Operator training and equipment inspections are essential to preventing job-site accidents. Sign up for training or schedule your next inspection. But first, read on for the February 2022 accidents we’re reprinting here.
Crane over in Bremen
We are reprinting this article from Vertikal.net, originally published on Feb 21, 2022. if you follow the link, there are additional pictures and a video with more information.
A tower crane collapsed onto a building in the Bremen harbour area on Saturday night during a storm with high winds.
Reports state that the crane, a Potain MDT, was rigged with a hook height of 55 metres, and that the failure occurred to the tower at height of around 10 metres. The crane wreckage was removed over the weekend. No one was hurt in the incident, although the driver of a passing truck had a lucky escape after the crane struck his vehicle.
The building is the site of new residential development by the Zech Group.
Horrifying moment a 98ft crane topples over in 90mph winds, crushing two builders to death in Poland as storms batter Europe
This article was reprinted from the Daily Mail, originally published February 21, 2022. Click there for more pictures and a video of the accident.
This is the horrifying moment a 98ft crane toppled over in 90mph winds and crushed two builders to death in Poland as storms battered Europe.
Footage posted online shows debris, including leaves, plastic and panels of plasterboard, flying through the air in high winds and lashing rain in Krakow, Poland.
The 98ft crane initially looks stable despite the weather conditions, part of Storm Eunice that brought record 122mph winds to the UK, but then starts to fall backwards.
The crane, which was out of service at the time, disappears behind an apartment block as it smashes down, killing two workers and injuring another two, police said.
Polish officials, who have opened an investigation into the accident, recorded wind speeds of up to 40mph in the area on Thursday.
One of the builders who died was on the ground while the other was working on a nearby rooftop when they were crushed, Vertikal.net reported.
One was declared dead at the scene and the second died in hospital after succumbing to his injuries on Thursday.
Police have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident and probing whether officials properly secured the crane in preparation for strong winds.
The crane had been working on a five-storey building prior to the incident but was out of service on Thursday because of the storm.
A statement from the developer, the Murapol Group, said all cranes were taken out of service as a result of the wind meaning there was ‘no operator in the cabin of the machine’ at the time of the accident.
It said the two builders killed and the two injured were working for a sub-contractor.
‘The Murapol Group will provide the emergency services and safety authorities with the necessary information to explain the causes of the situation,’ the statement added.
‘At the same time, we express our deep sympathy for the family of the person who died as a result of this unfortunate accident.’
Poland’s meteorology directorate warned on Thursday that wind speeds would top 100km per hour (62mph) as the storms swept through the country.
It said on Thursday that at least 3,000 houses had been left without power after the first wave of bad weather passed through northern Europe.
The second major storm in three days smashed through northern Europe on Friday, killing at least nine people as high winds felled trees, cancelled train services and ripped sections off the roof of London’s O2 Arena.
The weather system, known as Storm Zeynep in Germany, pushed into the European mainland, prompting high wind warnings in Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.
In the Netherlands, firefighters said three people were killed by falling trees in and around Amsterdam, and a fourth died in the northern province of Groningen after driving his car into a fallen tree.
And in neighboring Belgium an elderly man died when high winds pushed him into a canal in Ypres.
Eunice was the second named storm to hit Europe last week, with the first storm killing at least five people in Germany and Poland.
Fatal crane/platform incident
This article from Vertikal.net was originally published on February 17, 2022.
A trailer mounted aluminum crane equipped with the work platform option overturned on a building site in Hettstadt near Würzburg, Bavaria on Monday, seriously injuring one man, while the other has died.
The men were working on a new roof on a house they were associated with when the crane went over sideways, knocking a man, aged 66, from the scaffold tower he was working from causing him a serious leg injury. The other man, 41, was trapped under the machine and was declared dead at the scene.
An investigation team from Würzburg is looking into what caused the incident.
It is hard to see what might have caused the overturn as the outriggers appear to have been well set up on the drive. The basket appears to have separated from the boom though. We will update if and when we learn more.
If you see an accident report you’d like us to feature in the blog, like the ones shown here in the February 2022 Accidents Reports, let us know. Contact heather@cranes101.com with the information.