Beaten to it... But here it is anyway. World's Largest Crane Collapses at PRB Coal Mine.

[carnej1]

 IINM wasn't a Lampson (built and operated) crane involved in the Milwaukee stadium collapse a few years ago? That was a total structural failure of the crane with multiple fatalities. I wonder if this accident will point to any inherent flaws in Lampson's designs?

The crane that collapsed lifting roof sections of the Milwaukee Brewer's Stadium was a Lampson Transilift LTL 2100.  Cause of the collapse was concluded to be exceeding the crane's load rating and excessive wind speed.

Lampson has had no difficulty that I am aware of attracting business nor obtaining liability insurance. 

RWM

 I'm certain you are correct about that but given that in the Milwaukee case the machine involved was both built and operated by Lampson (the paid out a very large settlement) I wonder if this is a similiar event?

 Mammoet is another crane rental/heavy lifting firm that builds their largest cranes in-house (as does Deepsouth) and I can't find any reference to those companies having similar issues...

What I see is two data points, one that the U.S. Government attributed to wind and overload, and mentioned nothing about design.  Is that enough to establish a significant and meaningful trend?  There's a plethora of reports on the Milwaukee accident on-line.  I didn't see anything in the reports that indicate an error in design or fabrication of the crane, but if you plow into them and find it from an unbiased source, please bring it up.

RWM

 I looked online and you are correct...However note that in the Milwaukee incident the crane was also being OPERATED by Lampson. There are a very small number of the large Lampson built cranes  in operation worldwide and yet they have had two major accidents in 9 years? I believe both Mammoet and Deepsouth have better records on their "in -house built" cranes (Although I understand a Mammoet crane collapsed in the Middle East in 2005)...

[Railway Man]

 IINM wasn't a Lampson (built and operated) crane involved in the Milwaukee stadium collapse a few years ago? That was a total structural failure of the crane with multiple fatalities. I wonder if this accident will point to any inherent flaws in Lampson's designs?

The crane that collapsed lifting roof sections of the Milwaukee Brewer's Stadium was a Lampson Transilift LTL 2100.  Cause of the collapse was concluded to be exceeding the crane's load rating and excessive wind speed.

Lampson has had no difficulty that I am aware of attracting business nor obtaining liability insurance. 

RWM

 I'm certain you are correct about that but given that in the Milwaukee case the machine involved was both built and operated by Lampson (the paid out a very large settlement) I wonder if this is a similiar event?

 Mammoet is another crane rental/heavy lifting firm that builds their largest cranes in-house (as does Deepsouth) and I can't find any reference to those companies having similar issues...

What I see is two data points, one that the U.S. Government attributed to wind and overload, and mentioned nothing about design.  Is that enough to establish a significant and meaningful trend?  There's a plethora of reports on the Milwaukee accident on-line.  I didn't see anything in the reports that indicate an error in design or fabrication of the crane, but if you plow into them and find it from an unbiased source, please bring it up.

RWM

[carnej1]

 IINM wasn't a Lampson (built and operated) crane involved in the Milwaukee stadium collapse a few years ago? That was a total structural failure of the crane with multiple fatalities. I wonder if this accident will point to any inherent flaws in Lampson's designs?

The crane that collapsed lifting roof sections of the Milwaukee Brewer's Stadium was a Lampson Transilift LTL 2100.  Cause of the collapse was concluded to be exceeding the crane's load rating and excessive wind speed.

Lampson has had no difficulty that I am aware of attracting business nor obtaining liability insurance. 

RWM

 I'm certain you are correct about that but given that in the Milwaukee case the machine involved was both built and operated by Lampson (the paid out a very large settlement) I wonder if this is a similiar event?

 Mammoet is another crane rental/heavy lifting firm that builds their largest cranes in-house (as does Deepsouth) and I can't find any reference to those companies having similar issues...

 

[Railway Man]

 IINM wasn't a Lampson (built and operated) crane involved in the Milwaukee stadium collapse a few years ago? That was a total structural failure of the crane with multiple fatalities. I wonder if this accident will point to any inherent flaws in Lampson's designs?

The crane that collapsed lifting roof sections of the Milwaukee Brewer's Stadium was a Lampson Transilift LTL 2100.  Cause of the collapse was concluded to be exceeding the crane's load rating and excessive wind speed.

Lampson has had no difficulty that I am aware of attracting business nor obtaining liability insurance. 

RWM

[carnej1]

 IINM wasn't a Lampson (built and operated) crane involved in the Milwaukee stadium collapse a few years ago? That was a total structural failure of the crane with multiple fatalities. I wonder if this accident will point to any inherent flaws in Lampson's designs?

[Modelcar]

....Awesome size crane...! 

Lots of tragedy with cranes lately...{NYC}.

[youngengineer]

BNSF was showing a video of this crane being moved across the tracks this past week. They had to build up a roadway between the mains and than put in temporary bridges across the tracks. interesting to see the amount of construction needed to move the crane from one side of the tracks to the other.

The Casper Star Tribune shows a picture of the move in the top photo, it shows the crane crawling across the tracks on one of the temp bridges they installed.

This accident happened well after the move as i think they moved the crane a few months ago.

[Railway Man]

The Lampson TransiLift LTL 1100, the type that collapsed at Black Thunder, is not even the largest of the Lampson cranes, much less the largest crane in the World.  It's rated at 1,100 tons.  Lampson makes the second largest crawler crane in the world, the LTL 2600, 2,600 tons capacity.   There are three of them in existence -- two in Australia, one in the U.S., and one under construction for China.

The largest crawler crane is the CC8800-TWIN built by Terex-Demag, of which there is one so far (in Saudi Arabia), and consists of two of its CC8800-1 model rated at 1,763 tons twinned to 3,527 tons.

DeepSouth Crane's VersaCrane, also a crawler, is rated at 2,500 tons.  The company is reported to be building a 4,000 ton VersaCrane.

There are larger ringer-type cranes in existence. 

Regardless, the LTL 1100 is a very large crane.

RWM

 

[eltraino]

Cheap imported steel and junk domestic scrap steel

[miniwyo]

This was in today's news wire, but the story wasn't nealy as detailed as it could have been. Actually, I am suprised it hasn't been posted yet and if it has, my apologies, I must have missed it.

Also, the oil patch has slowed down a little, so I am coming out of my MIA status for a bit.

 

From The Casper Star Tribune:

Link to the story with Pictures and links. 

 

Three injured, two critically, in Black Thunder crane accident

 

By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER
Star-Tribune energy reporter
with wire reports

Monday, June 2, 2008 11:13 AM MDT

(Click here for the Star-Tribune's video story on the installation of the Black Thunder crane in April.)

UPDATE June 2, 2008: Two remain hospitalized. Click here for the story.

GILLETTE -- The world's largest crane in handling capacity collapsed Saturday near Wright, sending three injured people -- two critically -- to hospitals and blocking a rail line at the Black Thunder coal mine.

Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors and crane company representatives were traveling to the mine, and BNSF Railway crews were expected to clear the tracks by late Saturday.

The names of the injured, who they worked for or what their jobs were wasn't immediately known.

The 2.7 million-pound crane, owned and operated by the Kennewick, Wash.-based Lampson International, was moved to the site in April.

On Saturday, it was moving a 260-foot, 500,000-pound section of tubing over the triple-track main railroad line -- jointly owned by BNSF Railway and Union Pacific -- when the accident occurred at 12:20 p.m., said Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Melonas.

A 70-foot section of the tubing blocked the tracks, and material and debris were also blocking a connection off the main line that serves the Black Thunder and Jacob Ranch mines, Melonas said.

"We did shut down railroad traffic," he said.

The tubing was to enclose a large conveyor over the railroad. The conveyor system will also reach over the Hilight Road to the top of two new coal silos for Black Thunder, which is owned by Arch Coal Inc.

Arch Coal Inc. spokesman Greg Schaefer said the company will assess the damage after crews clear the wreckage.

No railroad or mine personnel were hurt, Melonas and Schaefer said.

Even so, Thunder Basin mine security officer Truman Cavender said he was ordered to call ambulances to the new construction site, which is seven miles from the mine's headquarters.

Two of the injured were described as very critical, said Wright resident and Campbell County Sheriff's Deputy C.T. Akers.

One was taken to the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper, said nursing supervisor Mike Chambers, who did not release any information on the person's identity or the severity of injuries.

Campbell County Memorial Hospital in Gillette was expecting to receive two patients, said nursing supervisor Debbie Rhoades, adding she didn't know how serious their injuries were.

Akers, who arrived at the scene about 15 minutes after hearing of the accident, said the collapse caused extensive damage to the crane.

"It's completely toppled over; it's a mass of blue, twisted metal," he said. "My guess would be that they might be able to salvage the power unit and the tracks, and things like that. But the gantry, that's going to be scrap metal, would be my guess."

A mine spokesman said TIC is the general contractor for the job, and EarthWork Solutions is doing dirt work for the job.

Bill Denning, spokesman for the Mine Safety and Health Administration in Denver, said the mine will be shut down while agency officials conduct an investigation.

Bruce Stemp, director of safety for Lampson International in Washington state, said company representatives were on their way to the scene.