Ernie Pierini

Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) has published its Crane Accident Investigation Guide after two years of planning and preparation by the association’s Crane & Rigging Group Safety Education & Training Committee. SC&RA members typically lift and position oversize objects, often at height and to tight tolerances so the possibility for severe injury or major property damage can never be overlooked

The following example of make-do access equipment was spotted by a reader in Salies de Bearn, South West France. It certainly qualifies among the top candidates for the craziest platforms ever built. Rather than organise a relatively small aerial lift or a proper mobile tower our man has used a stack of pallets plus a small work scaffold that he probably owns and placed it all on the forks of a lift truck.

Do you love sales? Do you love what you do? Do you love your product? Do you love your company? Do you love your customers? These are not questions I pulled out of the air. These are questions that directly affect your productivity, your attitude, your income, your success, and your fulfillment-not to mention your longevity at your present job.

The tower crane is an important link in the construction process. Even though the crane operator is seated in a cabin high up in the sky, he is still not able to view his entire working area. The visibility problem gets even worse as construction progresses and starts to increasingly obstruct the operator’s view.

On November 8, 2010, OSHA’s update to the Cranes & Derricks standard (1926.400) went into effect. Although some of the provisions have delayed effective dates ranging from one year to four, there are a few important updates that were effective on November 8th.

Irish based international lifting and wind power specialist McNally/Windhoist has taken delivery of a 750 tonne Liebherr LG1750 lattice boomed truck mounted crane.The new crane travelled form the manufacturers Ehingen plant this week directly to its first contract in France where it will be used to erect a number of wind turbines.

A strong risk assessment and planning, combined with a sharp operator saved a big crawler from tipping over. The crane, a 1,200 tonne Liebherr LTR11200 telescopic belonging to Karl Hartinger Kranbetrieb of Rimbeck-Warburg in Germany, was working on new wind farm being erected on moorland with a peat bog substrate.

The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) has rebuilt and enhanced its website to add valuable new features and improve popular existing ones. One noteworthy upgrade is the new Career Center, where employers and recruiters can access the most qualified talent pool with relevant work experience to fulfill staffing needs.

Singapore’s High Court has held a structural/mechanical engineer liable in a civil suit for the collapse of a tower crane that killed three people. Engineer Tan Juay Pah, who is also an authorised crane inspector, will have to pay damages to crane supplier Lee Tong Boon, who in turn has to compensate the main contractor Kimly Construction for the accident.

It got more than 100 “re-tweets.” Evidently people understood what I was saying and chose to tell others. But since Twitter only allows 140 characters, I wanted to elaborate on the word resilience because it has a much deeper meaning than I was able to provide in one tweet.