18.01.2008

Loader crane brings the roof down

A truck carrying a container with its articulated loader crane left in the un-stowed position, became tangled in overhead cables as it left the car park of the Blinking Owl Café in Rayleigh, Essex yesterday.

As the truck moved off the crane pulled on the cables which were attached to a brick chimney which came crashing down on to the roof of a lean-to which forms part of the Café’s seating area.

The roof collapsed on a number of customers in the café one man was injured and taken to hospital.
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The inside of the cafe after the accident

Vertikal Comment

Laziness or forgetfulness? Either way surely there is no excuse for this type of accident which occurs all too often. It is a fairly rare occurrence when a regular articulated loader crane cannot be stowed due to its load and it is hard to imagine that a container would have prevented stowage. So laziness?

If a crane is left up for transport it should be securely restrained and then the driver needs to be ultra cautious when passing under any obstacle. Crane not stowed in cab warning systems should be slightly obnoxious like some seat belt warning alarms in cars in order that the operator is now only kept aware of the crane, but also that it irritates enough to encourage full stowage when possible.

For those who need to travel on the road with the crane un-stowed on a frequent basis, it would be easy to devise an adjustable cab top device that would provide an early warning or an overhead obstacle likely to catch the raised boom at least when driving slowly.
Regardless, there is no excuse for this type of accident and courts need to crack down harder on drivers who are caught.