20.10.2008

Another fatal outrigger accident

A man was killed yesterday by a slowly tipping Rough Terrain crane in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA, after the cranes front outriggers sunk into soft ground.
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The cranes outriggers sank into the mud, no sign of any mats

The 51 year old man, Henry Vanden Top, was on the top of a wall where he was welding steelwork. A Terex RT crane was set up ready to lift steelwork, but as the crane boomed out the front outriggers began to sink slowly into the mud. The local police say that a number of people on site saw that the crane was tilting towards Vanden Top and began yelling at him, however with his welding mask on and the noise on site he remained oblivious to the danger.
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The crane tipped onto the wall

The cranes boom came to rest on the wall after hitting the welder delivering a fatal blow. The crane and the Vanden Top were working for Hoogendorn Construction on a new elementary school under construction on 53rd Street.