Another Crane Tragedy - Miami, Florida

[Taximom]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341468,00.html
Two dead, at least 4 injured

MIAMI — Two construction workers were killed and four others were injured Tuesday when a crane collapsed at a downtown high-rise condominium site and fell on top of an unoccupied home that the contractor used as an office, police said.

and

Parts of the unoccupied home near the construction site were destroyed by the crane. Miami fire spokesman Ignatius Carroll said the building was used in the movie "There's Something About Mary." (more at link)

Much more here:
http://www.miamiherald.com/854/story/469684.html

 

[philamena]

Oh my! Prayers to those who lost loved ones.
2 large crane mishaps in the past few weeks is not a good thing. The crane accident in NYC was caused by human error. Have you seen this:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5huKy_zhvCYIB2tiBeXOo8Hp-mRgA
City employee charged over New York crane accident

 

[Masterj]

Oh my! Prayers to those who lost loved ones.
2 large crane mishaps in the past few weeks is not a good thing. The crane accident in NYC was caused by human error. Have you seen this:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5huKy_zhvCYIB2tiBeXOo8Hp-mRgA
City employee charged over New York crane accident

I wouldn't say it was caused by just human error. The guy falsified inspection documents, but I believe the actual cause was from a faulty nylon strap. According to what I've read, it is highly unlikely an inspector would discover that the strap was faulty. I was pretty horrified reading about how few inspectors we have for all the construction going on in NYC. I read another story today about people having their stuff looted from their apartments after the crane collapse.

Much love and prayers to those in Miami.

 

[SuziQ]

At the below link is an in depth special report about a crane collapse by the Seattle P.I.. Very interesting read, IMO.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/crane/

 

[KarlK]

Crane related mishaps are responsible for more fatalities on high-rise construction sites than any other type of accident (fall, crushing, etc.) One has to realize that most construction firms do not own cranes, these are leased with operators from specialized outfits and the higher the job the higher the rate charged so there is a pressure on the operator on the part of the leasing firm to "push it up" as fast as possible. This pressure can only have a negative effect of safety as cranes are sometimes hoisted on and secured to floors that are not yet sufficiently stabilized. Crane operator is one of the most hazardous jobs out there, ranking just below mining/tunneling for the injury rate.