Crane_vs_House: Crane Wins!

[Scooby074]

It probably did have aload computer but they are easy to bypass. Seen it done on job sites before. I was delivering ac units to a new hospital and the crane was having problems with its computer so the operator just bypassed it. But in his defense he had been operating cranes for about 30 years and the ac units only weighed about 1 ton each and the crane was a 100 ton unit.

Over-riding safetys is one of the main causes in the deaths of 26 miners locally.
Westray Mine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There there for a reason. If the operator or the company did override then i hope their department of labour comes down on them like a hammer. As an electrician, if i saw someone bypassing a safety, id do my best to get them canned.

In the Westray accident, tampering with Methanometers was witnessed, but the witness was threatened not to tell,I dont want someones death/injury on my conscience.

 

[JB4310]

Again, easy to judge for me after the fact. I'm sure those guys will never make that mistake again, if they are ever trusted to operate such a valuable piece of equipment again.

To me it's not an accident, like an act of god, it must of been human error. An accident happened only after serious mistakes were made. Someone mentioned the load shifted, well that's it's job! and should be expected. Look at the size of the piece on the ground, it's half of the heaviest part of the tree.

I doubt those were operators with years of experience. I've seen where they put counter weights on the truck, brought in on another truck, probably only needed a couple ton on the front. but really they just needed to take smaller pieces.

I do feel sorry for the guys though, everyone will be judging them with 20/20 hindsight vision.

 

[BX2230Dude]

Here's a closeup of the piece of oak that brought down the crane. Remember that original 6000 lb estimate? turned out to be closer to 12,100 lbs. Oops.

Here's the full story:

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/apps/p...CLES&ArtNo=911259959&Ref=AR&MaxW=600&border=0

 

[California]

Looking at that chunk I don't see how anyone who has ever cut up oak would estimate only 6,000 lbs, nearly the weight of a Suburban. Click on the photo on that newspaper page to see a larger-scale version. That tree trunk is huge.

PD story with a vid showing neighboring, intact trees. They are all huge! Finally, 12,100 pound tree trunk removed

 

[powerpace]

Common sense is dead in this country. Yes someone made a mistake. First the homeowner for spending at least 5K on a project that was way overkill for what was needed to get rid of a tree. Second the operators for screwing up the "lift". Third was when they lifted it again and risking damage to the driveway. Cut up into "itty-bitty" pieces and use it for firewood. It looks like a brick chimmney on the house. Or sell it for firewood in the local area. I actually sold 6 cords of dry Oak from Oregon to a dealer in the bay area about 15 years ago. At that time firewood was about $450 per cord delivered.
If it was beaurocracy that required the tree to be removed in that manner then shame on us for allowing things to fall to that level of idiocy.
I was visiting a relative down in Sun City Ca., a few years back and watched 3 people with a backhoe and FEL and a small 16" chainsaw at a construction site "cut" down a tree. The tree had been limbed and topped. I missed all that part of the process. What was left was a trunk about 18" diameter and about 20' tall. Two guys in the bucket as high as it would go cutting away, it took them two days. It was beyond words.