Construction Worker Dies at Shaw Airforce Base

Sumter, SC – Sumter County authorities say a man doing construction work at Shaw Air Force has died following a workplace accident Wednesday morning.

Sumter County Deputy Coroner Rob Lybrand said that Brian Lowry was working on an I-beam 20 feet above the ground. At some point, another I-beam being lowered by a crane hit him.

Lowery, who’s from Tennessee, died at the scene. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident.

Lowery was at Shaw working for a Georgia subcontractor. The company is building the new headquarters for the 3rd Army Command, which is relocating from Fort McPherson Georgia to Shaw.

Washingto State New Crane Certification Requirements

Dec. 22, 2009

TUMWATER – The Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) today reminded businesses that new crane safety standards taking effect Jan. 1 require construction cranes in Washington to be certified, but only a fraction have done so.

Of an estimated 7,000 cranes used in construction in the state, only 700 have been certified, including just 20 tower cranes. There are an estimated 100 tower cranes currently erected throughout the state.

“There are a huge number of cranes not certified,” said Dan McMurdie, manager of L&I’s Construction and Specialty Services program. “Businesses should have been working on this all year, but if they haven’t, they certainly should now.” He said there are about 50 people statewide trained to certify cranes, noting that an inspection can take a few hours to a week or more, depending on the crane’s size and complexity.

“Cranes affected by the new requirements range from very large ones you see at construction sites to small ones delivering materials to a site,” McMurdie said. “The vast majority are safe, efficient and well designed, and the public should not be overly alarmed. But in order to remain in that condition and ensure the safety of workers and people passing by, regular inspections must be conducted and those who operate them must be properly trained.”

It was the collapse of a crane and the death of one person that prompted state lawmakers in 2007 to adopt new crane-safety laws. In November 2006, a 210-foot tower crane used in the construction of a Bellevue office building collapsed, killing Microsoft lawyer Matthew Ammon in a nearby condo. An L&I investigation determined that the crane’s steel base frame caused the collapse, in that the frame needed to be four times stronger to adequately support the crane.

L&I adopted a new Construction Crane Rule with the support of the crane and construction industries. Effective Jan. 1, it requires that all cranes used in construction be certified by an accredited crane inspector and that crane operators be certified for the type of crane they are operating. Come Jan. 1, L&I inspectors will be in the field ensuring cranes meet the new standards and will work with businesses in cases where their cranes are out of compliance.

According to the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators, approximately 2,000 crane operators in Washington have successfully completed their certification.

Fatal Powered Haulage Accident September 15, 2009

UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
Metal and Nonmetal Mine Safety and Health

REPORT OF INVESTIGATION

Surface Nonmetal Mine
(Construction Sand and Gravel)

Fatal Powered Haulage Accident
September 15, 2009

Ozark Premium Sand, LLC
Ozark Premium Sand, LLC
Bradford, Jackson County, Arkansas
Mine ID No. 03-01970

Investigators

Maria C. Rich
Supervisory Mine Safety and Health Inspector

Carl D. Jones
Mine Safety and Health Inspector

Originating Office
Mine Safety and Health Administration
South Central District
1100 Commerce Street, Room 462
Dallas, TX 75242-0499
Edward E. Lopez, District Manager

Man dies in Houston crane accident

A crane collapse in Houston has killed a 41-year-old man.

Police say the accident happened at a printing company.

Police say Cesar Barrios Gomez of Houston was dead at the scene.

Authorities say Gomez had been trying to maneuver the crane to another location when the base failed and the crane topped. The victim was pinned beneath the equipment Monday night.

Police told the Houston Chronicle that the crane had a maximum capacity of 1 ton and that Gomez allegedly overloaded it.

Worker killed in crane accident in Warsaw

December 7, 2009

WARSAW, Poland

Polish officials say a worker died and a second was injured in a crane accident at the construction site of a major stadium going up in Warsaw for the 2012 European football championship.

Pawel Fratczak, the national spokesman for firefighters in Poland, says the accident occurred when a lift on the crane crashed to the ground from a height of about 15 metres (50 feet).

He said one man was killed immediately and the second was unconscious and taken to a hospital.

School bus rear-ended by truck hauling crane

EXTENSIVE CLEANUP UNDER WAY

Workers ready to pull the truck from a river.

BRIMFIELD, MA— A mother thought she and her son were going to die when a tractor-trailer hauling a crane rear-ended a stopped school bus just moments before the boy was going to step on.

Tammy D. Plue, who lives at 180 Palmer Road, was approaching the school bus with her 6-year-old son Connor around 7:45 a.m. today on Route 20 westbound, when the accident occurred.

“We’re pretty shaken up right now. Connor keeps talking about it. And it was really unbelievable,” Mrs. Plue said from her home tonight. “It looked like the wreckage was coming towards us at one point. It happened so fast. I remember, thinking that we’re dead.”

James Whittaker, 63, of Palmer, the bus driver, was taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution and released. Picking up Connor, a Brimfield Elementary School first-grader, was the second stop on the route for Mr. Whittaker, who picked up a kindergartener just minutes before. The young girl, who was sitting at the front of the bus at the time of the accident, was not injured and released to her father.

“The bus was stopped. The stopped sign was out and the lights were blinking,” Mrs. Plue recalled. “I was probably four feet from the street and my son was probably two feet from this. Thank God, he turned around and started running with me up the hill.”

According to state police, the impact of the crash sent the bus across the median along Route 20 about 100 yards, while the tractor-trailer crashed through a guardrail and, with the crane, slid down an embankment, next to a wetlands.

Agnelo Bairos, 46, of North Dighton, the tractor-trailer driver, was uninjured and outside of the mangled cab when rescue crews arrived. Because of the weight and terrain, Craig A. Moran, president of Sturbridge Service Center used two cranes for the “heavy-duty recovery” operation that continued tonight.

Catherine Skiba, regional spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the trailer released an estimated 150 gallons of diesel and 60 gallons of hydraulic oil and pads and booms were placed around the trailer and in the wetlands.

Carolyn Daly, spokesperson for the Atlantic Express Transportation (the district’s school bus provider) stressed that drivers need to be fully aware of school buses on the road.

“We had a kindergartener on the bus and a first-grader was about to get on the bus,” Ms. Daly said. “We continue to urge the public to use extreme caution around school buses at all times, especially when the flashing lights are on because we got precious cargo.”

In addition to the DEP and state police, the state Highway Department, the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section of the state police and Brimfield police, fire and EMS, responded to the scene. The accident is still under investigation and no citations have been issued.