A Bad Day at Work

[swsig]

We've all had bad days at work, but it would be hard to top these guys.

YouTube

[tlawler]

Wonder if that was a gennie or a chiller? Bad day all around. Typical rigging setup of what we encounter in the Caribbean countries that rental gennies and chillers are shipped to.

[Rudi]

That's one for the "woops" department for sure.

[NYlakesider]

Wow he did not have a lot of stick out and was not boomed down that far, the weight that close to the crane should have been within parameters.

Did the right hand section of the dock give way?

[LVSteve]

I think the extra weight of the cocaine being smuggled hadn't been communicated to the crane operator.

[ContinentalOp]

Originally Posted by swsig

We've all had bad days at work, but it would be hard to top these guys.

It's always funny when it happens to someone else.

YouTube

[whitestang]

ContinentalOp, I train people at work to operate a forklift that is like the one in the video. They weigh just under 11,000 lbs. The person on the lift lives to tell about but it took 8 hours to dig him out.

[Stevens]

Looks like the operator managed to work himself out of the machine before it hit the water. I hope he knows how to swim,one of the guys on the dock was kicking his boots off to go in after him but looks like the operator might have been ok. Or maybe the guy saw a shark in the water and changed his mind about going in?
Looks like a company name, Alquigruas,, was painted on the boom. That is Spanish for "rental canes" so probably happened in a Spanish speaking place.
Steve W

[steelslaver]

At the Cherry Point BP refinery they brought a new 200' column in on a big barge. All the important people are on shore for the occasion. As it prepared to land they unstrapped it. Barge listed and off it went with just the tip bobbing above the surface. Lost a man lift and some people got wet. Nobody was impressed. Wonder who gave the go ahead for removing tye downs.

[Ivan the Butcher]

Originally Posted by NYlakesider

Did the right hand section of the dock give way?

In the last shot of the video the pier is still intact.

Ivan

[WR Moore]

I spent a few years as a crane operator. The camera person zooms at just the wrong moment. The wheels appear to be on the ground rather than the stabilizers taking the weight, which would have lifted the wheels off the ground. There also seems to be a hint that the rear stabilizers are lifting just before the camera zooms in. Added edit: looking at the first shot again, the crane is visibly down at the front/load. Clear indication of pending disaster. These days weight/radius charts are often on the outside of the unit so the ground people can check them. (Removed??? Ignored????)

Given what we can see, I've got to wonder if they picked up the load at a much shorter radius, drove out on the wharf, didn't set up properly and then boomed out to a point where they exceeded lift capacity. Wind might also have been a factor. You can hear it blowing during the video.

Crane operator days are long gone, but I've frequently cringed when seeing what some ground people do while handling loads. My old ground man would have had a screaming fit.

[Jessie]

Having moved cargo in the Caribbean for a while, that does not surprise me in the least.

[BC38]

Looks to me like they were lucky if it was just their last day on the job - versus being their last day on the sunny side of the grass.

[tlawler]

Two things jump out at me:

1. I don’t think the crane is rated to lift a load that heavy. The 1K ton chillers and 500KW gennies that ship in 40’ containers weigh in the range of 30,000 to 35,000 pounds and are generally loaded/unloaded with dock cranes. That rubber tire crane is usually referred to as a “sign crane”, the type used to lift road signs and commercial advertising signs into place.
2. Lifting to the rear of the crane like they did doesn’t take advantage of the stability provided by the outriggers.

Live and learn

[Stevens]

That reminded me of the time we sold some equipment to a sugar mill in the Sudan. We shipped and waited for news they had arrived at the mill to send our techs over. No word from the buyer so we telexed for the status, we got word back "The divers in Port Sudan are trying to retrieve the containers dropped off the dock. We will keep you informed". Fortunately these were mainly Hydraulic components and not a bunch of electronic gear, after a good clean up and oiling most was usable, what ever wasn't we replaced, the insurance paid, good for us!
Steve W