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This is one of those "Wow that certainly feels like an exotic way to die; clearly, cranes must be more dangerous than cars in St. Louis." sort of situations. S
by patio11 11y ago
This is one of those "Wow that certainly feels like an exotic way to die; clearly, cranes must be more dangerous than cars in St. Louis." sort of situations.
Spoiler alert: they're not. Cranes are industrial equipment. They're getting progressively safer over time, due primarily to the general progress of technology and decreasing reliance on the most error prone component in the crane.
The most common crane-related fatality is not "crane falls over, killing operator and/or people on the ground." It is electrocution when the crane hits a power line. (c.f. OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics.) This is almost invariably a consequence of human error and failure to follow well-understood safety procedures rather than "oh noes the software is so complicated these days."
- cr1895 11y agoAnother recent tragic crane-related fatality: http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/02/23/at-least-two-killed-after-passenger-train-smashes-crane-train-overturned/ http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/02/23/at-least-two-killed-after-p... Crane operater tries to drive a crane across a railroad crossing, underestimates the time it takes, passenger train slams into it killing the train driver and injuring a number of others. (link text says two killed but it's wrong)
- Symbiote 11y agoI assume the same rules exist as in the UK, where slow vehicles must telephone the railway signaller before using a crossing. So this is just another version of not following the rules.