Construction Machine Blog

Recently, there was a live Spiderman & Villain fighting appearing on the street of Abu Dhabi. Why is it called Spiderman & Villains fighting? It is because the fighting happened in the air, and one man fell down from a height of 40 meters, which scene can only be seen in such scientific movies as the Spiderman.

Spiderman in the air

Tower crane in the air

According to Khaleej Times Online, the whole story goes like this. The victim, a 39-year-old Arab assistant engineer got enraged when the 33-year-old Asian crane operator called him ‘crazy’ over some work-related dispute. In a fit of anger, he climbed the crane tower to discipline the operator. An altercation developed between the two and in self defence the crane operator hit him with an iron bar. The assistant engineer fell down from a 40-metre-high crane and died.

I am very sad at this accident, which should have been avoided. Although both the engineer and the crane operator are experts in some aspect, they fail to have the least common sense of safety, because when you are in the tower crane, you should pay close to your behaviors in case even a trivial mistake would bring about disastrous result. You cannot be distracted in the crane, let alone fighting. As for the crane operators, they should always keep focused and keep calm. Any bad and unrest mood should be dispelled before they board the crane.

Other crane accident

Other crane accident

This bloody tragedy must give a good lesson to all drivers, especially crane operators and alarm them again of life safety. In addition to the basic rules mentioned above, there are also some other safety tips that crane operators should keep in mind. For example, the crane operators should keep consistent with the hand signals from his guide strictly. This involved information, including tips and hand signals, has been covered in my two previous posts. If you are interested, you can go back to the homepage my weblog, finding and reading them.

Wish everybody safe

All in all, I want to remind all crane operators: Do not play fire with your cranes ; keep yourself happy and safe everyday, which is the best way to love both yourself and your family.

The cranes are flying is a movie of remarkable significance in the Soviet-movie history. As soon as it was produced, the movie created a stir in the filming field. In 1957, it won the Golden Palm Prize on the Cannes International Film Festival. Now the cranes are flying again. The difference is that the cranes of this time are not birds but air cranes, a special helicopter used for fire suppression and weight-lift operation.

The Cranes Are Flying

The Cranes Are Flying Again

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As we all know, body language plays a very important role in people’s daily communication. It is especially true in the communication between crane operators. Cranes are commonly used in the construction of towers and industry, which is very noisy. To make sure the operators can “hear” the instructions and communicate with others effectively, lots of hand signals created and used. Knowing these meanings of all these hand signals is the first step for people to become a qualified crane operator. As for common people, having a basic knowledge about these signals can help them deal with some emergent situations happening on construction sites related with cranes, which are quite often. Here are the most commonly used hand signals during crane lifting operation.

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The crane truck is a complex machine that has a myriad of uses from moving heavy objects to loading supply ships and hoisting equipment. They are frequently used in construction, transportation, utilities, mining, drilling for oil, railroad yards, heavy equipment yards and building supply dealers. y safe operation of these vehicles is critical. Operators must learn to use crane trucks properly and safely so costly accidents and serious injuries can be averted. The following are some tips I found on the internet which I hope can be of great help to the crane operators.

• One of the biggest hazards of operating a crane is the possibility of electrocution. When working near overhead power lines, employers, supervisors, and workers must exercise extreme caution. Preventing Electrocutions of Crane Operators and Crew Members Working Near Overhead Power Lines, a publication of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, provides a sobering look at this possibility and discusses how to prevent it.

• And not to dwell on the hazards, but be aware that occasionally trucks are fitted with boom cranes when they have not specifically been designed for such applications. Fortunately, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is watching out for you and discusses this danger in this Hazard Information Bulletin. Outriggers are a very important component of crane stability:  Outriggers must always be set up properly on a solid foundation.  The outriggers use hydraulics to lift the truck off of the ground.

• Counterweights must be placed beneath the crane cab to prevent the crane from tipping forward. The weight of the counterweights is adjusted according to a formula that includes the boom radius, the weight of the load and the angle the boom is operating at. The crane operator must be able to use mathematical charts to calculate the appropriate counterweights.

• Most cranes have onboard computers that the operator enters information into to determine if he is operating the crane according to manufacturer specifications. The computer is meant to be more of a back-up system to alert the driver if he is exceeding the load limits of the crane truck he is operating.

• Load moment indicator lights will turn on if the crane’s operating capacity is being approached. The load needs to be reduced if these lights go on.

• Crane operators maneuver both foot petals and joysticks to control movement of the boom both left to right and forward and back. The foot petals control the telescoping aspects of the boom as well as the pump pressure.  Crane operators also control the winding and unwinding of the winch, and any rotating of the cab. All controls should be labeled.

• Don’t skimp on crew. Two other workers are necessary for the safe execution of a lift-the oiler and the signalman. The oiler is in charge of the crane’s parts while the signalman is what he sounds like-the man who gives hand signals to the crane operator as he performs the lift.

Doyle Peeks is a handicapped old man living in Texas. He should have enjoyed a healthy and energetic body if not for that tragedy.  It is the destroying nightmare haunting him all these year, but now he chose to tell it to the readers, especially to the crane operators, to keep them from repeating what he did. The following is what Doyle said about his tragedy.

The accident happened on October 6, 1988 on the shoreline of Lake Ray Hubbard near Dallas, Texas. At that time, I was a crane operator with nearly thirty-five years of operating experience. I just got too confident. I thought I could go racing down a slopped embankment without rolling the machine. I had always thought that if a machine ever started to roll that I could hang on to something and not be thrown off the machine. Boy, was I ever wrong. It happened so fast, I was on the ground before I knew what was happening. Prior to falling off of the machine, I grabbed at everything I could and couldn’t find a thing to hold on to.

 The roll-over protection landed on my left knee and pinned me down. It took an hour and forty-five minutes to get another machine to the site to lift it off of me. Diesel was running under me, and I was losing blood fast. My left arm was broken in five places and all but mangled. I now have a steel plate in it holding the five breaks together. I lost about fifty percent use of the arm. Thank God, I can still pull control levers with it.

 Am I now paranoid about seat belts? You bet. When I mount a piece of rubber tired equipment now, the first thing I do is fasten the seat belt. I pulled a dumb, stupid stunt, but I will not be fool enough to do it again.

After reading his story, I think we can get at least two lessons from Doyle Peeks. To begin with, crane operators, young or old, experienced or not, fasten that seat belt. In addition, as for the manufacturers, they should add a steel bar, heavy expanded metal or pipe across each side of the small loader/backhoes which could prevent an operator from falling or being thrown off of the machine.