Double rollover

BITE YER LEGS
It’s time the Crane Hire Industry stands up to the ruthless Wind Energy Sector.

fozzy
Sad to see.. hope the guys involved are ok.

orrabeel
'primadonnas' now where have I heard that a thousand times before.

Jimmy5
Whistle blower
yeah I totally agree with you.Drivers not maintaining there cranes need a kick up the A%%E.
The whole industry is needed a serious overhaul and change.
Example I'm a crane operator. I go on a site for a crane hire for the day. im getting up at 5.00am to get to the yard.I'm clocking in at 6am so I get to work for 7.30. working 8 hours on site. Driving back finishing in yard at 5.30pm 6.00ish. I drive half million pounds worth of crane in a high risk environment. With Slinger ticket supervisor ticket class one driving licence.
I will be the lowest paid guy on the site after doing 12 hours to someone holding a trowel for 8 hours laying bricks.
Most of it is greed from companies. It's like a race to the bottom. I know companies can't afford to pay high wages as the profit margins are so low.

Brontosaurus
Same as cherry picker companies crap hourly rates only way to earn money is work round the clock doing double or triple shifts and weekends 60 to 70 hours + every week

David Savage
Back to the cause of the accident LTD is right of course the access road and pull ins are poorly constructed another main contractor skimping on infrastructure to maximise profits leading to a serious incident.
Let’s hope King’s insurance company take them to the cleaners and the buffoons responsible are held to account.

David Savage
Do I detect a note of reality at last?
I like most of the comments, we all know that the hire rates wan absolute joke return on capital non existent wouldn’t mind the name and number of the crane tech mentioned we never seem to get a bill under a thousand to fifteen hundred from the manufacturers.
Realistically the hourly rates are about £14.00 plus the overtime and second job bonuses etc probably not enough in most cases to attract high calibre people although many operators are first class however many are not..........!

mwsmith1
Loads of comments here about ‘UN-skilled’ drivers, crane hire companies, rates of pay, blah, blah, blah...

As a former employee of the named crane company I can say they have some very skilled operators and a very modern fleet to be proud of.

So let’s not assume this was anything other than an accident or possibly an error by the client providing this access route.....?!

......
*ballast truck

......
Just to clarify for 10 in a row, hahaha, and Hater_of_Haters, I was not intending to imply that crane drivers should do other jobs on site, but should merely be willing to do other jobs in their own depots, and at the request of their employers.

I have seen crane drivers refuse to drive a bassat truck too or from site when another driver was on leave, despite the fact they were well capable. I have seen crane drivers refuse to delvier or collect a forklift, or access machine from site, despite having teh necessary certification to do so. I have seen crane drivers lie about lubricating and doing basic maintenance on their own cranes, on days they didn't have a job on site. Not cleaning the telescopic boom, and even not checking tyre pressures.

Yet, they they still think they are justified in complaining about pay rates. I have hired and fired lots of crane drivers, and I have also had the privilige of working with some great crane drivers, who were also great people. Whether you admit it or note, or are even aware, the cost to the employer is a lot more than what the crane driver takes home. As an employer of people for over 20 years, I have always maintained that if someone is not happy with their pay and terms, they should leave, and go elsewhere. Far away hills are always greener. Equally, as an employer, if you have people who are loyal, hardworking, flexible, and actually interested, you must make it worth their while to stay in your employment.

Jimmy5
Whistle blower
You need to look at it from a crane drivers point of view aswell. Most of the time the operators hands are tied in the UK due to health and safety.

90% of hires are 1 day hires.
As a operator you will go to a site for one day most of the time. You rock up on site and you see someone struggling with lifting something. As a good egg crane driver you jump out your crane at the speed of a thousand buffalo and help the guy. You twist your back or fall over and break your ankle. Your on the sick for 8 weeks. The guy your helping ain't going pay your wages and neither is your company. So what happens to the good egg and team player?
Same as the old " Aw driver can you just lift this for us". It's all good till something goes wrong. Then it's the operator that's in a world of pain.
I don't work in the UK anymore. The government will pay my wages if I get hurt at work. its a totally different working culture. If you had the its not my job mentality you would get sacked.
So I can see why crane drivers don't want to get involved with stuff on site.

Hater_of_haters
Whistleblower, If something ain't your job, You don't do It. Think of what You are just saying. In the lifting game, You only do what You are meant to do and nothing else for the simple reasson that if anything goes wrong, It's the driver's fault having agreed to do something that's not meant to. Do You understand?

Getting paid for doing nothing? That must be in your fantasy world You live in. Average is 12 to 14 an hour. If that's too much for You, come and live in London.

Holiday pay, sick pay and other premium allowances? What crane company are You talking about? The ones I know in the South, pay You double time after the 12th hour. THE 12TH!!!!!

I don't know what type of drugs You are on, but I totaly dissagree with You on everything You said. You've made up lots of shit that I don't know where It came from but You just sound like an idiot in the pub bragging after the eight pint.
Get a life

......
Now I will open the floodgates to criticism.

I do not wish to brand all crane drivers with the same brush, but as in any business, or any role, there are some great people, and some not so great people. However, the majority of crane drivers don't help their own cause. The majority of them are lazy, 'primadonnas'. Ask them to do anything else other than drive a crane, "that is not my job" is the answer the majority will give. Ask them to do routine basic maintenance on their own crane, and they will pretend them have done it, and then moan about the quality of the crane they operate. They will moan about their hourly rates, but forget about the many hours they get paid for doing nothing, and the premium rates they get for working outside of normal hours, as well as holiday pay and sick pay, and other allowances. The hardest thing most of them ever do is take out the timbers to put under their outriggers, and as we often see here on Vertikal, many of them aren't even bothered to do that properly.

If they had their own crane, and had to bear the responsibilites that come with it, they would take a whole different approach, but instead of being a team player they will say, "I am only a crane driver". So those who are not able to stand up and do what is needed to be done, to help their colleagues, their employer, have no right to moan and complain.

The time has come for rental company owners to take a stance. Get rid of the drivers who aren't team players, get rid of the cranes that aren't earning their keep. Look after the good employees, and push rental prices up. Less cranes, less rental equipment in general, will improve market conditions for everyone. Having 10 engaged cranes drivers and 10 busy cranes earning decent rates, makes a whole lot more sense than 15 or 20 cranes at poor rates, and having several crane drivers sitting around doing nothing other than moaning. Ultimately, the lazy crane drivers will be happier doing something else, perhaps driving HGVs, or delivery vans or something else.

FH16”750
Wages are poor for the massive amount of responsibility placed upon the operators of any size crane , and from my own experience very little Gratitude or appreciation

Sherm
This question may seem absurd. Could the rollovers have been avoided by loading and hauling the cranes on semi-tractor trailer rigs to save going off the edge on the verge?

MONSTER
Most crane companies..hire desk staff has never ever drove a crane..some staff has never been one meter beside any crane
Seems unbelievable....but it is like that
So..how can they suggest any customer to their projects or size crane or whatever

mauricio
What The Whistleblower said is absolutely correct, but no only for UK, many other countries are having this exact effect, where some people with the technical skills to fix a $500K+ equipment charge more per hour than said equipment.

MONSTER
Come on..let's be honest
UK crane driver wages are very bad(10-12 pound/hr) average
Crane drivers to get decent wages are push to do 12-16 hrs a day plus weekends and sometimes day/night shifts
So..they are tired..fed up..etc etc and accidents happens
Upon of that some of them are useless
Thats the reality

The Force
Who on earth could give a thumbs down to the Whistleblowers comment, He is absolutely correct in what he says, Thankfully no body was hurt in either case, and for the benefit of the WhatsApp users think before you gloat and send these pics on, it could happen to any of us at any time.

MONSTER
Very low skill drivers

......
Crane rental in general is becoming less viable for the crane rental companies. Think about this.

If you need someone to configure your alarm sytem, or cameras, or whatever, they will arrive at your office, with little or no overheads other than a laptop, will most likely be offered Tea or coffee while they work, will take their time having a chat with some of the staff, bear little or risk in what they do, and will charge you circa 60GBP per hour with a minimum charge of perhaps 2 hours.

Now consider the crane rental company. They can send a 60T crane costing 500k plus, a driver costing 20 GBP plus per hour, whom they have paid numerous training and accreditation course for, pay insurance, and multiple other overheads, and take significant risks every time they lift something, and they can't get much more than 60 GBP per hour for that....

In what world does this make sense? But yet crane hire and powered access companies continue this race to the bottom in terms of pricing. Time the industry woke up, and that company owners took control of it.

LTD
Another wind farm with poor access roads. These wind farm jobs are certainly not worth the high risk T’s&C’s with little reward.