28.07.2008

Boom catapults rigger

A man was injured in Vancouver on Friday after he tried to free up a boom lift that a crane was lifting onto - or off of- a barge. The lift had become trapped on the dock, the man managed to free it, but the lift was by then out of balance and the boom rose rapidly taking the man up with it.

The man was lifted, or thrown, into the air and then dropped around 10 metres to the ground, he was taken to hospital with injuries to his back and legs.

This was the second crane accident involving Vancouver Pile Driving last week, one of its crawler cranes tipped over backwards sending its boom across the street on Tuesday.
See crane halts commuters

On Friday WorkSafeBC investigators were looking for possible breaches of health and safety regulations on Friday.

Scott McCloy, communications director for WorkSafeBC said: "The crane they were using to move it was mounted on the barge. We will investigate what went wrong moving the equipment from the dock to the barge. The crane was involved. In the process of doing this work, if we discover there was any non-compliance, we will write corrective orders on the company."