Cranes are a staple on the construction site, but can cause devastating consequences if something goes wrong and they happen to collapse. In the best case scenario, thousands of dollars worth of equipment or building damage is created and, in the worst case scenario, people’s lives are lost. If you operate a crane or work on a job site that is using cranes, you can brush up on your crane safety knowledge by visiting OSHA’s crane safety page.
1999 – Milwaukee, WI
During the construction of the Milwaukee Brewers new baseball stadium in 1999, a crane by the name of “Big Blue” collapsed, killing 3 iron workers in the process. A camera crew just happened to be on site at the time of the collapse. After an investigation, it was determined that high winds in the area caused the horrifying collapse, as wind gusts got up to 27 miles per hour and the crane was only rated for 20 miles per hour. The widows of the 3 men received a $57 million settlement from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and, in 2001, a statue honoring the 3 men was installed at the stadium.
2012- Syndey, Australia
The 2012 crane collapse on the University of Technology in Sydney’s campus was caused by a fire near the cabin of the crane. Before escaping the cabin and climbing down the crane to safety, the operator heroically moved the jib over a nearby building instead of leaving it above the road, where hundreds of people could have been injured. Two weeks prior to the collapse, union officials performed an inspection of the crane, due to some complaints about leaking diesel fuel. Because of the findings, the site was closed down for 4 days. After the collapse, officials believe that the maintenance requested in those inspections was not completed and was most likely a main contributor to the accident. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured by this collapse.
2013 – Sau Paulo, Brazil
The site of Brazil’s World Cup stadium was another site of a tragic crane collapse, this time in 2013. This collapse claimed the lives of 2 construction workers. At the time of the collapse, crews were working extended hours and vacations were canceled in order to be able to meet the deadline that Fifa required in order to host the 2014 World Cup. According to the Seattle Times, a labor-union leader claimed that he voiced concerns about the safety of the crane and its inability to hold a 500-ton section of roof, due to several days of rain that had soaked the soil. These warnings were ignored and shortly after the crane collapsed.
2013 – Kirov, Russia
In this tower crane collapse, high winds caused this huge crane to crash into a 9-story apartment complex, which housed 250 people, and crush several cars parked outside. High winds are being blamed for the cause of this collapse. Miraculously, no one reported any injuries after the incident, according to the Daily Mail.