Telescopic crane boom incident.

[BigClive]

Those of you who frequent this list will know that I was moaning about a new French crane that had to go through long winded initialisation procedures before it could be used. The story just got more interesting today. The machine is a prototype and is on loan from the French manufacturer as a goodwill gesture after a brand new all terrain crane from the same company had an incident.

Apparently it was set up and the boom telescoped out when it suddenly let go and the boom explosively telescoped back into itself. Fortunately nobody was injured in the incident, but the crane suffered boom damage.

It was making me think.... What if the boom collapsed right now? Many times it would have taken the load and probably me and my bucket down with it. One of those "it could happen" things.

[CPOPE]

A telescoping boom for an electric cherry picker does not sound like a good Idea. Maintaining the dielectric and mechanical strength of the variable length is sketchy.

Most of the problems in the Northeast Urban areas are with independant crane operators.

THURSDAY, Jan. 24, 2008, 4:32 p.m.
UPDATE: Worker dies from injuries
Port Washington - A 21-year-old employee at Voeller Mixers, Inc., 455 N. Moore Road, died as the result of an electrical accident today when a crane, which the employee had been working with, touched an overhead electric line, Port Washington police reported.Killed was Travis Tappa of Port Washington, Ozaukee County Coroner John Holicek said this afternoon.
The crane was attempting to lift a concrete mixer at the south end of a parking lot when it came in contact with a line carrying 4,800 volts of electricity.

Tappa was working with the crane operator, said Capt. Michael Keller of the Port Washington police.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.

NGREED is actually very proactive in this areana. Fill out the info in the following link for free info to hand out to contractors in your area.
https://www.nationalgridus.com/commitment/d3-11_worksafeform.asp

[thrasher]

CPOPE:
I have always liked a telescopic boom for use in a substation environment. You usually have so much steel, fences, getaway poles right against the fence and so forth that a knuckle boom is hard to put in the right place. That said, they do take a little extra in the boom cleaning department but that's what truck drivers are for. As long as the boom is cleaned, especially the tracks the rollers want to make on the fiberglass, we have never had one fail a dielectric test.

[lewy]

They are great in tight places ,but in Ontario you cannot use them on energized lines over 15kv phase to phase for hands on work.