29.01.2008

Crane driver survives 33,000 volts

Crane owner-operator, Richard Wallace, 56, of Hydralift was taken to hospital today after his mobile crane touched the main electricity transfer line at a sub station site.

Wallace was not in the crane at the time, but is thought to have been setting it up from the chassis when the susperstructure appears to have slewed or drifted in the 33,000-volt transfer line, causing electricity to surge through the crane causing burns to his hands and feet before he fainted.
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Wallace's crane at the incident

Although no damage was done the cable or substation the accident left much of Belnheim’s central business district without power for half an hour.

Wallace was transferred to Wairau Hospital where he was decalred stable and expected to be discharged this afternoon. Investigators believe that Wallace was lucky and most likely escaped the full force of the shock.

Vertikal Comment

This is a slightly odd incident with a happy ending, it seems that Wallace was setting up the cranes outriggers, alongside the electrical substation when something caused the superstructure to most likely drift into the overhead power line.

The Grove crane is fitted with a slew lock which clearly had already been disengaged, but even then it is odd that it should have taken off as it apparently did. I think we do not have all of the information on this one.