A Major Crane Accident

A Crane Accident

The photo shows evidence of a major crane accident which occurred on a construction site in the Pilbara Western Australia – can you spot it and explain what happened?

Look at the crane on the right hand side of the picture.

The Event – What Happened?

The crane on the right hand side of the picture is a Manitowoc 4100 lattice boom crane – normally fitted with a Fly Jib . The picture shows the fly jib is missing from the top of the main boom.

In this case the fly jib is stuck  in about half way up the main boom.

The crane operator had just completed a lift with the fly jib and was reeving up the fly jib whip line headache ball to just under the anti-two block switch prior to travelling the crane to another location.

The whip line had to be reeved in a considerable distance and the operator decided to do this at the maximum winch speed – probably to save time.

He was a 20 year  experienced crane operator.

There was a rigger in attendance – but he had no influence on the event.

The whip line crane headache ball and hook hit and went through the anti-two block switch at full speed and proceeded to rip the entire fly jib off its mountings.

The fly jib then tumbled down the main crane boom and luckily became entrapped and speared into and through the main boom lattice  – resembling a cross.

There was major damage to the crane boom , but no-one was injured!!