Posted on 10/20/2019 1:16:08 AM PDT by texas booster
Washington state on Thursday fined three companies for their roles in a crane collapse that killed four people in Seattle last April, with officials calling it “totally avoidable,” and Seattle Police confirmed that they have opened a criminal investigation.
The Department of Labor and Industries released the results of its investigation Thursday. It found, as experts suspected, that the crane toppled in a wind gust because the workers who were disassembling it prematurely removed pins securing sections of the crane’s mast, contrary to the manufacturer’s instructions. ...
Regulators issued the biggest fine, $70,000, to Salem, Oregon-based Morrow Equipment Co., which supplied the crane to general contractor GLY. GLY was fined $25,000, and Northwest Tower Crane Service Inc., which provided the crew, was fined $12,000.
Morrow was most culpable because it was the expert on site and should have known and ensured the manufacturer’s instructions were followed, regulators said, while the other companies were cited for not having a supervisor present, inadequate training or other violations. ...
As a secondary crane is attached to the top of the section being removed, workers pull the pins for that section only, leaving the rest of the tower secure. The pins are about 16 inches (40 cm) long and weigh 26 pounds (11.79 kilograms).
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Looks like a lot of folks on FR called it.
Better to get chewed out for missing a deadline than to kills folks.
The fines look light but plaintiff lawyers will make up for it.
And this is why I generally avoid crowds and cities. There are just too many stupid people in this world.
JoMa
Were the two guys who got killed the same two who pulled the pins?
I was outside about 5 miles east of where the collapse took place.
The wind was blowing pretty hard that day - at least a 15 mph steady wind.
Those gusts literally came out of the blue.
No clouds anywhere. Then, suddenly, gusts that almost knocked you off your feet.
Yes, there are going to be a lot of civil suits. Horrible and preventable incident. As someone who has been in the construction industry for almost 20 years, there is no excuse. Never cut corners. I don’t care about “stuff”, I care about people going home at the end of their shifts.
They wirte this alleging that the short cuts cited are “common place.” Having worked for big construction companies that use such cranes, I can say that such a safety failure is not at all common place with the companies I was around.
I agree. I’ve never seen this before with the companies I’ve worked with.
What ever happened with the train that crashed in Washington? Speaking of holding people accountable I didn’t hear much about what caused that.
Bump!
Had my fill of cities and crowds. Got the T-shirt.
Ironworkers Andrew Yoder, 31, of North Bend, and Travis Corbet, 33, were working on the crane when it plunged to the street.
And I find a few more details than that but not much. The details about where the iron workers were located on the crane is not mentioned by the popular press.
It is probably in the accident report but I didn't see a link to it.
Excessive speed. The conductor was going aound a bend and he was traveling at a rate of speed that was the cause of the derailment.
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