Rigging Safety

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.

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.

The U.S. Department of Labor has agreed a settlement with Baton Rouge, Louisiana based MMR Contractors and global construction engineer Fluor, regarding the illegal termination of an employee who raised crane safety concerns.

A crawler crane operator died at JaxPort in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday in an accident that occurred while dismantling a large port crane that had been retired and sold. The old container/gantry crane had been purchased by a company that employed a contractor to dismantle and remove it from the port.

A tree worker fell around 23 metres from a crane yesterday in Bremerton to the west of Seattle Washington. Aaron Bjorn Waag, 28, was apparently suspended from the hook of an All Terrain crane via some sort of harness. He was trimming tree limbs when the harness gave way dropping him to the concrete walkway below.

The Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association (SC&RA) and Equipment Training Solutions, LLC (ETS) have rolled out a comprehensive Rigger Safety Training Course.

The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) now offers a free mobile app for instantly accessing all necessary crane hand signals. The new app is available in the iTunes App Store and Blackberry App World. Every signal included is compliant with the new OSHA Cranes and Derricks Standard, Appendix A to Subpart CC of Part 1926-Standard Hand Signals.

We have been sent a series of new photographs from the fatal accident which occured last Wednesday in Boulder, Western Australia, that show that the catapulting accident was different from that indicated by the first reports we received.

A mobile crane removing a concrete bridge girder goes over due to soils sluffing off down a hill. The soils are non-native and even though they used matting, you should have some sort of reinforcement to prevent the soils from moving when on a hill like this. (Click on picture to view video.)

Two men working for a tree surgeon were injured yesterday when their lift went over in Dorset, UK. The two men, said to be in their 20s, were airlifted to hospital with serious leg injuries after their spider lift tipped over in the village of Milborne St Andrew.