17.08.2007

Crane Boom drops in Newquay

A family in Cornwall had a shock last week when the boom of a 50 tonne mobile crane came down accross their back garden.

The crane, a Grove GMK3050 owned and operated by local crane hirer MacSalvors Plant Hire, was working on a tower crane at the time with around 50 metres of boom out.

The lift cylinder began to loose pressure causing the boom to come down.

Fortunately there was no load on the hook and the boom came down in a relatively slow and controlled manner ending up resting on the fence of an adjoining garden.

The site, in Newquay is being developed by PS Developments in Plymouth. project manager John Samuels said: "The most important thing is that nobody was hurt.

Vertikal Comment

This story was reported in the local press as though life and limb was at risk due to a catastrophic failure. In reality the whole thing happened in slow motion and the operator would have had time to avoid obstacles.

This does not dismiss the fact that something was seriously wrong, if a crane experiences an internal hydraulic failure, or extreme leakage, the lift cylinder holding valve should have prevented the descent.

While crane booms have been known to leak down overnight, an incident such as this is almost unheard of. The crane was four years old and MacSalvors has a record of looking after its cranes.

Grove engineers are investigating.