A local dairy is being re-purposed so the 160,000 litre milk storage tanks had to go. A dangerous lift in a slightly confined area. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O02v0HX6EyQ
Interesting. Not sure about the quality of the crane operation myself either ....... Also when he was laying the tank down in the 2nd half of the clip IMHO it would have been an idea to have the road right by the wall closed, all it needed was a rigging failure and that tank could have been down right across the road. And if one of those two pickups had been mine it would certainly NOT have been parked right on the other side of the wall to where the tank was being laid down.
That particular crane company hasn't been in this neck of the woods very long and have already had several incidents, I'd be wary of being to close...
Things looked a little sketchy at times. The man on the roof was under the tank numerous times. I was told the operation started about 3 hrs before I was there. The crane operator was pulling the boom sideways to attempt to free the decades old tank. Although not on video the original plan was to set the tank on the flatbed where the pick up trucks are now parked. I watched as the crane operator lifted some massively heavy flat steel plates that would secure the tank on to the flatbed WITH the truck driver underneath the low lift.....twice. I shuddered when I saw the plates finally placed on the trailer and the amount of weight became apparent as the trailer suspension pretty much bottomed out. The tank never did leave the site on the truck as it's still there. Perhaps permits weren't in place.
Among other things I did not like was right at the end when some smart *** is joking around with the crane operator with his hands still on the controls and machine running. Several years ago in the company I worked for they were getting a crane positioned for a pick. It had just been moved to the plant and for some reason the Anti-two block system was turned off for transport. They were going to make the lift with a one part line. Ground man was directing the operator as he was booming out. Just then another guy walks up and starts talking to the ground man. Operator was watching the ground man and not the boom of the crane. This distraction was just as the ball and hook were getting close to the sheave on the boom. Cable snaps, ball and hook hits ground man on head and tail of cable smacks the guy who "had to ask a question right now!" One fatality and one injured from just a short interruption at the wrong time!
Pretty tight space to lay the tank down too, it got me nervous when it started to roll away from the crane. Anyway, I don't know why there's matting only on the side he was making the pick from. Even on concrete I always throw cribbing under, so for a pick this critical matting should've been a MUST on all 4 outriggers. Just my opinion though.
My hat's off to the crane operator . That's a tricky move he pulls at 6:00 tipping the round tank with one machine in tight quarters . Some wood chocks at the base of the tank might help keep it in place better . They tend to want to roll one direction or the other when it go's over center . Looked like he kept his cool & followed it all the way to the ground .
That company would probably get shut down if OHSA ever saw that video. There used to be Canada crane in Nisku but they aren't there anymore. I wonder if it's the same company? The road should have been closed and no vehicles or anything movable with in a block of that lift. They had the tank lifted and right after it shows the guy carrying the road closed sign a car drives right through. Unbelievable how callous the whole operation was. I had to get my 5000lb skid steer lowered into a basement of a church addition. They had a huge crane from Mammoet to lift roof top air conditioning units(needed the reach) and the idea was to lower the skid steer since the crane was already there. I got delayed and got there after they signed off on the lift. They wouldn't lower the skid steer so a smaller crane was brought the next day. The big crane wouldn't have even noticed 5000lbs on it and didn't need much boom as it was right beside the opening to the basement.
There are people that do and people that criticize. That crane didn't even notice the weight of the tank when he went to lay it down. Also if your worried about rigging failure the time to be concerned about that is when you hook the straps. If it's over rigged coming off the roof it's not going to fail laying it over. That's a huge crane company. Probably one of the biggest in the states. I'm not saying they did everything right but I've sure seen a lot worse. If you've never made a mistake you've never done anything.
I'm with Td and knepptune not a lot wrong with that pick ,signalman ,traffic control , the signalman was never under the load, he was under the boom a few times but find me some-one that hasn't , the load wobbled a bit when he was breaking over but that was a tough lay down , he never over reacted ( with that other crane sitting there it would have been nice to tail it down). I've never been on a crane that big but I've stood tanks up and layed them down and there's a big chunk of luck and a lot of skill involved if they go down perfect.
"That's a huge crane company. Probably one of the biggest in the states." Canada Crane Rental in the states? Not saying the crane operator wasn't skilled. I don't think they put too many rookies in a crane that size but they should have had all the roads blocked and anything movable out of the area. Accidents happen. Look at the recent crane coming down in New York and killing a pedestrian or the Big Blue crane collapsing and killing a worker when lifting a 400 ton load. Also of note is that when lifting the tank to lay it down there were only 2 hoist ropes instead of 4 when the tank was lifted out.
Been a few days since I saw the video, but didn't it say "ALL Crane" on the machine? ALL has been in every state I've worked in. Maybe Canada Crane Rental is a division of ALL Crane? just guessing.
It's ALL crane rentals canadian division. They may be the biggest in the US, but quite new here.
According to two different sites ALL crane is the 6th largest crane company in the world. It is the largest privately held crane company. And yes they have branches in Canada. Not saying that makes them any safer then any other company, I'm just saying that OSHA isn't shutting them down. So what if they took two of the straps off. Did you happen to see what those straps were rated for. What if those straps were rated for double what the tank weighed. It's easy to stand back and judge when you don't know what went on. As far as his back outrigger pad not having wood under it. Did you happen to notice he never really had any weight over that outrigger and they set the tank on his last outrigger mat. Being a crane operator isn't all peaches and cream. Sometimes you get put in a tough situation through no fault of your own. I know I've had some jobs where I was glad there wasn't somebody with a camera filming the whole thing. Had I been on that job I would have tried to convince someone to pay for a smaller rig to tail the tank when laying it down. but that guy did a heck of a job laying her down. If you knew how hard it actually is to lay a tank that size down you'd have a different view of it.
You don't seem to be understanding that nobody is saying the crane operator isn't skilled. What we are saying is that they should have taken better safety precautions because unforeseen things and accidents can and do happen even with the most skilled and careful operators on the planet, actually in the universe. There's been a few mishaps in space too. As the operator of the crane or any piece of equipment, you always have the right to refuse to do something you don't feel is safe! It has nothing to do with how easy or how hard a job is. If isn't safe, do something to make it safe or don't do it. Also bigger companies don't get a break from OHSA just because they are bigger. A lot of times the big companies have more safety practices installed than smaller companies because OHSA watches them closer. If there's an accident at a large operation, it's all over the news.
I'm also not seeing anything out of the ordinary / unsafe. Welder Dave (post #8) wants nothing movable within a block of the lift? We're sometimes lucky to get 3 parking spaces between cars in the parking lot to change A/C units. Sure he went to two straps to lay it over- if he tries to pick it with all 4 that tank isn't ever coming over. Also- if all 4 straps handle the whole tank- how do you figure it won't handle it with 2 when he's laying it over- half the tank weight is on the ground. They lift the tank with all 4 straps straight out of the building. There's a manlift over there by the wall and they go up and pull off two straps. Then with just two straps, as he picks the tank, it naturally leans. That's how its done. It might not look safe just because the tank is big, but that's what big cranes are for. As far as the no cribbing under the crane. He's sitting in a truck loading dock. I remember once working on a airport taxi way fixing a airplane. A ground crew man came by and asked what I was doing as I was putting down my 4'x4' mats. "There's 36" of concrete there, it will hold a loaded 747 on tires, are you sure you need to do that?" There may be documented 2' concrete there, which we don't know about. I'm far from perfect. I've had a operator have a really bad day. I say a little prayer of thanks that everyone went home that day, every time I think about it. I also like to think that I wouldn't have done things the way he did that day, but hindsights 20/20. What we do every day does have dangers, but every one of us takes a greater risk straping into a car/ truck and driving to work. Some people want to define a safe pick as one in which there is no possible way anything can go wrong. I think that if you carry that through, no load would ever leave the ground. I tend to view it as limiting risks. I won't do something out of chart/ capacity. I won't set up on poor ground with no mats and try to make a pick. I've picked stuff over people's cars. I've worked on suspended loads. Lots of a/c units come with forklift pockets under them. You've got to get them out before they go on the curbs. I've had new workers question reaching under them and pulling it out (great that they're so safety minded), I tell them that if I thought the unit might fall, it would never leave the ground. Is it possible it might fall-yes. Does that mean we don't make the lift-no. My wife- who answers the phones and does the scheduling and I have a running joke about some customers. The ones that call 14 times and are nervous about the job. We kiddingly call it hand holding. We have customers that we "hand hold" through a project because they're not comfortable with what we do. It looks scary/ dangerous, but its what we do every day. I'm a little nervous when I see a scrapper light into a old propane tank. I'm a little nervous when inflating tires. I don't care for messing with chemicals. The guys who do those things every day aren't nearly as worried about it as I am.
I see a commen thread developing. As I get more experience I can consistently stand or lay down tanks smoothly.BUT I still hold my breath when they break over. The only thing I have found that can make you look like a bigger rookie is a dumb *** on the tag line rolleyes:
That's a good quote. I also wonder how having those vehicles on the street would be any different then lifting over a building. If something happens on top of that building its gonna be way more costly then replacing those vehicles. Personally being way up in the air scares me. I don't care how well I'm tied off I'm not going up there. But there's guys that are comfortable being a 1000' up on a cell tower. I don't point out how unsafe they're being or question their ability. I'm happy they do it because I'm not going to. Lifting over stuff doesn't bother me. I generally try to have my rigging good for double what I'm lifting if it's going over top of something or if it's a tricky lift. But you can have it over rigged, crane good for more then your lifting but if your going over someone's house they're gonna be out there sweating bullets. Notice how the people that are around/ operate cranes everyday don't really see anything wrong with it. That should make you feel real safe next time a crane pulls up on your job. Lol
Tradesman, We have always wondered why the dumbest guy there somehow ends up on the tag line. An idiot on the tag line is the single most frustrating thing to deal with. I have certainly had some discussions with some about what will happen if that truss hits my crane one more time.
Here I thought I was the only one with tag line operator issues. If they're small enough trusses 15'-20', sometimes I tell them to just forget the tag line, I'll bump it off a tree or a wall or the other trusses to spin it. I think the real reason is that on any crew, there's one guy the rest don't like. He's new, or dumb, or just annoying, and the rest of them have a chance to get up on the walls and not work with him for a change. So they stick him with the tag line, and the crane guy gets to deal with him.
Had a good laugh about what you said Crane Operator, very true, another example when pouring concrete with a bucket they put a guy out there at the truck that has no clue about catching the bucket
Oh my god you just reminded me ! I was pouring a small piece of wall last week. The first load was 4 meters, a great driver in his late 60's, he would grab the bucket when it was a foot of the ground and pull it a foot and a half out of vertical and I would set it down and the line would settle down out of the way, we needed a 1 meter balance the second driver was in his early 50's, man! I had to drop it in the exact same spot every time with no help from him ,then my load line would be right against the chute and it was all he could do to pull the chute out of the way when I was loaded, a couple times I had to pick the load and swing out from under the chute, now for me it's not hard work but it takes time and time is money.I've had the same driver before and I got out of the crane and nicely explained how to do it and why we do it that way but he's just to lazy