24.02.2007

Three cranes in accident

Two crawler cranes flipped over yesterday in Alameda, California trapping one operator in the cab of his crane.

The accident happened around 9:45 am near the intersection of Interstate 205 and Interstate 580 on the border of Alameda and San Joaquin counties.

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The larger crane boom came within a metre of the busy highway

North Highlands-based Contractor MCM Construction says that all three cranes, one of which was at least a 200 tonner, were working on a truck bypass bridge project at the time of the accident.

According to the construction company, the two crawlers were lifting a large rebar cage in a tandem lift when the larger crane a 200 tonne Manitowoc, tipped forward and fell over, onto the second, slighty smaller, crawler crane. The big crane's boom and the load then crashed down on to a 50 tonne Link Belt rough terrain crane. The tip of the big boom fell to within a metre of the busy 205 highway.

The Manitowoc flipped completely trapping the 60 year old operator in his cab for a short while. He managed to crawl out under his own steam however and was airlifted to hopsital, complaining of pains in his ribcage.

A spokesman for California Division of Occupational Safety and Health said that two cranes were picking up the same load when both cranes collapsed, injuring the worker.
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OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer said that an investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing. "We need to look at the site itself and look at the activities that were under way at the time of the collapse," he said.