I find it hard to believe a cable broke. a crane that lifts 40 to 50 thousand lbs daily would brake while holding a 5000 lb load. though It could happen.

 

The hard hat serves to mark the spot where the heavy object drills a hole in the ground, using the poor blighter as the drill !!

 

I asked the receiving guy this morning at the Madison, MS plant if he had heard what exactly happened at Murfreesboro.

He said the driver was told to get off the trailer but ignored the rules and was adjusting stuff on his trailer as they were loading 10" coils. The driver got hit by the coil, fell to the floor and the coil slipped off the C-hook and onto the driver.

Still crane operator's fault for continuing to load while driver was on trailer.




New sign at plant: "Drivers must be at least 20 feet away from trailer to get unloaded"

 

Now, that does make much more sense. Very often, I was near the trailer when the crane was on the other end of the plant, but when a load of steel was coming to the truck, I was standing in front of the bumper. That load of steel pipes was one hell of a wake-up-call.

Even when it was a forklift loading me, I was still on my toes. I got to see a coil of aluminum go across the bed on a covered wagon and break loose the rub-rail and post pocket. Landed on the ground on the other side. Driver didn't get hurt, but the trailer had to be repaired before it would haul another load.

It doesn't matter if we like them or not, if we agree with them or not, the safety rules are there for a reason. Things unpleasant happen most often when those rules are ignored.

 

I was on a Chevron Refinery job where I was building cement pads & columns that held cross beams designed to hold large steel tanks. When I had the columns all prepared, they brought in a large crane to set the cross beams. A chain broke, and it whipped down with such force, it severed a mans arm off.

I've seen about 7 bad accidents, and 2 fatal during my construction years.

 

Was the guy killed an owner operator?