Ernie Pierini

A crane has fallen into a drainage channel in Cambridgeshire, UK today killing the operator. The accident happened on a riverside track off the A142 at Mepal, halfway between Ely and Chatteris. The crane a small crawler crane with dredging bucket, slipped in when it slipped off of the timber track it was working from.

The International Sign Association’s updated Mobile Crane Operator Safety Certification Training, which begins in January, will offer courses in more than 40 cities throughout 2011. In addition, each training course immediately will be followed by testing conducted by The National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO).

Terex has issued a statement vowing to fight a US patent verdict against a side conveyor on some of its Powerscreen crushing machines. The jury verdict was handed down in an infringement lawsuit brought against Powerscreen International Distribution and owner Terex by Metso Minerals in United States district court for the eastern district of New York.

The Christmas tree at Wakehurst Place, in Southern England is the tallest in the UK at 35 metres. So decorating it can be a real issue. This year rental company Facelift, supplied a 46 and a 61 metre Bronto truck mounted lifts, to carry out the work, which included installing the lights with over 1,800 bulbs.

A contractor and subcontractor overseeing construction of a tower where two workers fell to their death on Tuesday have been detained and referred to Public Prosecution today, Dubai Police said. The two workers, aged 24 and 27, died after the cradle they were working on fell from the 27th floor.

“Call me after the holidays is the second most-heard objection in sales (first being, “Your price is too high.” Third being “I have to think about it.”). It comes up year after year and salespeople get frustrated year after year, unnecessarily.

Two men died last week in Dubai when the suspended platform they were using for cladding work failed and dropped to the ground from the 27th floor. The men were fitting external exterior glass panels on one of the Boulevard Plaza buildings on the Downtown Dubai development.

We now have more details on the Liebherr LR 13000 which lifted a test load of 3,371 tonnes at the end of November – the heaviest load ever been lifted by a Liebherr crane. The crane was fitted with a 60 metre main boom, a 54 metre derrick boom, 400 tonnes of superstructure ballast and 1,500 tonnes of suspended ballast.

A launching crane has collapsed on the Jiaxing-Shaoxing Bridge construction site in China’s Zhejiang Province this morning. Reports say that two people have died and nine others injured in the accident. A statement from the site said that one man died on site while the other was declared dead at the hospital. Of the nine injured, at least one of them is in critical condition.

European tower crane sales and rental company Neremat has expanded into the USA by establishing Neremat Inc. Kyle Lewis from Lewis Equipment has been named president, responsible for growing Neremat’s presence in the USA.