Crane Operators and Riggers Need Training

Why Aren't Operators and Riggers Trained?

The article below from Chron.com - AP Texas News reports that another crane tipped injuring two workers.

This incident clearly shows that contractors are not providing proper training for Crane Operators, Rigging Personnel, and Supervisors of rigging operations. It is quite obvious that neither the operator nor the riggers had any idea of the weight of the pipe being handled nor how to correctly read a Load Chart.

I have advocated in several posts that all contractors, State and City Safety groups, such as state OSHA agencies, send personnel to companies in their area that provide the type personnel training and certification of these workers. There is no excuse for incidents like these just because the personnel doing the work have not been properly trained.

2 injured after crane topples in Dallas

By JEFF CARLTON Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press

Aug. 28, 2008, 1:22PM

DALLAS — A crane lowering a heavy length of pipe toppled Thursday morning at a city water pumping station on the Trinity River in Dallas, injuring two city workers.

A contract crew was trying to lower the more than 9-ton pipe through an opening on the pump station roof when it pulled the crane cab off the ground, said Dallas Fire Rescue spokeswoman Sherrie Lopez.

"I think the weight was not distributed properly," Lopez said.

The boom of the crane fell onto the roof and the pipe landed on two city vehicles, crushing their roofs. The crane's cab tilted at a 45-degree angle.

Both workers were taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital and are in good condition, Lopez said. A worker in a truck struck by the pipe had a head laceration, she said.

A 56-year-old worker on the roof was initially thought to have suffered two broken legs, but Lopez later said it was an ankle injury.

She said that both were coherent and answering questions as paramedics took them away.

"We're very fortunate," she said. "When you look at the scene, things could have been much worse."

When the accident happened, three city employees were on the ground, three were in the building and one was on the roof, she said.

She said that the crane company, Louisiana Crane Company, will bring in two more cranes to remove the fallen boom and pipe.

The work was part of routine maintenance on one of the four pumps at the Old Hampton Pumping Station, which takes runoff rain water from city streets and pumps it into the Trinity River, said Kelly High, interim director of street services for the city.

He said the accident's cause is under investigation.

"Right now we're trying to gather that information. We've got to put the puzzle together," he said.

Patrick Kelley, corporate safety director for Louisiana Crane Company, said Thursday that he was on his way to the scene.

The accident is the latest in a string of crane accidents across Texas this summer. It came about a month after another crane accident left one man dead and another injured in Smithville. A crane was removing steel beams while dismantling an old bridge over the Colorado River and became overloaded, then toppled.

In mid-July, a 30-story tall crane at a Houston refinery toppled over, killing four contract workers and injuring seven others.

A month earlier, a construction crane's cable snapped, injuring three people working on the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium in Arlington. That accident came a day after a worker died at a construction site in downtown Dallas when a piece of equipment fell from a crane and struck him.

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