Safety

In some cases, developing a creative lifting solution truly is a matter of life and death. In the fall of 2010, Baltimore’s University of Maryland Medical School Trauma Center project faced the challenges typical to tower crane use in an urban setting: a lack of space, traffic and wind.

With the help of a Terex CC2500-1 lattice boom crawler crane, Riga Baumann GmbH lowered a tunnel boring machine, complete with cutter head, into position in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Yeakey was awarded $1.15 million in economic damages plus $300,000 in non-economic damages, including pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. In addition, the jury awarded his wife, Kristina Yeakey, $55,000 in non-economic damages. The verdict, which placed 70 percent of the blame on MKA, was the first time a jury has found negligence in the fatal collapse took the life of Matthew Ammon, as he sat in his apartment opposite. His family settled out of court for an undisclosed sum without finding fault.

Arbor Realty Funding, the lender at the site of a fatal 2008 crane collapse in Turtle Bay, has filed a $69 million malpractice suit against Herrick Feinstein, alleging the law firm provided bad advice about the zoning regulations for the planned 42-story tower.

A reader sent us the attached example from Malta of cribbing under outriggers that leaves a great deal to be desired. Certainly a Death Wish.

A mobile crane travelling on a county road just south of Garwin, Iowa, to the north of Cedar Rapids, slid came off of the road and rolled over and ended up in a farmers field on Friday, trapping the driver inside.

OSHA issued a new Safety and Health Injury Prevention Sheet to help protect workers against hazards posed during rigging operations in shipyards. SHIPS: Rigging provides both employers and workers with real-world hazard information and solutions.

Spotted in the USA, possibly Michigan? A boom truck set up on mud with some outrigger mats that create Death Wish. The crane, which wasn’t working at the time, appears to have been used with a suspended personnel platform – not the best of starts – considering proper fully controlled baskets area available for such jobs.

Every year, on April 28th, we honour the memory of Canadian workers who have lost their lives due to work-related injuries and occupational diseases. The annual Day of Mourning is an opportunity to remember those fallen workers and to re-commit to creating safer workplaces. In 2010, 143 B.C. workers lost their lives due to workplace injury and disease.

Maximum Capacity Media (MCM) will take its Crane & Rigging Conference (CRC) to Canada for a two-day educational, networking event and exhibition, October 12-13, 2011, Fantasyland Hotel, Edmonton, Alberta. Whether you work with mobile or overhead cranes, CRC Canada will provide opportunities to improve the management of crane operations before, during, and after the lift.