearing isn’t machined precisely, of the correct grade of steel, and hardened to exacting standards, this may be the result. The question of should I use a $15,000 bearing or a $40,000 bearing should never become a factor. The proper question is, is the bearing made well by a reputable company.
I was erecting a crane (PECCO 2000) that had a bearing not machined properly. As a result, we could not get the crane to spin because the bearing was simply too tight. Once we got it to spin, the operator got scared and stopped immediately. The bearing was so tight that the crane stopped slewing immediately as well. We were erecting the crane and only had the counter jib on. The counter jib bounced back and forth in a torquing motion for ten minutes while we discussed it. end result was that it was a cheap and poorly made bearing. We tore the crane down and started over. There was no savings and it’s one of those times where I wasn’t sure if I was going to survive what was happening. At least it was on December 23rd so the impact on our families wouldn’t have been too much to bear.
I’m standing on a soap box here. If your crane is over 25 years old, stop using it. There are a number of variables that can lead to failure. In this particular crane, you have pendants that have been exposed to the weather for 30 years. What does the core of that cable look like? The outer pendant is 3 inches in diameter and as a result, you’ll never be able to inspect that core. They don’t have the common sense safety systems such as auto zeroing of the controls. you have to put the control into neutral. I would always look and the sheaves on a PECCO just to be sure everything stopped. In the dark it was simply ugly. The use of these cranes makes sense in business because they are paid for. The risk factors out the profits from a whole fleet of them. Insurance internationally for cranes has gone insane, and it’s these old cranes that we have to thank. Go through my blog. We can’t fix stupid, but we can certainly fix the structural problems and old design problems.
This operator was lucky. Canada has a great inspection system. But we can’t be running these very old cranes. A couple of years ago I saw some old Lindens and Krolls from the 60′s up and running in Victoria. I know it feels like a waste, but they have to go.
Update: Additional reports coming in are pointing to a Loadline failure. This would cause a shock load and the eventual failure.
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You seem to know a bit about cranes, but obviously nothing about structural engineering. Let the experts figure out what went wrong before you throw in a bunch of crane jargon to look smart and then blame the age of the crane.
All cranes are tested regularly by structural engineers in canada for micro-cracking, bolts are replaced with new ones all the time if they are cracked-this is all required under CSA standards for tower cranes.
This happened days ago and already everyone knows exactly the problem…crane was too old.
Let the experts investigate and then we will know.
Hi John,
For the record, I am not a structural engineer. I am a tower crane inspector. I’m licensed in Washington and California as such. Crane useful life (type this phrase into Google) is a much talked about issue to address. Example “The useful structural life is the remaining time the crane can be operated with an acceptable risk of failure.”
http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?0102790 I assume that the American Society of Civil Engineers is an acceptable source to start with.
Maybe some context would help to understand what I’m up to with my blog. This isn’t about Toronto. I have a blog, http://www.towercraneaccidents.blogspot.com , that tracks all tower crane accidents. I was involved in an accident in Bellevue that I tried to prevent. The company that I worked for (Northwest Tower Crane) was dismissed from the suit because partially because of me. The attitude of many was “tower crane accidents never happen”. Being internet savvy I knew that wasn’t true so I began tracking them. The point was not to be scary, look smart or otherwise. The point is for guys in the field. They need to know how these things happen. They need to know that they do happen.
I like Canada’s system. I noted that. I’m sure that we’ll get an answer as to why this one failed. Beyond the structural debate about corrosion under 30 years of paint, I don’t like old cranes for a number of reasons.
Operationally they don’t auto zero the controls. There are no radius or load indicators. If you have a limit failure, you have no operator aids to give you a heads up. It’s not inconceivable that you could pull one over.
Fall protection- most cranes older than 30 years have straight ladders with no hoop guards, small platforms, no fall arrest, often missing handrails, and ladders that are flat inconsistent. On a PECCO 225 or 355 like in this blog, there are no handrails in the tower top area. The ladder does not have a grab bar coming up from the turntable. Times have changed.
Engineering safety in – The pinions on the slewing motors have no catches in case of pinion failure. If need be I can put up a picture of a pinion that has sheared off and weighs in the neighborhood of 40 lbs. There was nothing to stop if from falling 200 feet. If it would have hit someone, death would have been likely. On a 225, my last load test found that the brake would not hold. The hoist had just been changed out and the ram that opens the brakes was leaking oil onto the drum. Poor engineering. This goes on and on.
I’m sorry that the way that I put something has struck a negative chord in you John. I’m not trying to be the smartest guy in the room. As an erector, operator, and inspector/consultant/owner, I have a unique skill set and experience that I hope helps others stay safe. My disdain for old cranes could just be my fear as the certifier who insures these old timers!
McVean……….the cranes sure are inspected prior to set them up, but I’ve seen the “style” of the so called stuctural engineer ( not!!! ) inspecting the crane and it looks like a joke …..including the equipment that they use!
What a load of sensationalist and knee-jerk rubbish.
In the 30 years I’ve been investigating crane failures the consistent re-occurring theme is human error.
I started my blog more than a year ago to combat the exact attitude from Old Boy. I worked for a guy who knew it all. He would make assertions often without base or nearly enough evidence. I’ve compiled evidence, so let’s go use it. The beauty is the internet doesn’t forget, it isn’t selective or biased, it’s all there.
Type in the first dates in my blog in the search bar. http://www.towercraneaccidents.blogspot.com
May 30th 2008 Kodiak Tower Crane Collapses. June 6th I predict an improperly repaired weld. June 9th the reports of the Chinese repair start to surface. In fact the crane was removed in an emergency from Times Square one year before due to the weld cracking.
September 11, 2009 Luffing Rope failure
July 28, 2009 Mast lug fractures on tower crane.
June 6th, 2009 Boom elevated past “high” angle. If ASME B30.5 1.9.1 (d) was satisfied, this wouldn’t have happened. Design the problem out.
June 2, 2009 and October 10, 2008 turntable bolt failures
July 10 2008 Tower structural failure
Feb 23rd 2008 Tower Bolt Failure
December 6, 2008 Boom Failure
November 6th, 2007 Top chord cheek plates rip from connection
That’s 9 failures, directly attributable to structural competency failure. 6 of them are cranes older than 20 years. If I were to list the others that are speculative, the statistics would be worse.
This is the pain of changing anyone’s established opinion or attitude. It’s a constant fight until they see it or get pushed out. Times change and so should we. There is no benefit defending rigs covered in pitting corrosion out of some romantic or nostalgic attitude. More rubbish I suppose.
i work on that job site but wasent there the day the crane fell
Greg, what are your thoughts on the whole situation? What are the boys at the site saying about the crane?
In some ways I think older cranes offset there age by being overbuilt. To be lighter many new cranes are pushed right to the limit of what it can handle. Im no tower crane buff, but old hydraulics usually have a large area on the charts for tipping conditions, where all our new machines are built to the point of structural failures. Just my 2 cents
hello as some of u know the crane fell well some of u so called inspectors that have posted some comments here are forgetting that cranes every year are inspected and everytime u set them up there is a inspection done to them as some of u posted HUMAN error well to u i say your wrongit was a site that had some mud and the crane shifted there for its not the crane operators fall i was one of the demolition crew that was in charge of the clean up and demo the cranes damage as i talked to some workers in that job some of them even said the operator was HIGH y i asked well they said hes jamaican what do u think there should be no decremination of people in a job site as the police recors said to the job suprviser mr FAUSTO and so on now to some of u people posting adds and dont know what they are talking about please keep ur comments to ur self and this is for the so called INSPECTORS that have left comments in heremost cranes in north america are over 20 years old yes they are old but all the nuts and bolts are replaced with the neccessary grade as we all know the code changes every 5 years i do alot of demolition jobs around the GTA and there are alot of problems as in human error and old machines but thei accident was not because the crane was old or operators fault and thamk god no one got seriously hurt thank you for your time
Sancho, your comments are slanderous and without merit. Something that can clearly be stated is you don’t know that the operator was intoxicated in any way. Even if he were, there is nothing an operator of a tower crane can do to make the turntable bearing bolts fail with an empty hook.
The investigation will show whether or not the bolts have been retorqued, pulled out and inspected, and or replaced. Paint builds up and it’s easy to show when the crane was painted, how old the paints are, leading to a verifiable timeline. The paint layers crack on the leading corners of the bolts when torqued and on the opposite when removed and inspected.
Unfortunately for your concerns about the mud, the tower is relatively plumb in the picture and when soil failures happen they don’t just break a structurally sound crane, the whole thing comes with it.
Beyond what you see here, I have other information that will come to light soon enough about the history of this turntable. If you do in fact work with the demolition team that cleaned this up, I suggest you go back to remaining quiet as the Lawyers can easily trace these comments back to you and the last thing you want it to sit in a room with 17 angry attorneys because you made some unfortunate comments on the internet.
i realy dont care about this so called ANGRY lawyers but i said the operator was not i repet not intoxicated and as the m. of labour said the cause of accident was due to the shifting of the ground due to a heavy load and yes u are rigth but the crane was coming down but it fell on the top of the bulding as it was falling in to the street DUFFERIN st as u might know from your sources it first made contact with the street then it broke as menbers of STELLRITE have informed me im not trying to blame any one but some people dont know what happen so they just assume things the operator is back at work so u tell me if he was intoxicated after that accident he would be charge like the incedent at 403 and bronte the operator droped a slab of concret on the concret cutting guy and killed him the operator of the excavator was charged with 1st degre murder now thats HUMAN ERROR so im not aloud to make the true comments of the incedent but u no offence the autor can because u have better sources them me well sir to u i take my hat out but in the future u will see i was rigth as my sources are the builders and the m. of labour them selfs maybe just maybe they are lying but i have no idea y but i im sure you will tell me sometime
i never said that the operator was intoxicated maybe u shoulkd reed it better and no the crane was not plumed it shifted 1.5 meters from the top check realy close in your picture and u will see that the crane is closser to the botton window and way farther from the top windown and the investigation is over and the job is up and running now we have a mobile crane on site so as your souces will tell u it was caused due to groud shifthing and heavy load
This is a direct responce to Mr.Sancho Melo previous statement about the cause of the crane accident.I would like to agree with the author of the blog and say that the comments made by Mr. sancho are slanderous,misleading and without merit.
I dont know where Mr. Sancho got his information as to the 1.5M shift but i can tell him if there was such a shif it would have been from a direct result from the counter jib colliding with the tower section breaking the tower chord on its descent to the ground.
I would also like to inform Mr. Sancho that the basement wall is tied in to the Tower crane base and if there was any shifting of the Ground due to heavy load there should be visual cracks on the wall to back up his thoery.
There is a lot more i can say as to the cause of the accident but can’t because the investigation is still ongoing.As the Author of this blog said there are lots of information that will come to light very soon about the history of the crane.
sancho melo said:
“talked to some workers in that job some of them even said the operator was HIGH”
How did they know he was high?
Were they smoking weed with him before starting their shift?
What was he “HIGH” on?
Hi ! Can you pls. tell me how can you can get certification for tower crane inspector ? Who does the training ?
Thank you !!
Hi Mihai,
There are a couple of ways. If a person wanted to take classes, http://www.cicb.com/ or http://www.towercraneinspectionbureau.com/ or type in crane inspector training. In the US there are many places, many of them in Florida. I don’t know one as better than the next, I am simply throwing out the examples of what people use.
Washington State and California are close to the same for standards. 5 years in cranes with I believe 2 that require inspection duties. Operator, mechanic, etc. If you satisfy that, then you have to sit for a comprehensive test on cranes and specifically for the cranes you will inspect. An example of the level of questions… At what ambient temperature would you begin to derate grade 100 chain according to ASME B30.9. It seeks to make sure that you know the codes well.
In most of the states, you don’t have to have a license, but that is likely to change.
I don’t know the Canadian standard. Can anyone elaborate for him? They are designated engineers which Non-Destructive Testing certificates, and that’s really all I know about it from their side.
Good luck
Thank you very much for the answer.
The Canadian territory is where i’ll be next year so if anyone can help me with this problem….I currently work as a crane inspector(and other lift devices) in Eastern Europe and I would like to continue in Canada with this job, but I don’t know much about training and certificates. I sent an email to CICB but they said to contact companies from Canada. They only do training in US, but in Canada there must be a company similar to CICB – I just can’t find it.
Anyway…..
I recently found your “craneblogger” and I find it very
interesting !
I promise to read all articles. Very good job !
(Don’t warry about bad comments to your posts …in my country the blame for the accidents always falls on the “dead guy” – the crane operator, but here companies also use cranes over 25 years old – many of them I reject at inspection and go to scrapyard, so good job again – people should be aware)
PS: Sorry if my english is not perfect….Im still studying….
tell me more about this machined slewing bearing ? who machined it incorrect ? who measured it ?what tools did they use to measure it ?
Gaytor (author) said:
“was erecting a crane (PECCO 2000) that had a bearing not machined properly. As a result, we could not get the crane to spin because the bearing was simply too tight. Once we got it to spin, the operator got scared and stopped immediately. The bearing was so tight that the crane stopped slewing immediately as well. We were erecting the crane and only had the counter jib on. The counter jib bounced back and forth in a torquing motion for ten minutes while we discussed it. end result was that it was a cheap and poorly made bearing”
Gaytor (author) said:
“The pinions on the slewing motors have no catches in case of pinion failure. If need be I can put up a picture of a pinion that has sheared off and weighs in the neighborhood of 40 lbs.”
please post the pic
Pictures of the Sheared off gear are here http://imgur.com/7AU3C&dm8bC . You’ll see that there is a box for a first and second picture. Notice the point of the initial crack is in a position where I couldn’t see, and this is why disassembly is very important in older cranes.
The bearing in the 2000 was sent back to the manufacturer and we replaced it. I wasn’t there to witness the testing of the bearing on that one, so my answer that it was too tight was second hand (within the company). The way to test for bearing play on an erected tower crane is with a dial indicator between the upper and lower half of the turntable. Zero out the indicator with no load on and have the crane hoist up a maximum moment load and note the difference. You’ll need bearing manufacturer standards, but anything exceeding 2 mm on most top slewing cranes is a big red flag. For good examples Rothe Erde has good data PDFs http://www.rotheerde.com/download/info/Rothe_Erde_GWL_GB.pdf
i am not sure i understand what i am looking at? is that picture taken from top of the pinion? we are looking down where shaft sheered? is that pinion pressed onto a shaft or is it a one piece shaft and pinion ?
i am well aware of how to measure a slew bearing on a tower crane.
most slew bearing’s that size are made by roth erde or one of their subsidiary company’s, i would be surprised to see one too tight but i would not be surprised to see dirt or a burr underneath the slew bearing causing the bearing to deflect and bind. another way to cause a bearing to bind is incorrect torquing pattern example would be tightening bolts starting at one point and working your way around. another would be to tighten bolts before all the bolts were started and forcing the last ones the line up. another scenario would be pinion lash if the bearing was not centered on the upper half there could be zero lash on one of two pinions that could also cause binding.
my opinion on older cranes is that they should be serviced by journeyman electricians, millwrights, heavy mechanics or other qualified and competent people. new crane are not without their faults they are often assembled incorrect and sometimes are not tested thoroughly.
older were built plain tough regular NDT test by a competent inspector familiar with cranes well catch allot of problems but new or old maintenance must be preformed and regular inspections by the operator and technicians.
i didnt click your link but from the info i have seen from roth erde i dont recall seeing the manufactured (new) tolerance
haha its late sorry about the spelling and grammar
Nice article about tower crane.
these are very tall cranes and their construction is done in sections. Best used for skyscraper and tall building construction, this type has the looks of a long ladder with the boom being perpendicular to the base.
Thanks.
There is definitely a link between old machines, poor maintenance and these construction companies owning their own cranes. Towers and mobiles alike.
What i mean is if you look at some of these new age crane rental outfits you will see cutting edge safety, maintenance and fleet replacement procedures and policies, but in contrast if you look at a construction outfit that owns their own machines and employs their own operators you will notice a lack of the ladder.
I don’t think this is all companies, nor am i scolding anyone, but i predict in the near future you will see a few things. Such as more intense training and training standards for operators, restrictions on years of service for wire rope, pendants, and possibly on the crane entirely, and an increase in the rental business for tower cranes as the cost of a solid maintenance program vs. rental costs will be weighed up on an individual basis by the construction companies.
I think this movement is inevitable do to the complex and safety sensitive nature of the day to day hoisting operations that take place on any given job site.
Great blog guys.
I have been a towercrane service tech since 1982. Are there risks involed in cranes?..Yes does age of the crane factor in? Again yes, but only if the proper care is not taken to insure the safest possible equipment. Having worked for America PECCO I can address several of the items that you have listed. First, all Peiner operational joy sticks came with auto centering spring loaded controls. Operators and customers have removed the springs from them to reduce arm fatique. Shame on them.
Second improper inspection of race bearings, improper grade and torque of race bearing bolts cause bearing failure. Periodic removal, and non-destructive testing as outlined in the Peiner manual should be performed at least every two years weather the crane is in service or not. Meaning that if your crane has been sitting on the ground for more then two years then it needs to inspected before erection.
The grade of the steel that was used to construct the Peiner and Liebherr cranes “Greatly” exceed the duty cycle of the super structure of the crane componants. Especialy those cranes that were designed before the advent of “close to the edge” CAD design factors. The Liebherr collaspe of Seattle had absolutly nothing to do with the construction of the crane itself. The failure was on the part of engineer’s who designed the foundation cross brace that supported it. In fact if you look at the crane photos after the fall, you will notice that the crane was for the most part still intact.
It seems in todays construction market just about anybody can hang out a shingle “Crane Inspector” Most of the “third party” crane inspectors I come in contact with are either Ex-operators or ex-Erectors. Anybody with a limited amount of OSHA Inspection classes, can call themselves “Crane inspector” As a tower crane service tech That picture of that SK225 says “Poorly” maintained race bearing bolts that were shock loaded! To bad, that is a work horse of a crane.
Instead of the use of the “Old Crane” scare tactics to promote your business why not learn more about your job. I work for Morrow Equipment and we have one of the finest training centers that is providing CCO and OSHA safety training for anybody who really wants to know about the tower crane and crane construction industry. I have multiple Crane certifcations and 30 years experience in tower crane technology, but there is still more to learn to keep this
business safe for all who work or come under the hook. Check out Morrowequipment.com
J Speciale, I’m not sure how the blog promotes my business. Is the name of the business up? There are plenty of inspectors out there that don’t really know what they are doing. I’m licensed in two states. If you can provide a better service and don’t appreciate the inspectors in your area, you should.
I’m not sure why you would bring up the Bellevue, but I testified in that case today. The Operator is suing the engineer and the GC. I’m well aware of the case. I was one of the erectors that day and we stopped during the erection and took shots of the base, not a cross base by the way. If one of these “inspectors” would have been there, the accident would not have happened.
There is a long back story to this crane in Toronto. You and I know that maintenance of the bolts is commonly not done. You have recently seen how to use quality control as a marketing tool. It works out well for all of us, but the motivation is the oversight and being hit with pictures of problems being found in the field by people other than in-house. You might even know of a company whom recently (last couple of years) instituted a new quality control process?
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