Why Cranes Collapse
Vložit
- čas přidán 2. 08. 2021
- Cranes are the backbone of construction projects. So why do so many of them fall down?
Because they are so pervasive and they do such a dangerous job of lifting massive objects high into the air, occasionally cranes fail. In this video, I want to walk through some of the reasons these failures occur, using historical events as case studies.
Watch this video and the entire Practical Engineering catalog ad-free on Nebula: go.nebula.tv/practical-engine...
Practical Engineering is a CZcams channel about infrastructure and the human-made world around us. It is hosted, written, and produced by Grady Hillhouse. We have new videos posted regularly, so please subscribe for updates. If you enjoyed the video, hit that ‘like’ button, give us a comment, or watch another of our videos!
CONNECT WITH ME
____________________________________
Website: practical.engineering
Twitter: / hillhousegrady
Instagram: / practicalengineering
Reddit: / practicalengineering
Facebook: / practicalengineergrady
Patreon: / practicalengineering
SPONSORSHIP INQUIRIES
____________________________________
Please email my agent at practicalengineering@standard.tv
DISCLAIMER
____________________________________
This is not engineering advice. Everything here is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Contact an engineer licensed to practice in your area if you need professional advice or services. All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.
SPECIAL THANKS
____________________________________
This video is sponsored by HelloFresh.
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Shutterstock, Videoblocks, and AP Images.
Tonic and Energy by Elexive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License
Source: • Elexive - Tonic and En...
Producer/Writer/Host: Grady Hillhouse
Production Assistant: Wesley Crump
🏗 New to the channel? I have a lot more videos like this in my "failures" playlist: czcams.com/play/PLTZM4MrZKfW_kLNg2HZxzCBEF-2AuR_vP.html
🥑 Get some free meals from HelloFresh with code PRACTICAL14 at bit.ly/3wQlgvG
Grady what's the name of this music 0:41? Can you tell me pls is so good
Your son is growing so quickly!!! Very cute too!!!
Love your work.... Make more videos (& babies) :-)
Very informative video. The hello fresh ad was exceptionally cute.
I think you missed discussing cranes on pontoons.
Like this one: czcams.com/video/i10kOduKpaA/video.html
this video has it all wrong. cranes collapse when your mother climbs them
Removing the pins definitely sped up the disassembly of that crane...
Underrated comment
@@NoorquackerInd Not really
debatable, debends if you include all ther cleaning up as dissasembly
That's not a collapse, that's a rapid unscheduled disassembly.
I totally didn't steal that joke from SpaceX btw
Not the clean up though
As a retired crane operator of 37 years I would like to say nicely done. I usually watch videos like this for a couple of minutes and pick them apart with all the miss information, not here. Looks like you did your research. I would say cranes are hazardous.......they only become dangerous when they are used outside of the manufactures guidelines or in most cases have incompetent humans involved.
Ahh yes, the difference between hazardous and dangerous. Something too many miss. Thanks for 37 years of what I am assuming safe crane operation.
Probably more (and worse) disasters caused by laziness, incompetence and cheapskates than anything remotely intentional by several orders of magnitude. Not just with cranes, either.
Yep 100% accurate.
I'm Almost never able to explain to those idiots why I can't lift >150% or work during strong wind
Maybe this video will help🤔
@@Llortnerof if we could slap them they would be perfect
@@zachc1297 I sincerely doubt that. an unexpected gust of wind can cause problems with the load during a lift which equals a workplace accident.
Just pure chance and doesn't even have to result in any injuries.
One tower I can see from my home, during construction they had a gust of wind blow a load of drywall off balance and it slipped from the rigging. 2 skids worth of drywall fell over 40 stories, broke glass awnings on building across the street as well as a dozen windshield. not one injury. ( a friend was site safety officer )
full investigation but the construction company insurance had to pay out the repairs for everything damaged. No fault claim since a sudden strong gust of wind cannot be predicted.
I have been a crane Inspector and Test Director for over 15 years. I find that in the early days, cranes were over built do to a lack of knowledge (engineering) and an abundance of labor and material. Today, cranes are engineered right to the edge. The benefit to the crane manufactures is that they can sell a higher capacity crane at the lowest possible expense. The problem this creates, however, is that there is literally no room for error. The slightest miscalculation is now catastrophic were it might have been absorbed by an older crane with an inherently larger safety factor. Additionally, profit of a project is inevitably tied to the speed work can be done and often has an inverse relationship with safety. Methods to "speed up the job" are often implemented at the cost of doing it as safely as possible. The willingness (known or unknown) to cut corners coupled with cranes built to the edge is a recipe for disaster.
a good rule of thumb is dont go above 75% without a lift plan signed off by an engineer
Old Lima cranes are proof of overbuilt. 4100 Vicon also. New cranes are no match
Brian - DUE
In the 1970s, I was taught Allowable Stress Design. It gave an overall factor of safety of 4. In the 1980s, many engineers went to Load Factor Design Method which seems to be a factor of safety of 3. With older US made steel it was fine. Starting in the late 1980s, foreign steel started coming in to the US. Some of it was substandard and lead to failures. There is still substandard steel around and it can cause failures. In 2005, I was told about chinese steel that failed at 1/6 the design strength.
Bang on Brian. That is why Roman. Greek & Victorian structures are still In use safely to this day. Cranes!! Of old the same.
Really enjoyed this one
oh hey I know you
odd. i was just thinking of you.
Sup
hey destin, what's your take on the great youtube fally ball-chain controversy?
SmarterEveryDay is here, but where the fu*** is AvE? He always jibbers about crane F*** ups.
Looking at most cranes I'm always amazed how they DON'T collapse.
most cranes i see just fly away
That's because looking and engineering aren't the same thing, and people don't build stable structures by looking at them.
@@LevitatingCups The collie was just barking at a pair of sandhill cranes brave enough to test her! We'll call it a draw... 😅✌🏼
@@LevitatingCups CRANE PLANE 😂
What's the quote, "Anyone can build a bridge that stands, it takes an engineer to build one that barely stands."
My career has included operating cranes as hefty as 240 tons and when this video started I was hoping to maintain the same respect for Grady which he's earned in other videos. Well, I respect him even more now. Every point was correct and explained so a newbie could understand it. This video alone could replace several training videos for new crane operators and make their workplace safer. Thanks Grady.
I just want to watch crane disaster compilations.
This video should be included in training videos
@@garrysekelli6776 I’m with Gary over here 👈
I like AvE’s crane collapse reviews too
Thank you so much for posting your comment.
Lost my brother on a "crane accident" on Aug 31 2011, while working on the FN building in Copenhagen, there were a supposeded procedure to move the lifts when they needed to be raised, the workers used them to install insulation. Apparently in the year 2011, we don't have remote controlled lifts, he had to control it from the inside while standing half way into the container it was going into. Well, the lift wedged on the edges, which resulted in an overbalance on the container, soon after both the lift and my brother was dropped a couple meters down to the concrete floor below, the several ton lift landed ontop of him. . .
Still trying to cope with it, still angry that safety and equipment weren't and probably still aren't up to date, especially on a globalistic prestige projects like that..
Sorry to hear that. I tried to search for the accident, but can't find any articles. do you have a link
@@TotalVikingPower There aren't any articles left about it to be found. But they did write about it in the news back then.
Condolences 😞
Bro the lifts were the thing I worried most about when starting a job. Every morning riding that thing gave me severe anxiety. and I'd work at the edge of buildings all the time.
In the middle of this picture at the second floor despite the base, that is where his life was shamefully taken away, right around those lights going all the way up..
copenhagen2021.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FN-Byen-Kobenhavn-Udvendige-lodrette-foldeskodder-4.jpg
There is a memorable german phrase. "Kranplätze müssen verdichtet sein." It roughly translates to "crane places must be compacted".
Ehrenmann, genau diesen Kommentar habe ich gesucht :D
@@blablamann2000I Had the Same thought at 7:05 "KRANPLÄTZE MÜSSEN VERDICHTET SEIN!!!!🤬🤬🤬"
In Germany we say:
*KRANPLÄTZE MÜSSEN VERDICHTET SEIN*
I literally just wanted to comment that but I thought it would be too contextless for the first few comments XD
czcams.com/video/UGlPbphlpBg/video.html if anyone doesn't know OP is talking about :) Ronny is the best man!
Damn, that was fast. Just wanted to comment that 😄
Dang was about to comment that myself 😂
Dang how are you so fast??? The video exists for 9 minutes
Including the "X people died and Y people were injured" after every example of a fall was very powerful. The near ubiquity of a non-zero casualty rate after each collapse really hammered in how consequential each lesson was. Sobering, dramatic, and respectful.
There's a reason they say regulations are written in blood, after all
X people? they’re called the X-Men
The worst part is that a lot of these were preventable and foreseeable even at the time. Just pure negligence and/or greed, and I hope those responsible saw jail time.
Agree…
Nobody:
CZcams: Here, learn about cranes.
Me, a web developer: Ah yes, this is how I unwind today.
Me, also a web developer: _Sips on water casually while chaos and loss of life unfolds on screen_ "That sucks"
Hi, same here.
Me, a also a web developer, at 11pm.
Ah, yes, perfect bedtime watching
that’s a convoluted way to say that’s you sir are a spider
I won't put 95% of what I learn from these videos into real world applications but I love watching them. Learning something new is always neat.
"There is no such thing as useless knowledge, there is only knowledge that has not been used yet."
- me.
You'd be amazed the number of times I've pulled a random piece of trivia out my tailpipe that Saved The day™.
Let me guess: you bought a bunch of construction toys, and then you realized you needed to justified your purchase, so you thought up this series, right?
Claiming construction toys as a business expense. lol
I just got a new keytar
Came to the comments to say this! "How to justify buying construction toys"
"Honey, they're not toys, I need them for a video!"
@@yhubtfufvcfyfc It's like a keyboard and guitar
There's a crane right above my apartment. Love how this starts with "Let's walk through some of the biggest crane disasters in history" 😂
In history, not in future :D
Don't jinx it
Your epitaph will read: "Givrally had foresight of their impending death by crane collapse, but did nothing to stop it."
It's like having airline disasters being shown at an airport. Seriously, after I landed in North Dakota, they had an airline disaster video loop playing on the monitors! What?
@@kenmore01 At least they waited until you landed.
I spent 35 years in Ship Repair after coming out of the Forces. In that time I saw 5 crane failure's which resulted in 3 deaths. 4 of the failure's were due to overloading for the radius the jibs were at, the other one was high wind. It's a horrible feeling watching a Crane go over and knowing there is nothing you can do. I am 78 now and must say that the vast improvement in Health and Safety in the Western World has contributed to workers safety but we know that accidents still happen!
High winds I can almost excuse as an unanticipated element but overloading for the radius seems like wilfull recklessness. There's no way any operator wouldn't know the load limit by radius, that's the most basic of all limits. They had to have been disregarding the limit, right? What kind of organizational incentives led to that?
@@chiaracoetzee At 20 miles an hour, radius and boom length should be reduced. At 30 the lift should be cancelled.
I was a first year student at the law school located at the site of the 2016 crawler crane collapse in Manhattan. Honestly even before it collapsed, we would have to walk underneath the crane to cross the street and it NEVER felt safe, and always gave a bad feeling. When it actually collapsed I sadly wasn’t even surprised. Condolences to all the victims in these accidents, it’s a shame their safety and life and well being wasn’t considered until it was too late. Thank you for an informative video!
_Res ipsa loquitur!_
My father passed away in a crane accident due to negligence and vertical deformation. I appreciate your video bringing more awareness to the preventable danger of cranes
Sorry for ur loss.
After a 10 year career in crane engineering, I know how easy it is to get even basic crane content dangerously wrong. I started this video fully expecting to be ranting afterward. But, you did an incredible job and has me sending this video to our training people. Bravo.
hey aaron....i have a question for you if you have a moment. i need to lift some steel beams and trusses to construct a carport at my home. max beam weight will be about 250lbs, lifted 10-12 feet, and steel trusses lifted to 15 feet or so. I have a 3000lbs portable manual motor lift. I want to use this as a base for a gin pole crane made of a 20ft section of 2inch ID schedule 40 pipe. i will weld a plate at the base for a hinge bolt and two plates at the top at the top for a pulley and chain connection. i will use outriggers and sandbags and wood planks to level and weight the base. i have an 800lbs chain to connect to the top plate and base to hold the pipe at a 75-80 degree angle. two side straps will stabilize the boom laterally. i have a 3000lb boat winch and a pulley to raise the load to set on pre welded angle iron to weld in place. my question is if i were to stiffen the pipe boom with a length of tensioned steel strapping, would i do this along the top of the pipe, or the bottom? my inclination is to reinforce the bottom in this configuration.....this may be complete overkill and un-needed though....any thoughts? thanks.....have you been following the crane exploits at the boca chica spaceX launch facility. they just finished placing the booster rocket on the orbital launch pad today....they built and stacked the launch tower over the last month. very cool stuff. i have been watching on Nasaspaceflight.com on youtube. awesome crane footage. also, the people at nasaspacefilght have been looking for a crane person to do a livestream and talk about the monster liebhur crawler crane at the launch site...they routinely get 30-40K people watching live. might be a promotional opportunity for you or your company. check them out and contact them if you want to be a crane expert on their livestream. take care..pete
@@peetky8645 No offense, but I hesitate to give much advice on such an arrangement due to the brief description provided and my desire to avoid even the perception of liability in the event something goes wrong.
In general, I will say adding a tension strap, which will (assumedly) load the member it is affixed to in compression will lower that member's ability to support a compressive load. It will also reduce that member's ability to resist buckling, which is usually the governing failure mode in a long, slender pole loaded in compression. .
@@usagi190 thanks
Don't lie
@@peetky8645 By your statements and especially, questions, you should not attempt these picks, but should call the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing
Iron Workers local union hall nearest you.
I worked at Manitowoc Crane as an intern, and one of the first things they show us as part of safety training is that "Big Blue" crane collaspe at Miller Park in Milwaukee. Very sobering.
The craziest thing about these things to me is that almost every person will have experienced pretty much all of these effects personally at some point with their own body weight (like on the beach, or walking over loose soil near an anthill, or feeling how much harder it is to hold a weight further from your body), yet despite this the natural inclination is to think "ground is solid and static, a heavy thing won't go anywhere". Man has a blindspot around this stuff, which makes knowledge and training really important.
"Bah, engineers always overdesign stuff. She'll hold twice that much, easy."
-Construction Guys
A rather broad thing an “intellectual” would say
They are tested to 150%
"Who needs to fit a wrench in here, anyway?"
-Engineers
@@MarioMonte13
Touché.
Dog Walker, many cranes are tested to 125%, but I think you may be thinking of rigging equipment.
@@TheRealE.B. Many lifting equipment (chains, slings, etc) have safety factor of over 5
Grady, I watched many episodes of Modern Marvels over the years, and I always wished someone would do something similar, but more in depth and with more of a science and engineering analysis. This is exactly what your videos do! Thanks for making them.
Modern marvels was an excellent show with great narration. Miss it
💯 me too
@@xxCrazy101xx I do not like the new format of that show. I still watch the old ones regularly even though I know most of the scripts by heart. Awesome series.
I have "acquired" Engineering Disasters. I listen to them nightly before bed.
Sadly it is the same uploads that are being put onto this website, including 10 with the bad audio. I cannot seem to find 7 and I consider it "lost" media.
@@Penoatle Love that show.
I am currently an engineer on an industrial site and our policy is all lifts must be approved by the construction manager, all of our lifts have plans as this is a live plant. Some plans like for tandem lifts need to be engineered and sealed. Above 80% capacity we classify as a critical lift.
Plans need to also account for underground piping which can be crushed by the lifting activities.
Prior to a lift we always have a pre-lift meeting to discuss roles and risks.
During a lift, wind readings are broadcasted.
Never go under a load.
Always stay outside the "hospital side" of the crane (The direction it is most likely to tip in).
A 650 ton crawler will be delivered in the new year to stand up some 150ft distillation columns which I look forward to witnessing it in action.
Great video!
I remember an accident that happen on the site a couple years back. We were assembling an STS crane in Bremerhaven using 2 crawlers. While lifting the machine house one of the steel lines snapped and the 50+ tonnes steel shrapnel grenade went flying down 100 meters. I remember the sound bolts made when they flew away from the crash, nightmare. Fortunately noone was hurt.
I'm an electrical engineer, but Grady makes civil engineering so interesting it almost makes me want to be a civi... wait, what am I saying?! These are the best civil engineering videos on the planet, with Grady's calm demeanor, clear explanations, and awesome mock-ups being key. A+
I know right? I'm a freaking quantum optics physicist, but this makes civil engineering sound appealing to me.
@@thomaskilmer Grady has the magic!
As a software/electrical/physics/medical engineer, I’m feeling the same while watching Grady’s wonderful videos. However, I wouldn’t be able to abstain the daily puzzles of programming and math.
I wonder whether it would be possible to create equally inspiring videos about my fields of knowledge.
I'm not an engineer at all. Sometimes I've wondered, "huh, I wonder where all the dirty water goes..." or "how do I know this windy bridge is actually safe?" or "why is traffic so shitty?" Everything I know about how modern infrastructure works, I learned here. And it's important stuff! We SHOULD understand the inner workings of our modern living! It certainly causes one to _appreciate_ all this infrastructure that much more...
@@magnushem8734 For me it's not just the content, it's Grady. I don't find myself seeking out more civil engineering videos and info, I simply enjoy these ones. It's the combination of Grady's calm, friendly personality, concise presentation, great mockups, and the material itself. I'm actually a physicist as well as an EE, having undergraduate and graduate degrees in both, so for me it's the application of the fundamentals of physics and the human creativity needed to solve these problems of a growing civilization that makes civil engineering interesting. And yet it took Grady to present them in the way that he does that makes me want to watch them.
12:50
When a safety inspector pulls out a camera, that's a good indication to stop doing whatever it is your doing.
Working around cranes and boom trucks a lot in my life, this video is a great reminder, though its stuff we look at every day, good to have your voice in the back of my head, and the analytics of failures to consider. I dont operate, but as a ground guy, we often are the second eyes for the opperators.communication and awareness is very key to safety.
I'd love to see you talk about modern Nuclear reactors and how safe the Nuclear industry actually is.
Safer than coal and gas, that’s for sure.
It would go against Climate Czar Kerry's interest even while he jets around the world in a private jet not needing to be ran because hey it puts out more emissions per human and mile than the rest of us do as we ride in planes.
The climate summit was attended by leaders from around the world and they showed up in 400 private jets. If they were willing to fly on a scheduled flight as most flying public does we could've got them comfortable into 2 passenger jets though they probably wouldn't have go along.
Heard about it over on the PragerU CZcams channel. Alot of great content there.
The fact that this guy always has custom props for all of his vids I’ve seen so far is impressive
you buy such toys for the kid that you can play with them too. men are just overgrown kids but in the good side of it.... i bought me a lego technic when i was 30 :D:D
it is passive ability of engineer, you will always found a material to prototype on
Back when I was a young civil engineer, I was given a couple rules to follow on construction sites by more experienced engineers. 1) don't walk under a crane lift if you can avoid it. As this video demonstrates, cranes can fail. You don't want to be under the boom or load if something breaks.
2) If you see people running, then run. Don't try to figure out why they are running. Don't look up (your hard hat gives you some protection from smaller falling objects, but only if you don't look up). Don't hesitate. Just run. Once you are safely away, then you can try to figure out why they were running.
2 Just following the other sheep :)
It doesn't hurt to run faster than them either. Especially good advice with predators.
Have you seen the video where they drop a large bolt on a watermelon. Then repeat it with a helmet on it. It does a great job of showing how much a hard hat can help
Always try and outrun the safety guy.
@@n1elkyfan That depends a great deal on the height of the drop. A bolt dropped off the twentieth floor? Yeah, the hard hat isn't going to help. A bolt dropped of the second floor? The hard hat will likely help.
In Germany, we have a meme going on for crane operators:
"Kranplätze müssen verdichtet sein!" which translates to "Crane locations have to be compacted!"
Currently I am in the process of taking OSHA 30 safety training. Interestingly enough, I am in the module on Crane safety. Great video!
Having witnessed a 400 ft crane collapse in Canary Wharf in 2000, it certainly brought home how absolutely massive some of these can be. Cranes might look tall and slender from a distance, but the size of the tubular beams and frame structures are terrifyingly huge when you see them brought down to ground level.
"Presumably to speed up disassembly"
And wouldn't you know, it worked! Fastest disassembly ever!
Bring ‘ er down. Quick! OK Boss! Lazy bastards!
@@tomrogers9467 What i tell him then? DO IT YOURSELF !!
I’m a high voltage lineman in the Dallas area. I was working the storm on the Dallas crane accident you mentioned. We had several outages due to the winds that night. The reason I remember it so well is because basically no news stations reported the incoming storm. It came out of nowhere, it popped up North of Dallas and winds quickly picked up, if I remember correctly Addison airport had winds in the 90+MPH range. I’d guess the crane that fell into the building was left locked down like you mentioned. Nobody expected that storm.
I worked ground crew as a contractor with a construction company in 1990 when Big Blue was brought in to make a very heavy lift of a dome off a reactor in a refinery. We spent two months driving hundreds of pilings into the ground to shore it up for the lift. It took almost 100 truck loads to delivery the crane and a month to assemble the crane. The safety involved to make the actual lift was very thorough and every precaution was taken to ensure no harm to life or property. It is very difficult for me to imagine how the Milwaukee accident happened when considering my experience with Lampson and their crew.
It all boils down to $$$. Stay on schedule. Stupidity basically. That same day big blue went down I was the #2 guy on a house setting trusses. I recall thinking how idiotic it was that we were swinging trusses that day. Then I heard of big blue and realized how right I was.
The normal operator of big blue refused to do the lift the day of the accident due to high wind. So they kicked him off site and someone else was pressured into operating the crane.
ahh tower crane, the magical creature that suddenly appear and suddenly dissapear in one night
I have seem many assembled some disassambled, but I never got the chanche to witness them being assembled
@@lukasvondaheim czcams.com/video/vx5Qt7_ECEE/video.html time lapse video of one going up.
I'm from Nashville and I still go back to visit my Mom frequently, and god is this true in that city. It's going through a ridiculous boom (excuse the crane pun).
Me, a 25y/o wildlife biologist who knows absolutely nothing about engineering:
“Well of course slew ring failed, they used the 12 ton counter weight instead of the 8 ton weight!”
This comment has "come on you guys you're dereferencing a null pointer" energy
What type of study do you do?
20 years ago I helped a friend with their study, catching all their critters, building their apparatus.
Very stimulating time.
@@kiwibob223 I work at a 2,500 acre nature preserve. Mostly its habitat management. We have to replicate the now gone environmental factors. Things like grazing by bison and elk & small wildfires the clear fuel load. We plant native plants, suppress invasive plants, mow the prairie once every two years to simulate grazing, and do controlled burns.
Actually it can be done if you have turbo encabulator installed.
@@arlen_95 😯
" Mow the prairie"
I can tell you this is the first time I've seen this sentence in my life.
What do you do with the cuttings?
How many man hours does it take?
Wouldn't it be easier to buy bison ?
How much do you love your job ?
🤯
Just found your site today, AWESOME. I have been involved in heavy industrial construction and maintenance for 25 years and running. 3 trade certifications and years of experience but I still love learning many new things everyday. Nice to see a clear and concise mode of communication. Well done.
I used to operate a crane for a small structural steel company. I had very little training and experienced a ground collapse event.
I was lifting a main beam into a home foundation when the machine flipped over. The ground around the foundation gave way, and the outriggers were 6-8' in the ground.
I felt very fortunate that I was able to jump far enough away and not end up underneath the thing.
My career as an "operator" didn't last long after that.
You could have thrown in the crane operator who survived a tornado, through Nashville, I think. He was trapped in the cabin, so he captured its path on his cellphone thinking it might be the very last thing he saw. Fortunately for him, it went some blocks away, right past his crane and meteorologists got some impressive video to study from an in-the-air point of view.
Yes, it was in Nashville last year. That's my hometown and my Mom still lives there.
Oh wow
@CALLER ID that's what I'm saying
@CALLER ID just search "crane operator caught in tornado"
@@hunterailey6575 just search "crane operator caught in tornado"
How are you SO concise. I literally have not heard someone talk so precisely where every word is perfectly used with exacting purpose. In fewer words, you speak efficiently. I can see why you are an engineer. Thank you Grady, you rock. Love watching your videos to learn just to learn because you make it so easy and INTERESTING to understand things I never cared to understand.
I was thinking along the same lines. He has a real gift for making things easy to understand and in an engaging way that makes you think. He's an excellent teacher. Most people I wouldn't last five minutes before I'd fall asleep from their droning voice.
It's a combination of being well read and engineering communications training and praxis.
Optimal parsimony
Ur comment deserves a reply from him
Being succinct is very respectable
My husband is a crane operator and I sent him this video and he said it was amazingly done and would do great as a training/safety video! Well done!
Nicely done. As a crane operator this is nice to see, so maybe folks with less actual crane experience can understand what it takes to do a job safely. Too many times there are folks that just want the job done and can't seem to grasp the work NO. As an operator I insist everyone goes home in just as good of shape as they were when they showed up that morning. Sometimes it is a conflict. It's OK, though. I am way more afraid of hurting someone than not meeting the production schedule if things are "iffy".
The video calls the grounds bearing capacity vertical defamation, I googled vertical defamation to see if that was a term engineer’s & geologist used but nothing came up.
Do you happen to know if that term is used for Bearing capacity?
I'm a crane op and most of these crane videos is regurgitated garbage from armchair operators. Not this one. Great video! Will be sharing with other operators and riggers!
How does the saying go: Safety guidelines are written in blood.
And STILL people don't read them!
I have no faith for the human race.
@@novastar6112 People do read them, you need training and a license to do anything remotely dangerous these days - hence why these are case studies and not the norm.
@@novastar6112 well you're not dead yet so somebody did read them
@@GloomGaiGar don't assume their mortality status! So inconsiderate... 🙃
and then ignored for profits
Thanks Grady! Your demo of the soil particles for ground failure in particular was amazing.
These videos are fascinating and you're a wonderful host.
It's so nice to not see catastrophic events dramatized and instead focus on the practicality of what went wrong.
PracticalEngineering: "Cranes are dangerous."
My brain: "Ah, crangerous!"
Ok.. these jokes are wayy too Craneoliciously-Cringy.
@@cryptfire3158 The crange is real.
In our machinery warehouse, any full capacity lifts were only straight up, to allow a truck to back under (little stuff, under 50 tons). No motions allowed.
Imagine buying several toy cranes, and being able to write them off on your taxes.
"Imagine buying several toy cranes, and being able to write them off on your taxes."
The LEGO fanatics are grinning...
@@LD-Orbs god you think thats bad. MEDICAL Marijuana as a tax write off. 7grand back the one year.
A beer sudsidy?
@A Velsen Wine tasting as university paid event for field experience. Yes, we also had to take samples for labtesting them later, luckily noone asked why we need several liter of sample for a labtest that use less than a few milliliter at most. Had to strictly lock the unused samples until the actual work is done for the comparative taste test in the lab.
@@barongerhardt From what I've seen, NASA is HUGE on outreach, especially to kids. Do you agree?
Grady seems like such a genuinely nice guy- it’s too bad this video introduced me to a phobia that I never knew I had lol
I find it unlikely that you are walking under cranes, let alone cranes at breaking point to failure often if that helps
@@animationspace8550 Really? Cranes are usually everywhere in the central business district (downtown).
I have worked with tower cranes everyday for the past six months and you get used to them when around them all the time. Also it's fun to chat with yhe operator on a walkie talkie while on breaks etc. Superfun work i think!
I used to operate heavy equipment, mainly dozers and excavators I can remember while in career school we got to operate a crane, initially I thought this would be a breeze as someone who plays games frequently, but it was wild. Certainly wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, props go out to those who operate them for a living!
As a Tower Operator for local 302 in Seattle, I sincerely appreciate your insight to the world of cranes! Can Definitely tell you have done your research. Thank ya!
I remember a case a year or two ago here in the UK. The people putting the crane up didn't provide a sufficient foundation to bolt a semi permanent crane. They put a shallow foundations on top of very wet clay. The crane just toppled over the first time it was used and killed an elderly woman in her home.
@@SimonWoodburyForget it certainly leaves mistake behind and enters into misconduct
She had cranial injuries. Sorry, I could not resist some dark humour.
A fun fact about Miller Park: during construction, steel I-beams were set out for the public sign. My parents did that, so there's a beam in the roof somewhere with their names on it. :>
Ive been involved in many crane collapses in my life...some my fault some not. This video is spot on.
Thats not something you wanna hear an operator say. Lol
As a crane operator i am actually impressed with your understanding and vocabulary.
IUOE local 12 SoCal baby
What you did not mention was the influence of pressure to "get it done" that forces operators to push limits to the max leaving no room for unseen errors. As in the Lampson Crane in the last example. Running max load and pushing the wind max load without leaving any room for safety. How hard was management pushing?
Exactly. Tbh that is where, I would say, 70% of injuries/accidents come from. I was a safety guy for a year for a small electric company and am now working in the field as a layout guy/heavy equipment operator (I know kinda backwards) and have seen how many injuries could've occurred/did occur because of the push to get it done. The other 30% is usually people themselves being careless or stupid...I've almost done it myself a few times
I'd wager that "get it done [quickly]" is the biggest workplace hazard across all occupations.
The crane operators should say to management: No, i'll get it done properly and safely. Not quickly.
@@simontay4851 And then they will be the first to be fired when the company feels they have to cut cost.
Employees will always be vulnerable to pressure from above.
And they will always seek ways to relive that pressure.
As a employer or supervisor you must be ever vigilant to HOW the workers under you will try to relive said pressure.
If you keep telling your workers "get it done!" after they told you they can't, and then suddenly they get it done, don't pat yourself on the back for having been right all along, instead hurry down there and carefully look for the corners they cut.
Biggest crane in the world, what's he supposed to do, get a bigger crane?
As we say in Germany "Kranplätze müssen verdichtet sein!"
Never ceases to both amaze and terrify me that people trusted with such high stakes responsibilities can be just as lackadaisical as the average person.
Hey Grady!
I’m an engineering intern at a papermill this summer, and there’s a civil engineering consultant that’s taught me about a bunch of different topics (including cranes). Every time, I’ve brought up your channel and how much it’s helped me learn over the past few years. This is no exception! I’ll be sure to tell him about this video at work tomorrow. Thank you for all your hard work into making these videos valuable resources for students like me!
This video really got to me. For every new point you introduce you give an example of a crane failure ending with "five people were killed". The sense of how common this is hits harder than bridge or dam failures.
These seem more dramatic, I believe, because more of the failures are due to human factors (didn't follow instructions, forgot a component of load factor, place on weak soil) than forces of nature! All human factor issues are, in theory, preventable or considered just part of the risk and cost. ಠ︵ಠ
They aren't really that common. There are 1,000s of cranes in use all over the world.
Thank you for remembering Big Blue in Milwaukee. Wind factor was not ignored. Conccerns of the wind were brought up by unions and workers. But they were overruled by a deadline on the project that was already behind to be open for baseball season.
They had so many other valid options - like holding early season games in other venues. I wish this kind of gross mismanagement was treated more seriously.
Good Job Grady, as a hoisting/rigging subject matter expert I could find nothing to fault with this video. In my experience, operator error is by far the most common cause of accidents though you didn't dwell on it too long in respect to the operators. They have a lot to think about from setup to tear down and sometimes saying NO to a work request because it's too dangerous is more difficult than one would think.
I was glad to see the inclusion of the electronic systems monitoring the crane real time for the operator. If this data is recorded, it would give the operators some back up when they question the decisions of supervisors to perform an unsafe move. Also, he mentioned that the crane can be stopped from making that move. Past crane failures could be included the the data to help the software provide sound, safe guidance.
This is a great channel. Grady covers the things we count on but either don't see or give much thought to, roads, concrete, sewers, flood control, electrical infrastructure and now cranes.
@@CR-rm4iy The operator always has veto over the lift. If they don't think it's safe, then it doesn't happen. Afterall, it's their speciality, liability, and potentially their life on the line, so nobody else should have license to override or threaten to fire them.
Yeah they should but it doesn't play out like that. Even if they can reliably veto it might make them enemies looking for any other reason to fire them.
Why do we have to put in 2 weeks notice when they can fire us out onto the street on a whim.
@@SimonWoodburyForget they said that about the driverless car. Now cars can capably drive theirselves. And they are only getting better, though we can’t have them on the roads shared with humans, too many human error. Only a matter of time for the cranes. 🏗
I followed a disaster with a crane in Manaus, Brazil, where the side supports were placed in a parking lot. However, there was a sewer box under the floor, which was not visible, which caused the crane to fall.
As a crane operator for 14 years you did good on this video I was looking for anything wrong but didn't notice anything
How do you like your job?
Would you still recommend becoming one ?
Great video.
One thing to note is that unlike most situations where you can reverse an action and correct a problem before it gets out of hand, with a crane this usually isn't possible.
If a crane starts to go, it will only keep going since the length of the arm is increasing as it falls.
This is why I studied with an emphasis on Dragon style, instead of Crane.
😂
LoL I’m ded
Bet you were surprised though when you opened the manual and it was empty
@@jacob_90s there is no secret ingredient.
@@scottwpilgrim Wait, there was a manual!? I've just been avoiding brushing my teeth and breathing on my foe. The Dragon's Breath Attack works like a charm!
I remember being in Milwaukee as a kid when the crane collapsed, and hearing the thud across town.
It was definitely an eerie moment.
Great job! I am a journeyman plumber in STL.
I hope you will understand why I feel like I need to mention something about the “Big Blue Incident” (12:50). My recollection of the events (second hand/hearsay) is as follows. Original operator refused to do the scheduled lift because of concerns about the wind. OSHA, who was on site for obvious concerns gave the go ahead to proceed. The operator refused over their personal concerns (I hope this is true😞) about the wind. The general contractor, sub contractor, and OSHA asked the “oiler” (assistant to the operator) to do the lift.
I choose to believe they did so under duress/pressure. Schedules are a kind of pressure that few may ever experience on a construction site. I think many accidents happen, and exponentially more don’t, because of this pressure.
Anyway, the situation happened and I think it is worth mentioning the families of the fallen workers are normally preyed upon by big law firms that are more than happy to take a 50% or more cut of any monies that they might receive years and years later. I’ve seen law firms that took 50% of money workers got from being dose with radiation while working as laborers in “safe” areas, just to have the lawyers have the taxes taken out of the workers half. BRUTAL!
I’m sure the verge of events that I heard and remember isn’t exactly what happened but I just had to mention some thing because the situation definitely makes it look like the operator was at fault and honestly it’s just how I choose to remember everything and don’t wanna know another version ;-). Thanks for your patience with me and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your videos. I’ve only recently found you but now I have something to look forward to on my commutes.
I just wanna be clear that my comments and thoughts or not me trying to take anything away from the work that you do or in anyway trying to throw shade, as the kids say.
I remember when I was young, I witnessed a crane in downtown Toledo, Ohio wobbling back and forth. It concerned me, but we were over a couple blocks away at the time, and left soon after. Later that evening, as we were watching the news, the big headline that night was about a crane collapse in downtown Toledo. That same crane I had seen swaying only mere hours earlier. If I remember correctly, I think one or two people may have died in the collapse. It's still crazy to think that I witnessed the crane shortly before complete disaster occurred though.
These 'looking back at others' mistakes' videos are always facinating and also have that 'can't look away' and 'glad it didn't happen to me!' quality.
The Seattle crane collapse was just a couple hundred feet from the building I was working in at the time (Amazon's Nessie building on Westlake and Mercer). I was working from home the day it happened, but I couldn't tell you how many hours I've spent sitting at that intersection. Hundreds, at least.
Really makes you wonder when you pass cranes hanging over the roadway. Just how good a job did they do setting it up and taking it down?
That crane collapse completely changed the way I look at cranes. They previously blended in with the cityscape but I think about that every time because I lost a friend to that crane.
Causes me to wonder if it makes sense to simply close off streets during crane erection and tear-downs? Yes it’s inconvenient but seems like quite a few accidents happen during this time.
A bit like wearing seatbelts on an airplane during takeoff and landing… we ask people to take a few extra precautions during the most hazardous phases.
Yes, I am very familiar with that area since I worked in Fiona (right across the street from where the collapse happened) for about a year, although that was back in 2012.
We also got lucky that this happened on a weekend. If it happened on a pre-pandemic weekday anytime between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. the fatalities and injuries would've been significantly higher.
Something similar happened near where I live.
There's a hotel building that's been coming up for what seems like a century now. There was once a tower crane being used on-site. It was placed at one corner of the plot and the way it was positioned, fairly often the counter-weights would be over the 4-way intersection just outside the plot.
This intersection is a particularly high-traffic area in my city. It is one of the first few intersections on an arterial road that connects two express highways. So, traffic flowing through this intersection is ALWAYS beyond maximum. It is also an unavoidable intersection for me as it's just 2-3 minutes from my house.
One fine summer day as the crane was doing its work and the traffic was flowing through the intersection oblivious to the construction work, someone probably bolted the counter-weights wrong or something... One of the concrete blocks slipped off and came almost whistling down. This is a country that drives in the left of the road, so left turns are always free (Stop-Look-Go style). A truck was taking the left turn that I have taken probably a few thousand times now. The block crashed down on the truck.
Miraculously, the truck driver survived (I think the concrete block crushed the back of the truck)!!! But that was a terrifying experience for everyone in the area.
The construction was halted for quite some time after that. And I had just passed that intersection along the same direction as the truck that very day some hours earlier.
On my way home, I was puzzled by the cordoned off area near the construction site. But this is a big city, I figured something must have happened and just moved on.
It came in the news that evening and the next day in the papers. Damn, that was a sobering thought. I still remember that incident every single day as I take that intersection to go anywhere.
PS: If anyone's interested, what happened to the truck (such tremendously localised, yet such utter and complete devastation) is the exact principle behind what is known as a 'concrete bomb'.
We're getting into cranes, as one of the projects using Aphex has Big Carl out and about, and another has 8 tower cranes popping up over the next few months. Grady, your videos are excellent and we can't believe it's taken us so long to find you!
I operate a forklift in a yard with several others, and have seen a few incidents with them; mostly misjudging the size or position of the load and hitting something, overloading past the load plate spec (can be especially nasty in the rain since water can make a normally fine pallet too heavy to lift), or a load that's not properly secured to pallet pushing things off balance.
Thankfully there's never been any injuries or worse, but I can see how crane operations are tricking beasts, especially given the size of those loads and their distance from the tipping point.
Thats why you always need a healthy safety margin.
My best is a 300t crawler to hang my 75kg drive coupling.
Wind turbines?
I don't know what words you just said
@@gitsurfer27 he basically means dont use a thing thats capable of lifting say 100 tons, at 100 tons because theres NO margin for safety.
@@snowdrop9810 so basically just because you can doesn't mean you should
@@gitsurfer27 You should use a crane way bigger than necessary for the load. Then they mentioned a 300 ton crawler crane for lifting 75kg, which is extremely overkill since a few people could carry that.
Let's be honest here - Grady has been looking for a way to include his crane collection in a video for years! 😃
Engineers are just the kids who loved construction toys grown up and good at math - at least, I sure as hell am!
Some of these considerations also apply to non-crane situations. In 1973 the WDBO TV tower in Orlando, FL collapsed killing three workers who were on the tower at the time. While the specific cause was never determined, it was pretty clear to those investigating it (including my father) that the workers had not been following the directions for the disassembly/reassembly of the structure as they were adding more waveguides for new antennas. Since the waveguides were relatively long rigid constructs, they had to remove some of the struts of the truss, the design supported this, but there was a limit and apparently they were getting ahead on removals and behind on reinstalls. Thus it reached a point where the structure was below the minimum strength required for the wind load.
Disclaimer, what I know is second hand from my father, who was Chief Engineer for the corporation (in RI) that owned WDBO and thus his signature was on the original plans (including the referenced directions) for the tower. The collapse happened on the day I was graduating from High School and he had to make an emergency trip to Florida and missed the ceremony.
As a crane operator you did a great job with this video in my opinion, and when you showed the photos of the computers in the cab those are really familiar because I used to run a grove GMK series and now I’m running a Tadano ATF series 👍
Yesterday I was in a restraunt which was outdoors, we were right below a crane, how convinient
So yiu weren't IN a restaurant....your story is beginning to fall apart. I get there isn't even such a thing as a restaurant........lol
It will be great to have an engineers analysis of the crane failure that took place in Mecca KSA in 2015, as it had casualties far beyond any of the ones mentioned in the video (111+ dead and hundreds injured)...
Human error, too politically sensitive to mention in this channel.
@@gordonrichardson2972 with the Bin Laden family involvement it could well draw too much heat.
@@CannaCJ Yup, 2 mins of Wikipedia told me more than I needed to know...
@@matttzzz2 bruh moment
Just watched that video on reddit last night
Unfortunately, I've had the opportunity to investigate crane accidents as a state construction safety officer for 23 years. Prior to that I had 23 years experience in heavy industrial construction. The worst was a lattice-boom crane, on a controlled demolition site. The general contractor figured on 5 lifts, and had drawings and figures for all of them. For some unexplained reason (?) one sheet was never shown in a prelift meeting. This sheet showed the 14' diameter steel duct was "too heavy" (with dirt debris inside it) and a note indicated it needed to be emptied. During the lift, once it was lifted off the building (200' in the air) the rigging shifted. The next problem was rather than keep the rig boomed up tight, a fatal decision was made to boom down so the load could be set past a pipe bridge. Once boomed past the "point of no return" the crane began to tip forward. Ultimately, it crashed and the tons of counterweight knocked the cab off the body killing the operator. Examining the electronic spread sheet from the computer, I noted that the load, which was supposed to be around 40 tons, ended up being around 55 tons. There were multiple times noted when the rig was loaded at 125% for it's configuration.
I still remember driving past Miller Park after the crane fell when I was little. Pretty cool that you mentioned Big Blue (:
After seeing AvE's series on collapsing cranes, seeing Grady on the topic feels oddly refreshing.
I remember, many years ago, working with a 160 tonne crane. We used it as a work platform during an emergency. At full extension it could only lift 1 tonne.
Having just got my certification for crane operating, I know that they place a 8x safety margin for the crane. So truly speaking you could have lifted eight tons, but when people are involved they always put a higher safety rating so it can only be rated for a thousand.
@@bnieu1 I am curious where that 8x margin comes from, as it seems very high. I was a crane operator for years, and the machines I ran never had a margin that high. More like 2x or 3x before the machine started tipping. I also know that safety margins can vary widely when rating items that go along with rigging like shackles and slings.
@@jamese9283 I might be mistaken about the exact safety margin, I just remember that they do put a high one on. I haven't looked through my books in a while, I think I will look back through it.
You said...'to consider all the aspects of the lift'. That's the main point. Very good video and very good examples. Thanks
Another brilliant video, thanks Grady! First time commenter here.
As well as expanding the tipping line, another reason to use outriggers is that they are (presumably always) bolted directly to the frame of the mobile crane. Without outriggers, the vehicle's suspension will take up the load, and it will naturally settle to one side. Having outriggers directly connected to the frame removes this issue and makes the crane more stable...
...but then again, what do I know? I just translate crane manuals, I've never actually used one! I'm happy to be corrected by the pros :D
Engineers & Operators: "We make mistakes, people die."
Crane operator, "it's too windy for this unite". Boss, "there's plenty of operators who will do the job". Git-er-done!
"Would you rather call my home to say I'm fired or I'm dead?"
@@eritain
Good answer!
Gets killed.
Boss: don't go to the hospital. I don't want to claim Workman's...
there weren't really that many operators trained for Big Blue and for those roof picks....
@@eritain Touche'!! Nice!
As a crane operator, then trainer who wrote the operating and inspection training programs at a nuclear power plant, your information is spot on. Our cranes were a 170 ton pendant operated reactor building crane, a 65 ton cab controlled turbine building crane, both overhead traveling type. We absolutely required a single designated signal person, except for an all stop. We also tested for operator depth perception and fear of heights, as well as load swing catch. Our operators would "compete" with each other as to who was the best at totally catching the 169.5 ton loaded reactor fuel handling machine exactly in order to lower into the reactor isolation valves without any further movement. I would make the turbine crane operators lower the hook into a bucket on a complete angle far from the cab, to test depth perception and vision. Ah, those days...
This is such a great channel. Simple to understand explanations for complex concepts! 10/10 would recommend.
“See boss, things were going great until they weren’t”
That’s how cranes collapse.
DAMN IT RICKY
Rule applies to all human endeavors.
"When Cranes Attack" Part 1...
I enjoy learning from your videos, Grady! Thanks 👍
Most enjoyable, No alcohol require. However there is a perk to drinking and viewing educational videos, you have to watch them a second time to fully grasp them. Ill gladly give this man multiple views!
I love the simple explanations that don’t oversimplify the subject matter
It really speaks volumes how much we know about a subject, when the majority of the reason that accidents happen is because people start ignoring the rules that were set for them.
safety manuals are written in blood
2:40 they did this to “speed up disassembly”
oh, they did indeed speed up disassembly.
Very instructional content as usual, Grady. Thank you!