Crane collapses on construction jobsites are usually pretty terrifying, especially when the jobsite is full of workers. A construction site in St. Petersburg, Florida got extremely lucky when a large construction crane collapsed and narrowly missed several running workers.
On Thursday, April 5th, video of the collapse was shared by news sources. In it, you’ll see the crane operator attempting to lift a scissor lift to an upper floor of the under construction St. Petersburg police headquarters.
After the collapse, the president of Ajax Building Corporation, Bill Byrne, told reporters at WTSP, that, miraculously, no one was injured. At least a couple workers appeared to be within a couple feet of the falling boom. WTSP also reported that Ajax has an excellent safety record and has been honored by OSHA in the past.
“We’re very fortunate the incident that happened yesterday didn’t affect the building, won’t affect the schedule, and most importantly no one was injured,” Byrne said. “It was just an unfortunate event that happened and the operator made an error lifting a piece of equipment. He got outside the safe zone of the equipment so this is a good opportunity to remind everyone to be diligent about every task they do so that something like this doesn’t happen again.”
OSHA will be investigating the incident, which they say will be concluded within 6 months. Let this be a good reminder to you that crane load charts should be strictly adhered to. It’s also generally good practice to avoid working underneath suspended loads, so cranes should be positioned in an area that reduces exposure.
Full story: “Operator error” being blamed for St. Pete crane collapse | WTSP
On Tuesday morning, February 23, the Syracuse Fire Department responded to a call about a collapsed crane on a construction site near the university. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.