Sheriff Dept. Report Sheds New Light on Fatal Crane Accident

Oshkosh, Wis., July 2012—A sheriff's department report issued in late July has added new information about a crane collapse earlier in the month that killed a truck driver and seriously injured the crane operator.  The accident happened when one of two cranes lifting a 52-ton precast concrete girder for a new bridge collapsed. The two cranes, both sitting on barges, had nearly placed the 104,000-pound girder. The county sheriff’s department report says the operator of the second crane said that when the girder was nearly in place, the now-collapsed crane needed to be moved slightly to complete the lift, and that its barge was moving parallel to the bridge when the accident happened. The falling crane boom struck and killed the truck driver, who had just delivered the girder and was rolling up wires near the rear of his vehicle. When the crane tipped over, its operator was thrown out onto barge deck and severely injured. OSHA is investigating – www.thenorthwestern.com

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