24.02.2007

Another wind job?

We are not two months into the year and we have already seen a number of cranes genuinely floored by exceptionally high winds.

However in addition to the genuine cases there have already been a dozen or more accidents where wind has been blamed, At least initially.

Friday saw yet another when a Link Belt truck crane toppled over, and came to rest against the roof of Scotsdale Elementary School in El Paso Texas.
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Wind is said to have been the cause of this tip.

The crane was lifting a load of aluminum roofing material when it was apparently caught in a wind gust, that tipped it over. Causing it to drop its load onto the roof of classrooms where pupils were studying. Thankfully no injuries were reported.

Friday was reported as the windiest day of 2007 in El Paso according to its official measuring site at El Paso International Airport, where a gust of 59 mph was recorded.

A number of trees came down in the along with some overhead electrical wires.

Vertikal Comment

This is at least the second or third mobile crane tip over last week where the wind was blamed. The largest being the 100 metre Crawler crane boom that came down in Grand Rapids on Thursday.

What is going on? Are cranes becoming more vulnerable to wind? I doubt it, or is it that they are being used more frequently when wind levels are excessive?

Having seen cranes in 60 and 70mph winds, it is hard to believe that wind was the cause in Friday's case? But………

Perhaps manufacturers need to remind operators of the wind levels at which they should stop work and seek to do all they can to reduce the machines exposure to the wind?