14 thoughts on “Seattle crane collapse new photos and follow up”
But even without pins the crane does not fall. The metal black pinholder are 25cm in the truss. so how is it possible the crane fall over? MAybe they begon from botom to top to get the pins out and in the topsection they lifted the truss but 1 pin was not out in top section. But in the lower sections was everything gone. So the whole crane was lifted, and so this whole crane was tipped. and the let it fall because the support crane could not hold it?
I think it is likely one or more pulled pins THINKING the weight would hold it down during a teardown. And if no croswind it would likely have after it was not as high as it had been.
The tear @620… shows rust… which seems as it was cracked for a while…the other side of the tube was torn.. Inspection should have caught that awhile ago….. But I'm no lawyer or engineer.. But I know what a been there for a bit crack looks like..
More than likely whoever ordered the pins removed had gotten away with it before. This time the wind came up and the redundancy of the pins was not there at a critical time
My mom worked on one in the 1980's when she was like 17-20 years of age or so in Ukraine. Except there and then they didn't have a lift to take them up so she had to climb a ladder up every day. One time she got shocked by the high voltage going up there and was stuck to it, a guy with a major limp saw something was wrong, rushed over, jumping a fence in the process and killed the disconnect to the crane saving her life as well as my siblings with my own as history has shown. Safety in the USSR days wasn't all that great. lol. It's still surprising that they allowed people that young to operate them there. I lost her to breast cancer in 2019… She was the sweetest woman I have ever seen in this universe. The good ones go first it seems.
Just read up on the findings and it blew my fucking mind… "The Department of Labor and Industries fined general contractor GLY Construction and Northwest Tower Crane Service, responsible for dismantling the crane $25,200 and $12,000 respectively. Morrow Equipment, which supplied the crane, was cited for a “willful” serious violation which “directly contributed to the collapse” and fined $70,000." The conclusion was a premature removal of 50+ pins that cause all of that damage. What a shame.
for the crane guys out there – is there a reason the pin interfaces are not designed to jam/be near impossible to move with any significant weight (like the rest of the crane) ontop? Do they ever need to be removed outside of disassembly? seems to me there's a case for an interlock, that's held in place by the weight of the sections above to prevent this – ie engineer out the possibility of stupidity and/or negligence/cutting corners. If pin removal requires the unweighting of the sections above, then removal by any dumbass is impossible.
Ave your post, catastrophic failure, forensic analysis of this incident is SPOT on. Your photo analysis interpretation of the provided evidence is unbiased, frank and logical. Your experience knowledge and background has led you to the root cause of the failure. The one question left that needs to be answered is, Who in their infinite wisdom ordered or took upon themselves to pull these structural pins? Grate vijeo . Just wondering if there has been a final determination since this negligent crime was committed.
I'm an organizer, for a sheet metal union. I can personally attest to the nature of non-union shops and workers and the willingness to sabotage work. Now am I saying scabs sabotaged the crane? NO. But the possibility is there. Now, it is also possible that the person assigned to install the pins MAY have failed to do so, be it, layoff prior to task completion, drag up, what have you. Just saying realistically, it could have been anyone.
I can attest to the comment that there is crappy workers in all fields. Union or not. Theres a lot of factors but the major problem is all of these people who hardly speak english that these companies have to hire because these younger generations don’t want to make a livable wage. Just waste money in scam classes that waste your time. I suggested to a kid he should get into electrical work and he says “maybe ill take some classes in that!”
I think we didn’t teach these young kids how to actually get a career. They think they just go through school and a jobs handed to you right after yer diploma.
Idk I’m watching the union fall apart and wondering whats going on.
But even without pins the crane does not fall. The metal black pinholder are 25cm in the truss. so how is it possible the crane fall over? MAybe they begon from botom to top to get the pins out and in the topsection they lifted the truss but 1 pin was not out in top section. But in the lower sections was everything gone. So the whole crane was lifted, and so this whole crane was tipped. and the let it fall because the support crane could not hold it?
I think it is likely one or more pulled pins THINKING the weight would hold it down during a teardown. And if no croswind it would likely have after it was not as high as it had been.
The tear @620… shows rust… which seems as it was cracked for a while…the other side of the tube was torn..
Inspection should have caught that awhile ago…..
But I'm no lawyer or engineer..
But I know what a been there for a bit crack looks like..
More than likely whoever ordered the pins removed had gotten away with it before. This time the wind came up and the redundancy of the pins was not there at a critical time
I've scrapped shit better than that.
You can't see. Thee shit welds?
My mom worked on one in the 1980's when she was like 17-20 years of age or so in Ukraine. Except there and then they didn't have a lift to take them up so she had to climb a ladder up every day. One time she got shocked by the high voltage going up there and was stuck to it, a guy with a major limp saw something was wrong, rushed over, jumping a fence in the process and killed the disconnect to the crane saving her life as well as my siblings with my own as history has shown. Safety in the USSR days wasn't all that great. lol. It's still surprising that they allowed people that young to operate them there. I lost her to breast cancer in 2019… She was the sweetest woman I have ever seen in this universe. The good ones go first it seems.
I just googled this and I'm not sure if you've mentioned it anywhere but you were 100% correct according to the report that came out.
Ya just can't fix stupid.
Just read up on the findings and it blew my fucking mind… "The Department of Labor and Industries fined general contractor GLY Construction and Northwest Tower Crane Service, responsible for dismantling the crane $25,200 and $12,000 respectively. Morrow Equipment, which supplied the crane, was cited for a “willful” serious violation which “directly contributed to the collapse” and fined $70,000." The conclusion was a premature removal of 50+ pins that cause all of that damage. What a shame.
for the crane guys out there – is there a reason the pin interfaces are not designed to jam/be near impossible to move with any significant weight (like the rest of the crane) ontop? Do they ever need to be removed outside of disassembly?
seems to me there's a case for an interlock, that's held in place by the weight of the sections above to prevent this – ie engineer out the possibility of stupidity and/or negligence/cutting corners. If pin removal requires the unweighting of the sections above, then removal by any dumbass is impossible.
Ave your post, catastrophic failure, forensic analysis of this incident is SPOT on. Your photo analysis interpretation of the provided evidence is unbiased, frank and logical. Your experience knowledge and background has led you to the root cause of the failure. The one question left that needs to be answered is, Who in their infinite wisdom ordered or took upon themselves to pull these structural pins? Grate vijeo . Just wondering if there has been a final determination since this negligent crime was committed.
I'm an organizer, for a sheet metal union. I can personally attest to the nature of non-union shops and workers and the willingness to sabotage work. Now am I saying scabs sabotaged the crane? NO. But the possibility is there. Now, it is also possible that the person assigned to install the pins MAY have failed to do so, be it, layoff prior to task completion, drag up, what have you. Just saying realistically, it could have been anyone.
I can attest to the comment that there is crappy workers in all fields. Union or not. Theres a lot of factors but the major problem is all of these people who hardly speak english that these companies have to hire because these younger generations don’t want to make a livable wage. Just waste money in scam classes that waste your time. I suggested to a kid he should get into electrical work and he says “maybe ill take some classes in that!”
I think we didn’t teach these young kids how to actually get a career. They think they just go through school and a jobs handed to you right after yer diploma.
Idk I’m watching the union fall apart and wondering whats going on.