Houston accident

Boss threw these pics down and said that this rig flipped when the operator pulled the outriggers in overnight on one side.........Next morning The operator forgot the the outriggers were short and it went over backwards.Only info I have is what the boss said .

Yep, I have a brother that works in the safety department of a refinery in Louisiana and he sent these same pics to me. The official report that he read said the crane was being operated in two shifts. The 2nd shift operator stowed and house locked the crane over the rear for the night, and pulled in the streetside outriggers so they wouldn't be a driving hazard for plant road traffic in the dark, then dropped the outrigger pads to stabilize rig. When morning shift operator came in, he appearantly didn't do a walk around inspection, instead he started rig with boom high angle and retracted, and began to swing rig to driver side of crane opposite of retracted outriggers. At that point, the counterweights took it over backwards. I can't confirm this as I haven't seen the report, but that's what he reported to me.

Never never never operate an erected rig without first doing a walk around inspection.

ATCOEQUIP said:

Yep, I have a brother that works in the safety department of a refinery in Louisiana and he sent these same pics to me. .

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Care to mention which refinery? In Garyville?

Stevenbrla said:

Care to mention which refinery? In Garyville?

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He works at a refinery in Lake Charles. Not sure what the refinery name is, lol, don't think I've bothered to ask.

Hard to believe in this safety conscious age that anyone would get on a crane of all things and start operating (using the word loosely) without first at least doing a basic walkaround.

I know around here refineries and power plants make uou go through so many safety classes before you can work on their facility that it gets mind numbing, but it leaves most with a safety first attitude. The ones that don't are down the road.

Hopefully no one was hurt

JDOFMEMI said:

Hard to believe in this safety conscious age that anyone would get on a crane of all things and start operating (using the word loosely) without first at least doing a basic walkaround.

I know around here refineries and power plants make uou go through so many safety classes before you can work on their facility that it gets mind numbing, but it leaves most with a safety first attitude. The ones that don't are down the road.

Hopefully no one was hurt

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I agree with ya Jerry, but my brother, being in the safety part of refinery and industrial plant community, sends me stuff all the time about accidents that for me (and maybe you and others) seem to be no brainers. It baffles me, with the safety protocol programs they have in place, that the most stupid of accidents continue to occur. Beats me how...but they do. :beatsme

The crane appears to be setting on mats ....normal thing now in refineries... as to why the outriggers where moved...

was there a wide load transported thru the area... it appears that there is a road next to the mats.... so why were they pulled in...guess it doesn't matter ..now...so you wouldn't drive over the mats..

That boom make those conexs look dinky....

Don't know what time the shift started , but it's dark here at 7 now..

But still the operator should have at least walked around the rig...

One thing is the 2nd shift operator could have done is hung a "Do Not Operate" tag on the door...

heavylift said:

The crane appears to be setting on mats ....normal thing now in refineries... as to why the outriggers where moved...

was there a wide load transported thru the area... it appears that there is a road next to the mats.... so why were they pulled in...guess it doesn't matter ..now...so you wouldn't drive over the mats..

That boom make those conexs look dinky....

Don't know what time the shift started , but it's dark here at 7 now..

But still the operator should have at least walked around the rig...

One thing is the 2nd shift operator could have done is hung a "Do Not Operate" tag on the door...

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I'm don't know all the details of info on this accident heavylift. And there is typically a number of events or situations involved in something like this, like why did 2nd op drag in outriggers. Many questions that usually lead to other questions. But in my opinion, all events are nullified by the one thing that was not done that would have absolutely prevented this; the walk around inspection prior to work starting.

Never never never operate an erected rig without first doing a walk around inspection. No exceptions or exemptions.

heavylift said:

One thing is the 2nd shift operator could have done is hung a "Do Not Operate" tag on the door...

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:beatsme but its what i would have done....:thumbsup

tonka said:

:beatsme but its what i would have done....:thumbsup

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Yep, I agree tonka, he could have made some effort to alert next operator. But you have to keep something in mind, something I was told years ago as a crane operator; the operator, and no one else, is responsible for the rig. And for good reason. Whenever multiple persons have shared responsiblities in the safe operation of a machine, whether it's a crane, truck, dozer, whatever, the chances of mistakes are greatly magnified, as was the case in this incident. Human error happens to all of us, none of us are perfect, but the walkaround by next op would have absolutely prevented all the previous errors from tipping the rig. I know I seem passionate about this, I must admit I am. It is incumbent upon all crane operators to follow all procedures pertinent to the safe operation of a crane. And to neglect to do a walkaround of an erected rig is negligence on the part of a skilled worker. Fortunately, I don't think that particular rig landed on top of another worker on that day, and that would be only by the grace of God, not the attention to detail by the operator.

Thats pretty sad.These modern cranes also have allot of safety features on them to keep this type of accident from happening.Wonder if they were overoad to operate the crane with the outriggers stowed on one side?

td25c said:

Thats pretty sad.These modern cranes also have allot of safety features on them to keep this type of accident from happening.Wonder if they were overoad to operate the crane with the outriggers stowed on one side?

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Didn't over-ride anything 25c, operator simply slew rig over opposite side of retracted outriggers (which did have pads down with beams retracted), boom was at a high angle, and the full compliment of counterweight took it over backwards.

My brother first sent me these pics and said that he and his safety co-workers thought the weight of the counterweights took it over with boom high. I replied back that if the outriggers were set proper, it wouldn't do that. After that reply to him, they dug a little further and got a little more detail. This is the reply he sent back to me and to his safety community of co-workers;

"FYI My brother was, as usual, correct. Good topic to talk about; the outriggers had been retracted out of road way during the night, the day operator came in did not do a walk around got in crane and swung around high boom and turned over backward, good reminder for the guys that run this equipment you need to do your walk around before starting the operation of any crane. Take a couple of minutes to check what might be different before you start work. If we become complacent it can happen to the best of us."

I'm thinking the rig was placed to where the outriggers on curbside of rig were actually extending out in the plant road. After it flipped, it appears (in the photos) the rig wasn't near enough to road for that to be the case, but I think the photos are deceptive in that respect. I'm thinking the rig was, in fact, set up close to the road and when it flipped, it actually flipped the rig inwards on the mats making it look like it wasn't near the road. I have to believe if the 2nd shift op retracted the outrigger beams to get them out of the road and reduce driving hazard at night that the pads were in fact in the road.

I'm thinking the cab was next to ladder side. So its not like he did not see they were in. He just did not realize. Cuz it's only 45 off parralel. Or did it make 135%? muzy.
PS. Deffenitly a bad day for him.

Yes musy, the cab was on the side that the outriggers were retracted when the machine was house locked for the night. So, with that being the case, one would think the operator would have noticed the obvious that the outriggers were not extended and set on the side that he had to climb into the cab, right? And that may explain why the 2nd op was confident in stowing the machine in this manner, as it would have been obvious the beams were retracted. Or, maybe the operator knew the outriggers were in, but thought since he was going to slew boom over opposite side it would be ok, yet didn't consider the weight of the counterweights. Since we don't know the details all we can do is speculate. But I still maintain the need to do a walk around of an erected crane. Along with checking/inspecting main components, one of the things an operator should do prior to start work of an erected crane is to walk behind the machine, bend down, and look across the rear outrigger beam to the front outrigger beam to make sure they are parallel, and do this on both sides of the rig. This is to insure the outriggers are carrying weight equally and machine frame is not in a twist. Even if the operator flipped the rig because he didn't consider the counterweights, if he had of done this outrigger set inspection, the rig would still be standing.

well on the lighter side... at least the tires can be salvaged.lol

Generally ...if its possable when swing shifting or hot seating a crane ..the two op's should communicate the going's on's of/or during the prevoius shift..takes about a minute or two..

Generally again..If Im gonna have to pull one outrigger in ..then I have to pull all 4 at the end of a shift..

Nice guys finish last

I have been known to just stow and dog out my machine and leave it on all 4 if its not possable to move it to a lay down at the end of the shift..
This way .. somebody has to contact the office to get something moved or adjusted..then it fall's in managments lap to make the changes..and serve due diligence to contact the relief operator or myself that changes were made..dosent get the operator of the hook ..but it puts management's butt in a sling as well..this in mind ..the crane 90% of the time dosent get touched at all untill the relief op..or myself shows up ..

Its a bad circumstance for both operators.. It sucks really..

it also may have gotten that company booted from the refinery...

I worked for a company that winch failed... their cranes were booted from the refinery, but were still allowed to to work ,,but they had to hire crane ...

The thing is they knew the crane wasn't right.. I get to work that day the night guy tells me in the parking lot that if the winch slips just pull back on the lever... WHAT..

I check the crane out everything looks fine... the first pick is a connie box .. a 3'x4'x1' trash can... the labors toss what ever into the box... they are about 70feet up... I boom up... and start to lower the load... it free falls for about 10 feet... I released the lever ... as i thought pulling back would have dropped it to the ground....

I tagged the crane out of service... I tell the boss... HE blah blah blah... I say not with that crane... He tells me I'm going to nights at the bundle wash... Fine
Next night when I arrive the crane has yellow tape and orange fence around it..
What happen I asked.. the day operator drop 4 guys in a man basket about 80 feet. all 4 survived but were in the hospital several months.
strange thing is osha never interviewed me...

I am not a crane operator and don't pretend to be. but with any construction site or equipment. Before you operate it inspect it. I don't care if you were the last one on it or you just went to lunch. it is your responsibility to make sure it is safe. It is not the last guy that was on it neather is it managements responsibility, it is yours.

heavylift said:

strange thing is osha never interviewed me...

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Do you suppose they never told the OSHA inpectors that you previously reported the crane faultly and tagged it out of service?

ATCOEQUIP said:

Do you suppose they never told the OSHA inpectors that you previously reported the crane faultly and tagged it out of service?

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and deleted log entries...