Crane story October 16, 2016
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.trackback
Bet you don’t know that most cranes (or tower cranes) were developed and built in Europe, well so says the Washington Post, and there’s a…flock of them above Dublin at the moment. The Irish Times recently sent a reporter up one. Got to admit I’m not sure I’ve the head for height to replicate that endeavour.
Still, I was curious about how safe they are. The Post notes that:
The tall and spindly vertical part of the crane is not where the chief hazard lies, experts say. Keeping it upright is easier than it appears.
“It’s pretty elementary; it’s just a matter of balancing forces,” said Henry Petroski, a professor of civil engineering at Duke University and author of a dozen popular books on mechanics and engineering. “The geometry can get a little complicated, but it’s not anything that’s beyond a first- or second-year engineering student.”
Whereas:
It is during these manoeuvres — along with erecting or disassembling the crane — when accidents are most likely to happen, experts say. Running the crane is safe, as mechanisms are built into the controls that prevent the operator from doing things that might destabilize it, such as lifting a too-heavy load.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
The brother-in-law of a friend of mine works doing high access jobs on building sites and such (he’s a rock climber for fun so it’s the perfect job). When they were building the Shard in London, the cable would occasionally jump off the little wheel at the end of the boom on the crane. He had the job of going out to the end of the boom and putting it back on. He has a photo of the Shard from above.
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I know a lot of blokes who go from that kind of rigging to outdoor stage rigging and back again. a breed apart.
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You don’t say. Their idea of a practical joke involves dropping a hundred foot on a zip wire to lift a pint off a tray.
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In the Wild West days of the festival industry, harnesses and helmets were unknown and lads would be walking on beams 60m up with nary a blink. Now, of course, no one will so much as climb a step ladder without appropriate training. Health and Safety gorn Maad. Probably the EU, most likely
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It’s alright. We’ll both soon be barred from any sensitive work if LSE is anything to go by.
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Ugh… many a word said in jest.
just on the cranes, they’re fascinating aren’t they?
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2008: ‘The litany of complaints against the department exploded into full public view after last month’s crane collapse on E.51st St. that killed seven people.’
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/city-buildings-commissioner-resigns-wave-accidents-article-1.280379
2016:’A nearly 600-foot-tall construction crane came crashing down onto buildings, pedestrians and parked cars along a downtown Manhattan street Friday morning, killing a Harvard-trained mathematician on his way to work and injuring three other people.’
http://nypost.com/2016/02/05/crane-collapse-in-manhattan/
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That was interesting – I’ve often wondered how the entire process was bootstrapped. Another crane certainly helps.
As an interested observer of other people working on sites 🙂 you only get to see snapshots.
Hazardous work altogether – I wouldn’t have the head for it. That’s why you need trades unions to enforce health and safety standards, the proper equipment and decent working hours with breaks.
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Surprised to see the worker with the sweeping brush walk under the suspended load whilst they are lifting off the concrete blocks. That would result in instant dismissal on a lot of jobs these days.
I have been involved in the statutory inspection of these and other cranes in various parts of Australia.
Interestingly many of these cranes of the Liebherr brand are made in Killarney. And I can tell you the workmanship and welding on the Killarney cranes is beautiful to behold (if that is the kind of thing that interests you)
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It does, thanks. Appreciate that.
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For those who are interested by that kind of thing, there are sites dedicated to “weld porn”.
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