When something goes wrong – crane accidents causes and what you can learn from them.
Why the construction and civil engineering industry features so prominently in accident statistics, and what prevents it
No requirements
§Construction is among the top for accidents
Over 40,000 work accidents are reported to the Danish Working Environment Authority every year, and the construction and civil engineering industry is among the sectors where the most accidents occur — around 6,300 reported work accidents per year come from construction alone. Crane work does not account for the majority of these by number, but when something goes wrong with a heavy, suspended load, the consequences are often far more serious than with many other types of accidents.
§The classic causes of crane accidents
If something goes wrong anyway, traceability is what makes a recall possible — you can find exactly which batch is affected, instead of having to recall an entire production run. Together, HACCP and traceability form the backbone of the food safety that consumers rely on without thinking about it.
- 01Missing stability — the crane tips because the ground or setup did not hold
- 02Overload — load and reach exceed the load curve's limit
- 03Unclear communication between crane operator and rigger.
- 04Faulty or incorrectly selected lifting equipment that fails under load
- 05People in or too close to the danger area
§Hit by objects and crushing
The Labour Authority's targeted oversight at construction sites has especially focused on among other things 'falls from height' 'struck by objects' and 'crushing' as recurring accident types. Crane work directly hits the last two categories: a load that swings or falls can hit someone and a person can get pinched between the load and something fixed if the distance is not maintained. This is among other reasons why no one is allowed to stand under a suspended load.
§PLACEHOLDER_20
One of the most important cultures in modern occupational safety and health work is to report near-misses — the situations where it almost went wrong, but didn't. A load that just barely didn't hit anyone, or a support beam that just barely didn't give way, is free learning if it is reported and reviewed. If, on the other hand, it is forgotten because 'nothing happened', the workplace misses the opportunity to correct the error before the next time it hits someone.
“Very few serious crane accidents come as a surprise to anyone who knows the trade. Most have a history of minor warnings nobody listened to.”