27.04.2017

Crane overturns in Ottawa

A crawler crane overturned in Ottawa, Canada yesterday while lifting a cement mixer into a tunnel on the construction of the city’s new Light Rail system.

The crane working with a relatively short boom, the crane ended up on its side with the boom landing along the top of the tunnel cutting. The operator jumped clear of the crane as it went over. Thankfully no one was injured in the incident which was initially blamed on the crane being overloaded, looking at the photograph we have received the crane’s tracks look to be narrow for the size of the crane, and it looks as though the track on the lift side of the crane had been left retracted?
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The crane's ended up on its side

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A view of the tracks

The $2.1 billion project has been criticised for safety several times following several incidents involving those working on the project. The consortium building the system, the Rideau Transit Group has reportedly insisted that all those working on the project sign confidentiality agreements effectively gagging them from discussing the incident.
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The crane boom came down into the tunnel cutting

Ottawa mayor Jim Watson issued a statement that said: "We are fortunate that there are no injuries with this incident. Several accidents have occurred recently on Light Rail Transit yards, a phenomenon that is of great concern to those working on the project.”

UPDATE

Rideau Transit Group technical director Peter Lauch issued a statement which said: The crane operator was shaken but unhurt in the incident. The treads on the crawler crane were to be extended to create a square to prevent tipping. Those treads weren’t deployed and that caused an unbalance and therefore the crane tipped forward.”