Major shovel Fail.

[Hank R]

On Monday at Highland Valley mine near Logan Lake BC. A friend works there and said a contractor was brought in to jack up shovel so undercarriage removed for a major rebuild. when shovel fell off of Jacks. Lucky no one was under shovel when it fell.

One of our shovels came crashing down off the jacks from 14 feet high 2.5 million pounds, hitting the ground was like a earthquake.

 

[Coaldust]

Holy cow!

 

[Hank R]

I know not much but I am wondering what it will take and how it can be jacked up again and how much shock load damage was done when the fall stopped???

 

[crane operator]

So it looks like the big grey a- frames on each side, are some kind of specialized lifting frame, and I'm guessing it gave way- or the attachment points failed. Looks like a job for a bunch of big jacks and big steel slid under and slowly back up again.

Wouldn't be fun, and I bet someone's insurance company is having kittens.

 

[OzDozer]

Chinese D-shackles or couplers, or Chinese steel wire rope? Glad to hear no-one got hurt, machines can be fixed, fixing families destroyed by an unnecessary equipment death, is not so easy.

A lot of falls when jacking/lifting are caused by an inability to grasp how the C of G changes as you lift. I can recall a guy getting killed when working on hardfacing/rebuilding a big loader bucket.
He was working alone and had the bucket well-supported on fairly high stands. But he kept repositioning the bucket to facilitate the welding position.
He repositioned it to the point where it became close to unstable on the stands, with the C of G near a tipping point. It's thought he climbed onto the bucket to do something, but the additional weight caused the bucket to go over its tipping point, and it fell and crushed him.

I learnt from a simple lesson many years ago, when I was moving a small Lister-powered pump mounted in a steel base with a front end loader.
I attached the chains to the base, lifted it and moved around the yard. But the engine and pump swung a little as I moved - and next thing, the engine and pump had turned turtle inside the chain sling!
What had happened was simply the C of G was quite high from where I'd attached the chains, and the swinging from the bucket was enough to send the C of G over the tipping point.

 

[92U 3406]

I've been involved in a couple shovel splits on the 4100 P&H. That's absolutely crazy to think about it coming off the jacks.

 

[John C.]

I think I'm seeing a big gray colored stand that apparently hooks to the back of the house. Is that what it is?

 

[Nige]

Looks like the two lifting methods are clightly different John. In the first one it appears that the rear lifting devices are somehow fixed to the sides of the back end of the revolving frame. In 92U's photo there is a beam going right under the counterweight tying the two rear lfting devices together. I'd say from Hank's photos that whatever fixed those grey jackstands to the rear of the machine let go.

 

[Hank R]

I got one more picture and enlarged a couple.

 

[Mobiltech]

I wonder if the ground they are working on is a little soft causing the stand to buckle from uneven support.

 

[funwithfuel]

I wonder if the ground they are working on is a little soft causing the stand to buckle from uneven support.

From the images, I don't see anything sunken. Also the pad they're on looks well groomed. It looks, from the pics, that the stand got "spit out some" on the ballast side. I'm wondering if there shouldn't have been a beam tying the 2 rear jacks together. Just my thoughts

 

[Hank R]

I should know more about what went south by Monday.

 

[Hank R]

I heard this morning that it was a Jack failure that they suspect as the problem, the contractor was having issues with on of the jacks when they started the lift shovel sunk into ground 16 inches when it landed. Also the union at the mine walked off now due to safety. By Monday I will know better what is happening.

 

[The Peej]

Thank you for sharing

 

[Hank R]

Correction mine union did not walk off the job, it a a safety stand down, my contact is back to work this morning.

 

[DMiller]

That'd suck it tight in a seat for a few weeks. Whoever was setting it undoubtedly crapped themselves.

 

[Nige]

I see no undercarriage anywhere near the machine in any of the photos. So if it was an undercarriage overhaul the lower works must have been pulled well clear of the machine before the jacks let go.
Contrast that with 92U's photo where the lower works aren't even clear of the front of the upper works.

 

[Hank R]

 

[92U 3406]

I see no undercarriage anywhere near the machine in any of the photos. So if it was an undercarriage overhaul the lower works must have been pulled well clear of the machine before the jacks let go.
Contrast that with 92U's photo where the lower works aren't even clear of the front of the upper works.

Normally we did all the undercarriage work without splitting the shovel. Only time we'd split it was if it needed a center pin, swing rollers or carbody hour'd out.

 

[Hank R]

My understanding it was going to be a major job done on shovel.