Featured Articles

A crane operator accidentally engaged the main hoist of his crawler crane in Naples Maine, yesterday pulling the lattice boom over the back of the crane. No one was injured in the incident and there appears to be little damage to anything but the crane, the boom of which is clearly a ‘write-off’.

W.O. Grubb has become a go-to crane and transport company when it comes to show business. The company’s cranes were featured in the movie “Evan Almighty,” and their crews erected an elaborate stage for a U2 concert in Virginia. Recently W.O. Grubb Crane Rental played a huge role in rigging and lifting race cars for a television commercial.

Ho Chi Minh City Construction Department has just done with draft instructions on the safe use of tower cranes in construction sites within the city. The horizontal jibs of tower cranes in a construction site rise above a street threaten lives of the passers-by (Photo: Minh Tri)

A tragic end for a Houston man killed in a construction accident in Richmond Tuesday afternoon. A company was building a “water detention” area near Mission Bend, according to a Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.

A crawler crane operator was slightly injured when his crane tipped over in Montreal yesterday. The incident occurred on on the CHUM superhospital construction St-Denis Street between Viger and De la Gauchetiere.

The crane driver involved in the ‘run-away’ crane that killed a farmer has been acquitted by a jury of any blame. Allan Woodrow was acquitted in under an hour at Bradford Crown Court of causing the death of Colin Chew by dangerous driving on March 26, 2009, and an alternative charge of causing his death by careless or inconsiderate driving.

The case of a tractor driver killed by a run-away crane last March has begun. The jury heard yesterday how the driver of a mobile crane had used his brakes for “too long and too much” as he came down a steep hill at East Morton, near Bingley.

A trio of Potain tower cranes are being used on a hydroelectric dam expansion project in the USA. The project is the Holtwood Dam on the Susquehanna River near Holtwood, Pennsylvania.

We have been alerted to a tragic crane accident on a wind farm in South America, almost certainly in Brazil. The accident, which we have been told occurred last wednesday, involves a 1,200 tonne Liebherr LTM11200-9.1. which was lifting a full blade and rotor assembly into place when – we are told – a strong gust took the load out to the side, creating a massive side load on the crane’s boom.

New York City’s department of buildings has released a new report by consulting engineers Ove Arup on the tower crane collapse last March that killed seven people. The new report lays the blame squarely on improper use of slings, and also addresses the question of whether the friction base used at the foot of the crane may have contributed to the accident.