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?
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 Good topic to talk about; the outriggers had been retracted out of road way during the night, the day operator came in did not do a walk around got in crane and swung around high boom and turned over backward, good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.