Hooper accident 2-26-07

[PA BEN]

PA BEN The Union has no managerial rights with a Contractor. The Union understands that the Contractor(Employer) is responsible to perform the work required by the owner. The Employer therefore has no restrictions, except those specifically provided for in the collective bargaining agreement, in planning, directing, and controlling the operation of all his work, in deciding the number and kind of employees to properly perform the work, in hiring and laying off employees, in transferring employees from job to job within the Local Unions juristiction, in determining the need and number, as well as the persons who will act as Foreman, in requiring all employees to observe all saftey regulations and in discharging employees for just cause. The Union can not control work rules being violated, unsafe conditions or acts, or lack of equipment. This should be addressed by crew members to the Foreman, who then should correct these issues. The crews have a responsibility to ensure none of the above issues occur. The Foreman has a responsibility to make sure the crew has the proper tools, correct material, enough equipment and trained manpower so that the task at hand can be done safely and effeciant. This can be accomplished through management. A good Foreman will plan ahead and work with management to make sure it has everything they need ahead of time. If there is a contract violation, contact your Shop Steward, if you have one, to address the issue at hand. All crew members should know the terms and conditions of their agreement and therefore are their own "shop stewards". If the Shop Steward can not resolve the issue, with the crews or management, the Shop Steward should contact the Hall and talk to a Business Rep. If he does not, contact the Hall and get a new Shop Steward. Going straight to the Union accomplishes nothing but ticking off management for not going to management first. Could get you fired or put on "one shot" for violating a company policy, depending on where you work. When there is a ladder to climb and you should start at the bottom. The crew is at the bottom and the Union should be the top. Most issues can be resolved at crew levels but sometimes the crew is the issue. Again contact management or a Shop Steward first before calling the Hall. The Union has no managerial rights.

It took me awhile to get back to this one, what I meant by going to the Union first is if you have Foremen who are unsafe, cutting corners etc. Call your Business manager for advice. Take the Foremen’s actions before the E-Board the E-Board can punish him or even boot his unsafe ass out of the union. Police ourselves and maybe the Union will gain more respect from our employers.

[Bull Dog]

HI all-anyone who has a interest in this accident should click on the link in my last post you should find it interesting. It is a article from Iowa newspaper about this horrible accident. Cant help but notice alliant has no comment on this. Wonder why?

[shaun]

HI all-anyone who has a interest in this accident should click on the link in my last post you should find it interesting. It is a article from Iowa newspaper about this horrible accident. Cant help but notice alliant has no comment on this. Wonder why?

Probably because the contractor has to carry thier own insurance and there is some sort of dispute going on. They'll never comment on anything which might "include" themselves with any type of liability, even if they KNOW they are arseholes.

[tramp67]

Didn't see anything about what physically caused the accident in the article. It sounds like maybe someone forgot to put a pin in the jib, or maybe the basket was overloaded?? As vague as the OSHA citations were in the article, I can see Hooper getting the fines greatly reduced, if not dropped completely. Has anyone heard what actually caused the basket to fall off the jib?

[Ghostrider]

Our safety man told us that another crew set the crane up and installed the jib pin in the wrong hole. When the operator boomed up the jib slid into the main boom and sheared the basket off killing the young man. There must be some one that knows if this is true.

We have three different types of cranes on the project I am on and they all have a different procedure to deploy the jib. Every one needs to read the operators manual.

[skylifter]

Depending on the type of basket, how it was attached to the crane, and whether or not the crane was approved to use a manbasket, the use of a crane-suspended basket is strictly regulated by OSHA, and in many instances, it is not legal.

The Standard is 1926.550-Cranes & derricks, and many conditions must be met in order to legally use a crane-suspended manbasket, especially one that is suspended from the hoising cable.

This standard has a section (1926.550 (g) (2)) that has been called the "exception to the rule" clause, which states," General requirements. The use of a crane or derrick to hoist employees on a personnel platform is prohibited, except when the erection, use, and dismantling of conventional means of reaching the worksite, such as a personnel hoist, ladder, stairway, aerial lift, elevating work platform or scaffold, would be more hazardous or is not possible because of structural design or worksite conditions."

A real bucket truck or aerial lift is much safer for personnel lifting than any crane. The entire machine has been designed for one primary purpose; to lift people. That is a major reason why OSHA made the above standard.

[tramp67]

I've never worked on a job where a basket suspended from the load line was used. My experience has pretty much been working with aerial platforms designed by the crane manufacturer that are pinned solidly to the end of the boom, all telescopic cranes. For the most part, that's what Hooper uses as well. They have, or at least have in the past, used some one man fiberglass "barrels" that attached to the boom tip as well. Whether or not those barrels were made by the crane manufacturer can't be answered by me. Worst thing about those was that if you dropped something inside, you had to climb out and dive in head first, they were that small. I'm not sure where the lanyard was attached in this accident, the preferred point of attachment is onto the boom or the adapter the basket connects to. I've worked out of some crane baskets with factory lanyard attachment points on them, but I always opt for the boom attachment point for the specific reason of what happens if the basket were to fall off?
Man baskets on cranes are becoming very commonplace, especially on large highline projects. As unfortunate as this accident was, hopefully we will all be more diligent in our inspections and setups to keep something like this from happening again.