The FIU Bridge Collapse, drone video by Pedro Portal, Miami Herald staff
Everyone has a camera in their pocket these days and when something goes down on the jobsite, you can bet it’s going to be captured on video one way or another. That can either be a great thing for marketing or an awful way to showcase your business.
Either way, the internet exists and it will do what it always does: give people something to talk about. Below are some of the best and worst examples of activity on the jobsite that got people talking in 2018, in no particular order…
Dropping a Dozer Out of a Moving Airplane Is the Coolest Way to Site Mobilize
In a video posted to Facebook earlier this year, the 37th Engineers are seen airdropping a bulldozer out of the back of an aircraft. It’s not only cool to watch, but it’s pretty impressive to think about all of the work that has to go into making airdrops with this much weight successful.
Check Out the Newest World’s Largest Crane As it Heads to its First Jobsite
The brand new Sarens SGC-250 is the 3rd in the line of Sarens’ Giant Cranes and the company’s biggest to date. Unveiled at an inauguration event on November 9, 2018, in Belgium, the new crane can lift a maximum of 5500 US tons and has a maximum height of 820 feet (250m). The swing radius of the massive machine spans over 900 feet (275m).
[VIDEO] Crane Collapses While Placing Concrete Wall Panel in California
Video footage was shared of a crane collapse during a concrete wall panel lift. Not much is known about the accident, there has been surprisingly no media coverage of the event, only a very short video description on YouTube.
Construction Workers Try to Demolish Wall with Forklift, Things End Badly
Motorized construction equipment, like forklifts, are invaluable tools, but they’re not good for demolition, nor are they built for continuous impacts. The guys in the video disagreed and attempted to knock down a short concrete wall by backing into it repeatedly with their forklift.
Crane Collapses Trying to Hoist Bulldozer Above Retaining Wall
In the video below, you’ll see tracked crane attempting to lift a bulldozer up what appears to be a 60-70 foot tall retaining wall. When it gets the machine near the top of the wall, the crane begins to tip and the bulldozer falls back down to the bottom of the excavation. There are also 2 workers that are repelling down the side of the retaining wall as the dozer falls. They both appeared to be uninjured.
Dump Truck with Raised Bed Gets Obliterated by Overhead Highway Sign
A driver on I-595 in Florida caught some pretty dramatic footage of a dump truck, with its bed raised all the way up, crashing into an overhead highway sign while going full speed. The overhead sign took a little bit of a hit, but, as you’ll see in the video, the truck got absolutely rocked.
Hi Rise Building Collapse During Demolition Critically Injures 1 in Miami
Safe demolitions should not be taken for granted. In July, a 13 story building in Miami Beach that was being prepped for demolition suddenly collapsed, fatally injuring one Project Manager that was struck by debris.
2 Construction Workers Rescued While Dangling 6 Stories High After Scaffolding Failed
For the third time in a year, construction workers have had to be rescued while dangling mid-air by fire rescue teams in Southern Florida. In 2017, there were two incidents in Sarasota, Florida that involved failed suspended scaffolding in as many months. In May of 2018, another incident in Palmetto Bay required the Fire Department to intervene.
Silo Demolition Goes Opposite Way and Lands on Adjacent Building
Not all demolitions go as planned, but thankfully no one was injured on this mishap.
A silo at the port in Vordingborg, Denmark was set for demolition on April 6, 2018 and the implosion caused it to fall, as planned, but it didn’t quite go in the direction they were hoping. As you can see in the video below, the silo was weakened on the left side, where they wanted it to go, but when the explosions happened, it sat on the base and then slowly started to head toward one of the adjacent buildings.
Massive Crane Collapses on Florida Job Site, Narrowly Missing Several Workers
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.
Watch 1,500 Chinese Construction Workers Replace Train Tracks in 9 Hours
This is a lot of people in one relatively small area…
Crane Collapses While Lifting Concrete Wall
A video of a crane collapsing in Austin, TX surfaced on Reddit in January and shows about a dozen workers running for their lives as it drops the concrete panel wall and falls to the ground itself.
6 Killed After Under Construction Walking Bridge Collapses onto Open Street Below
This was by far the biggest story of 2018 for the construction industry. It’s extremely rare when a construction project incident results in the loss of civilian life. Hopefully this was a wakeup call for many contractors and designers across the world. We also published several follow up articles throughout the year, including NTSB investigations, OSHA citations, and more.
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.