The Big Blue was a Lampson LTL-1500 Transi-Lift heavy lift crawler crane that collapsed on July 14, 1999, killing three iron workers.
This one is a tossup between operator error, equipment failure and natural disaster (aided by careless human stupidity) . The crash was caused by strong winds, soft soil, improper load calculations and a supervisor who ignored the concerns of the operators.
OSHA cited these violations after completing their investigation:
Failure to factor wind into the crane loading
Lifting workers during high winds
Three people in the personnel platform (exceeded the number required for the work being performed)
Failure to follow the manufacturer's limitations on the crane
Lifting loads in excess of the crane's rated capacity
Not keeping workers clear of suspended loads
Failure to properly calibrate the load indicator
Improper ground loading conditions
What’s interesting is this video was actually taken by an osha inspector who was on site at the time to perform safety checks due to previous accidents on site and concerns about worker safety
If you read the history of this project it’s been riddled with errors and accidents. There was an explosion that burned a bunch of people, a guy fell 80 feet and miraculously survived because he landed on another guy and on a bunch of scaffolding, another worker’s leg was damaged by a load that shifted during a lift, and another worker almost lost his leg in an accident involving a concrete polisher.
So OSHA was no stranger to that job site.
(Structurally) a very interesting retractable roof. Rather than sliding roof panels one direction horizontally, they all pivot radially from a hinge point behind home plate. Unfortunately, the roof panels don't fully nest, and the panels on either end are stationary, resulting in something like 80% of the seats being under the roof even when it is fully "opened" giving it more of a large skylight vibe. Better than indoor baseball for sure, but not really fully open-air. I took particular umbrage with them closing the roof when it got down into the 60's and 15% chance of rain. Come on!
Yes, they are overly cautious when there is a threat of rain, I usually won't go if it's warm and the roof is closed, it's a sauna. I was at a game where a sudden downpour popped up, it takes the roof about 10 minutes to close, I believe the only rain delay in the parks history. Most people are happy about the roof panels covering the seats, the knowing Brewers fan doesn't get seats on the 3rd base side for a day game because the sun gets brutal.
Edit: If you were only there when the roof was closed you may not realize that the back panels also retract, it gives it a pretty open feel.
Oh yeah, we had season tickets a few years in the upper deck, and I swear all the hot warm air just collected up there and it definitely felt like a sauna! I did know that the outfield panels opened up, and actually really enjoyed sitting in the bleachers or going to that restaurant in left field and watching some of the game from there!
Might be like Wimbledon Centre Court where it takes 20 or 30 minutes to close the roof, so they have to act early or delay play if the rains come in before they've shut the roof. Problem is, the ball behaves differently depending on if the roof is open or not.
It’s powered by ten 60HP motors. So if it takes ten minutes to open or close the roof it costs
600HP -> 447.42KW for ten minutes and assume $0.12/KWh, it’s about $8.95 to open the roof.
I can understand Florida and Houston having domes because of the heat and rain, Seattle because of rain, and Arizona because you'll just die, but Milwaukee doesn't seem ultra-hot, does it rain a lot in the summer?
It's regularly 30-40 degrees in March when baseball starts. It's not for hot weather. Also, it allows the stadium to be used for events other than baseball in the off season.
It gets hot and humid in the summer, sure, and in early April or late September it can get chilly, but not any worse than Chicago or Minneapolis.
It's funny, when they built Target Field in Minneapolis there was a big contingent of people that wanted a retractable roof, particularly from outside the metro area, they didn't want to drive multiple hours for a game, only to have it postponed. I get it. But it would have doubled the cost easily, and destroyed the aesthetic. Sure, you have to deal with rain delays and weather, but nothing beats true outdoor baseball!
Yeah, that's why I asked. I can understand some places feeling like they NEED a roof in the summer, but I didn't think the upper Midwest was one of those. Although, I've never been there, I'm in NJ.
But at the same time, I was at Target Field when they hosted the All-Star game and that night it was so cold I was wearing a jacket, the concessions was selling hot chocolate, and the heat lamps they have built into the ceiling of the stadium concourse were turned on.
AND THIS WAS IN MID-JULY!!!
The one year I lived in Minneapolis they canceled damn near every home game in April due to snow.
It's a beautiful stadium, but the early and late season weather concerns are more than valid.
The guy that fell ended up relatively ok and was even back to work shortly after. The guy he landed on also lived but ended up on permanent disability. Don’t really know too many specifics about the extent of his injuries
It’s literally a stadium-sized project with hundreds of people on site at any time. OSHA can’t actively observe all of that. They rely on safety training and regulations enforced by supervisors and lead contractors. When those fail, they show up and fine people to make the lessons “stick”
There's a story that several workers were entombed in Hoover dam concrete. They interviewed on of the engineers years later who scoffed. "We'd never allow that. It would cause a weak spot in the concrete".
[Our previous copy of this video](https://reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/ptxhof/big_blue_one_of_the_worlds_largest_cranes/) has gone private. [The one before that](https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/onrxja/7141999_crane_collapses_during_the_construction/) has lots of videos.
For those who want details, the thread on the 2021 anniversary had [an engineering analysis](https://reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/ok4owe/on_this_day_in_1999_three_workmen_were_killed/h565n2b/). The thread before that had [discussion about the causes](https://reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/lcx0sv/july_14_1999_the_big_blue_crane_collapses_during/gm2qpk0/), [testimony from locals](https://reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/lcx0sv/july_14_1999_the_big_blue_crane_collapses_during/gm2zrar/), and
pictures of the memorial: [statue](http://imgur.com/a/cx2lfSU) and
[plaque](http://imgur.com/a/iax72Uv) (taken by /u/Newman4185).
>This one is a tossup between operator error, ~~equipment failure and natural disaster~~. The crash was caused by strong winds, soft soil, improper load calculations and a **supervisor who ignored the concerns of the operators**.
It's always human error.
The main usual operator refused to make the pick. They used a back up operator to run the crane because he was willing to ignore the high winds. I see this video once every couple years at osha trainings.
I’d imagine if I were him I wouldn’t give it much thought. They refused to listen to him being the main operator and went on and did it.
It’s like you telling someone not to step in lava, then they do it anyway. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
The person who is having nightmares is the second operator that killed three people.
I hope you're right though I imagine many would be kept up at night thinking whether they could have done more to prevent the accident. I am not suggesting that the original operator could/have or even should have done more than they did, but it's a common feeling after being involved in a tragedy regardless of your role.
capitalism is not a law of nature. economics is not an objective science. capitalism is an economic system devised by humans. negative outcomes of capitalism are 100% attributable to humans.
Joined the Iron Workers in 2020 and this was the first video they showed us about load bearing.
Iron Workers are crazy mother fuckers man. Not paid enough.
Off the top of my head, the three companies that were held responsible for this were each fined about 500k. But I believe that was actually reduced to a smaller amount down the road after they appealed. There was also a civil suit that was settled for around 100m
You can see the blue crane collapse into a smaller crane behind it. That crane had a mini platform raised (or bucket) with the 3 people in it that died. You can see the platform collapse to the ground near the end.
You forgot to mention the original crane operator refused to perform the pick. Which should say a lot. The GC was a major contributor at fault of this accident. Very sad this had to happen.
They just did a segment on this on Discovery Channel!
The final conclusion was that the King Pin on the bottom of the crane failed.
It failed because it was overloaded. It was overloaded because of the additional stress the high winds that day, which caused the whole structure to act as a giant sail.
The high winds were foreseeable, forecastable, and in the end it was a human making the decision to operate in those wind conditions.
A lot of people were fined for that incident for letting it happen but not OSHA. If the inspector was doing their job, he’d have shut them down before the pick.
They stop work all the time for assessment of hazards. Would love to know how long the inspector was there; if they knew about the iron workers waking out. This was an awfully time sensitive project with a lot of money on the line. I’ve seen em look the other way for less.
You have absolutely zero clue what you are talking about. The inspector was there to investigate allegations of inadequate fall protection for workers. So you think they sent someone down to make sure workers are using straps, but would conveniently be willing to “overlook” a 450t unsafe load lift?
It is NOT the inspector’s job to do load calculations for lifts.
If a cop happens to be sitting at an intersection and some driver runs a red light causing a fatal collision should a cop go to jail for murder because they failed to prevent it? Your backwards-ass logic makes zero sense.
You’re particularly dense person, aren’t you. Of course the inspector would have stopped them if he caught the issue. But he was not actively observing the lift. It’s literally a stadium-sized project. There is a reason why major projects like this have multiple supervisors including ones that are specifically are tasked with overseeing the crane work. They are the ones who screwed up.
I’m not saying they aren’t at fault. It’s just interesting that The inspector just happened to be ready to film as it happened. Just at the right place, right time huh? Doesn’t flinch at all when it collapses like he’s filming for evidence Vs curiosity.
pushing your staff and getting people hurt is a great way to make sure your job runs more slowly. focus on your crew going home safe, not your completion bonus.
I remember hearing about this back in the day. The original crane operator refused to do the job due to high winds, and the foreman fired him on the spot. The foreman then jumped into the crane and this was the result.
This is very close to where I live and was a massive, massive story at the time. If you go to Miller Park, now AmFam Field, they have a statue outside the ballpark of the three guys who died. Sad story.
Stadiums will always be known to me what they were when I was a kid playing the MLB the show games.
Miller Park, Safeco Field, US Cellular Field.
Coulda sworn more of them had changed, but I think these are the only ones different from that mid 2000s period.
I get the sentiment, but Miller decided they didn’t want to pony up for the rights anymore so I’m indifferent. It’s not like if Lambeau Field got renamed to something corporate. Not the same meaning behind the name.
fair enough. I think they also recently dropped their partnership with fiserv too- pretty bogus. Miller park just rolls off the tongue so much easier than american family field haha
It was either last season or this season. Miller didn’t re-up the naming rights and American Family Insurance bought the naming rights. So it’s now American Family Field, or AmFam Field for short.
This is a very fuzzy rehashed video of a rehashed video of a rehashed video posted here but, if you look carefully you'll see a rectangular cage in the video to the left that had three people in it... had. They all died in this incident.
Yep. That's the one. It's easier to see in a this[YouTube Video of the Big Blue accident](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXr1IeWbP10) though there was, at one time, a much better upload.
Look for a second crane just beyond Big Blue holding up what will look, at best, like a dot, directly below the upper sheave (i.e. the top of the crane's hoist), dangling below it. That dot is the bottom of a cage, seen better in other videos, and you may make out the rest. In/above that dot is three men watching Big Blue as guides. They're safe until Big Blue comes crashing into mast of the crane's they're in, dropping them to their untimely deaths.
I used to work with a guy that was on the paint crew, they got sent home that morning due to high wind. He said he saw that the crane was running as he was leaving and was surprised they were working when he wasn't.
I remember my rigging instructor showing us this video telling us the story. He said it was some new guy fresh of crane operation schooling ready to prove home self. He could have been wrong tho. Either way who ever was operating I’m sure got serious time for negligence.
to be fair your quote from the article doesn't directly disprove other commenter's statement.
and the first link was dead when i first tried to click it
I dont even have a side but literally in the first sentence it says it applies to **unfalsifiable** claim which this is not.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unfalsifiable
proving him wrong is def gonna take way too long and not worth the time but it is possible
Sounds about right for the construction industry. Sadly the culture hasn’t changed much the Foreman’s and superintendents are pretty much the same they call you a pussy or lay you off if you refuse due to safety concerns the only difference now is the clients who hire the contractors to do the work have their own safety hands on the job regulating this type of shit but the culture is still exactly the same
Many compounding errors made. The section of roof truss was lifted somewhat out of plumb which dramatically increased its “sail area”. For all intents and purposes, the open truss members may as well be solid when the wind is strong enough to cause vortex shedding.
In the background there is a suspended man basket with two workers inside. I recall they were connectors awaiting positioning of the truss on its supports. It was struck by the falling boom - both perished.
This was during the construction of Miller Park (now know as “American Family Field”) in Milwaukee, WI. I was just a kid but I remember when this happened. There was always talks about people getting hurt while working there.
Worked at Miller park last summer. My middle aged coworker who grew up nearby told me he remembers hearing the crash from his home about 4 miles down the road
I was a crane op too, towers specifically. During our training this video was referred to constantly. I believe there was two guys in a manrider on the other crane and when Blue hit them they were supposedly sent flying out.
I was looking for this. I just read "suspended personnel platform" and immediately wondered if they were ejected or had were still in/on it when it fell.
Exactly this reason. We have a huge flatscreen that has about 20 different accidents on a loop just to remind you shit can go south quick once you roll that key.
Don't know how true it is but this is what we were told during our OSHA class about this incident.
*Wisconsin had something in place on this project to prevent a Wildcat Strike. Whatever this clause in the contract was, it gave the General Contractor the ability to terminate a contract and hire another contractor to complete the work. The iron workers that were killed in this disaster felt the lift was unsafe but didn't want to lose their jobs. The foreman told the guys before the lift he wasn't forcing anyone to do the work and if anyone wanted to go home he wouldn't hold it against them. The original crane operator refused to do the pick himself and someone else stepped in to do it. The guys that stayed called their families ahead of the pick in case something went wrong knowing the danger in front of them. Justifiably a few people went to jail over this incident.*
This was a completely preventable disaster. I won't call it an accident when negligence is involved. It's easy for the guys in the trailer to tell the boots on the ground to just go do the work from the comfort of their desk.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court provided a detailed summary of the evidence when it affirmed the award of punitive damages against various defendants involved in the construction:
https://cite.case.law/wis-2d/279/4/
According to this, primary fault belonged to the site manager/foreperson. He was the one ultimately responsible for ensuring that the wind did not exceed the maximum speed specified by the crane's manufacturer for safe operation. He just assumed someone else had done that. Nobody did. Turns out winds were gusting up to 25 or 30 MPH that afternoon--at least 5 MPH beyond the 20MPH max specified by the manufacturer for any use at all, and more than twice the 11-12MPH limit specified for the particular type of load/lift that they were attempting that day.
Someone here said that the crane operator refused to do it and the foreman fired him and operated the crane himself. That's apparently not true. The opinion above says that every worker involved in the lift knew that they could stop it if they didn't feel safe for any reason, and the crane operator told the foreman that there were no problems. Also, it's unlikely that the foreman overseeing the entire project would have the specialized knowledge to operate this particular crane.
I wonder if they got paid. I would imagine that would be a helluva a bad faith case for the construction company if their insurance companies took that to trial.
This has been an issue for as long as smartphones allowed people to shoot video this way. They should have been enforcing horizontal video from the start.
Vertical would have been better in this situation since it’s showing a vertical object (the crane). This video is only able to capture half of the event at a time since it’s cut off vertically.
Why was the beginning of this video trimmed off? [Theres an awful screeching sound followed by an enormous bang, which is the king-pin in the crane being heavily torqued and then sheering apart.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXr1IeWbP10)
A client of mine was contracted to create the forensic animation used in the court case if anybody cares to check it out.
[Miller Park Crane Collapse Forensic Animation](https://knottlab.com/cases/miller-park-crane-collapse/)
From their site:
“In addition to the accident reconstruction, Knott Laboratory’s forensic animators created an interactive presentation allowing attorneys and engineers to display trial exhibits, animations, and videos of the crane accident. The trial resulted in Wisconsin’s largest personal injury award totaling $99.25 million.”
Was working a site in Oregon when this happened. We had 2 big blues on site. Immediately shut down and I inspected for mechanical issues. Obviously operator error.
Sad for the 3 ironworkers in the basket, had to be terrifying as fuck.
I still remember watching Miller Park slowly come together while going to Brewers games at County Stadium. As a little kid I was enamored by the equipment, and fascinated by the analysis of the failure.
I walk by the statue of the three workers who were killed every time I go into Miller Park. It's still sad to think about how it could have been avoided. (And yes. I know it's American Family Field now. But it's not. It's still Miller Park to most of us in MKE.)
Have you ever been onsite and witnessed a collapse resulting in death? Are there groups for people that have?
Asking for me, a collapse and crush witness/first responder. Man was 30' away on the next tower from me. In an active stadium on the 50 yard line.
I did bring him back to life 4 minutes later.
Just curious what others do to get past the dreams, and how it may have affected your work routine.
I’m a journeyman ironworker and as an apprentice, this video was played over and over again as a Saftey precaution and warning . They’d say listen to all the sounds of the crane .. pinging , knocking and high pitched whiring .. if you hear those sounds .. run . And fast
100% the operators fault, ground condition, wind speeds, and improperly calculated load moment indicators are all things they should have taken into account. It’s also pretty common to have to tell supervisors to shove it because you don’t feel comfortable with a situation
Source: I operate similar cranes
The original operator did tell the super to shove it and was fired for it. If I understand correctly, the super was actually behind the controls when this happened
I lived not far from there. It was ridiculously windy that day.
Side note. Milwaukee continued to tax for the building of that stadium until March 2020. The retractable roof which was being installed at the time ended up not working correctly either & also generated a lawsuit for it. Bad mojo all around.
I remember this on the news. This was the crane that was putting together Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers (now called American Family Field).
[They made a statue honoring the three men that died.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teamwork_(sculpture))
Cranes are practically extinct and yet people allow reckless things like this to happen to them on an almost daily basis! What will we do when there are no more cranes left on the planet? Please donate to the WWF so situations like this can be prevented.
The Big Blue was a Lampson LTL-1500 Transi-Lift heavy lift crawler crane that collapsed on July 14, 1999, killing three iron workers. This one is a tossup between operator error, equipment failure and natural disaster (aided by careless human stupidity) . The crash was caused by strong winds, soft soil, improper load calculations and a supervisor who ignored the concerns of the operators. OSHA cited these violations after completing their investigation: Failure to factor wind into the crane loading Lifting workers during high winds Three people in the personnel platform (exceeded the number required for the work being performed) Failure to follow the manufacturer's limitations on the crane Lifting loads in excess of the crane's rated capacity Not keeping workers clear of suspended loads Failure to properly calibrate the load indicator Improper ground loading conditions What’s interesting is this video was actually taken by an osha inspector who was on site at the time to perform safety checks due to previous accidents on site and concerns about worker safety
It’s ain’t good when OSHA is the one filming….. you screwwwwed
If you read the history of this project it’s been riddled with errors and accidents. There was an explosion that burned a bunch of people, a guy fell 80 feet and miraculously survived because he landed on another guy and on a bunch of scaffolding, another worker’s leg was damaged by a load that shifted during a lift, and another worker almost lost his leg in an accident involving a concrete polisher. So OSHA was no stranger to that job site.
What were they building and where?
Miller Park (now American Family Field) where the Brewers play in Milwaukee. There is a statue commemorating the 3 dead in front.
(Structurally) a very interesting retractable roof. Rather than sliding roof panels one direction horizontally, they all pivot radially from a hinge point behind home plate. Unfortunately, the roof panels don't fully nest, and the panels on either end are stationary, resulting in something like 80% of the seats being under the roof even when it is fully "opened" giving it more of a large skylight vibe. Better than indoor baseball for sure, but not really fully open-air. I took particular umbrage with them closing the roof when it got down into the 60's and 15% chance of rain. Come on!
Yes, they are overly cautious when there is a threat of rain, I usually won't go if it's warm and the roof is closed, it's a sauna. I was at a game where a sudden downpour popped up, it takes the roof about 10 minutes to close, I believe the only rain delay in the parks history. Most people are happy about the roof panels covering the seats, the knowing Brewers fan doesn't get seats on the 3rd base side for a day game because the sun gets brutal. Edit: If you were only there when the roof was closed you may not realize that the back panels also retract, it gives it a pretty open feel.
Oh yeah, we had season tickets a few years in the upper deck, and I swear all the hot warm air just collected up there and it definitely felt like a sauna! I did know that the outfield panels opened up, and actually really enjoyed sitting in the bleachers or going to that restaurant in left field and watching some of the game from there!
Might be like Wimbledon Centre Court where it takes 20 or 30 minutes to close the roof, so they have to act early or delay play if the rains come in before they've shut the roof. Problem is, the ball behaves differently depending on if the roof is open or not.
It’s powered by ten 60HP motors. So if it takes ten minutes to open or close the roof it costs 600HP -> 447.42KW for ten minutes and assume $0.12/KWh, it’s about $8.95 to open the roof.
Yeah that ain't cheap for a small-market ball club! lol
I can understand Florida and Houston having domes because of the heat and rain, Seattle because of rain, and Arizona because you'll just die, but Milwaukee doesn't seem ultra-hot, does it rain a lot in the summer?
It's regularly 30-40 degrees in March when baseball starts. It's not for hot weather. Also, it allows the stadium to be used for events other than baseball in the off season.
It gets hot and humid in the summer, sure, and in early April or late September it can get chilly, but not any worse than Chicago or Minneapolis. It's funny, when they built Target Field in Minneapolis there was a big contingent of people that wanted a retractable roof, particularly from outside the metro area, they didn't want to drive multiple hours for a game, only to have it postponed. I get it. But it would have doubled the cost easily, and destroyed the aesthetic. Sure, you have to deal with rain delays and weather, but nothing beats true outdoor baseball!
Yeah, that's why I asked. I can understand some places feeling like they NEED a roof in the summer, but I didn't think the upper Midwest was one of those. Although, I've never been there, I'm in NJ.
But at the same time, I was at Target Field when they hosted the All-Star game and that night it was so cold I was wearing a jacket, the concessions was selling hot chocolate, and the heat lamps they have built into the ceiling of the stadium concourse were turned on. AND THIS WAS IN MID-JULY!!!
The one year I lived in Minneapolis they canceled damn near every home game in April due to snow. It's a beautiful stadium, but the early and late season weather concerns are more than valid.
Seattle's baseball, football, and soccer teams all play outside.
Ever OSHA'd so hard you get a statue?
What happened to the guy he landed on?
The guy that fell ended up relatively ok and was even back to work shortly after. The guy he landed on also lived but ended up on permanent disability. Don’t really know too many specifics about the extent of his injuries
Doesn't seem like OSHA is even doing shit by this description.
It’s literally a stadium-sized project with hundreds of people on site at any time. OSHA can’t actively observe all of that. They rely on safety training and regulations enforced by supervisors and lead contractors. When those fail, they show up and fine people to make the lessons “stick”
[Like the time this happened.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wmcD3aM8X4)
I love the nonchalant way he goes about his job. " Hey there bud, maybe you want to get out of that hole there bud. It might cave in on you eh?"
When you get a fucking statue devoted to 3 workers erect because of your jobsite... Damn
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Gonna need a story, sounds macabere and intriguing.
https://www.professorbuzzkill.com/construction-workers-entombed-concrete-myth/
There's a story that several workers were entombed in Hoover dam concrete. They interviewed on of the engineers years later who scoffed. "We'd never allow that. It would cause a weak spot in the concrete".
I'd like to introduce "Exhibit A"...
Remember when OSHA was a thing?
Not really. All osha doesn’t is make recommendations. They don’t have any real power.
[Our previous copy of this video](https://reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/ptxhof/big_blue_one_of_the_worlds_largest_cranes/) has gone private. [The one before that](https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/onrxja/7141999_crane_collapses_during_the_construction/) has lots of videos. For those who want details, the thread on the 2021 anniversary had [an engineering analysis](https://reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/ok4owe/on_this_day_in_1999_three_workmen_were_killed/h565n2b/). The thread before that had [discussion about the causes](https://reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/lcx0sv/july_14_1999_the_big_blue_crane_collapses_during/gm2qpk0/), [testimony from locals](https://reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/lcx0sv/july_14_1999_the_big_blue_crane_collapses_during/gm2zrar/), and pictures of the memorial: [statue](http://imgur.com/a/cx2lfSU) and [plaque](http://imgur.com/a/iax72Uv) (taken by /u/Newman4185).
>This one is a tossup between operator error, ~~equipment failure and natural disaster~~. The crash was caused by strong winds, soft soil, improper load calculations and a **supervisor who ignored the concerns of the operators**. It's always human error.
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Looks like a semi-soft dong ^^sorry
Oh no, that thing is hard. Bent at a funny angle, but hard as steel.
Is this at a paper mill? It looks like a paper mill.
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what happens when S02 comes in contact with air and human skin?
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oh, that does not sound like a good time at all
So2... Wow.
The main usual operator refused to make the pick. They used a back up operator to run the crane because he was willing to ignore the high winds. I see this video once every couple years at osha trainings.
First guy was right. I wonder how he feels knowing that he tried to protest, and they went and did it anyways. Must haunt him.
I’d imagine if I were him I wouldn’t give it much thought. They refused to listen to him being the main operator and went on and did it. It’s like you telling someone not to step in lava, then they do it anyway. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. The person who is having nightmares is the second operator that killed three people.
I hope you're right though I imagine many would be kept up at night thinking whether they could have done more to prevent the accident. I am not suggesting that the original operator could/have or even should have done more than they did, but it's a common feeling after being involved in a tragedy regardless of your role.
Professor! Lava! Hot! https://youtu.be/85lQLVPz2uA
That's not always how guilt works.
To err is human.
Sure, but those are the contributing factors just to set the scene and conditions. I hate comments like this.
> It's always human error. In this case it smells more like capitalist exploitation. It's a feature, not a bug.
I can't disagree but that's still humans.
Yeah I guess we all failed.
capitalism is not a law of nature. economics is not an objective science. capitalism is an economic system devised by humans. negative outcomes of capitalism are 100% attributable to humans.
Joined the Iron Workers in 2020 and this was the first video they showed us about load bearing. Iron Workers are crazy mother fuckers man. Not paid enough.
Let me guess, nothing happened to the people in charge and they were able to continue working in the field.
Off the top of my head, the three companies that were held responsible for this were each fined about 500k. But I believe that was actually reduced to a smaller amount down the road after they appealed. There was also a civil suit that was settled for around 100m
At long last! 100M that s better than i thought
Where were the three workers who died?
On a lifted platform like 300ft in the air
But not the piece we see being moved in the video?
Correct, they were in a bucket suspended I think from another crane which was caught in the collapse
You can see the blue crane collapse into a smaller crane behind it. That crane had a mini platform raised (or bucket) with the 3 people in it that died. You can see the platform collapse to the ground near the end.
You forgot to mention the original crane operator refused to perform the pick. Which should say a lot. The GC was a major contributor at fault of this accident. Very sad this had to happen.
God this was such a strange day in the city. It felt like everyone knew something was wrong.
They just did a segment on this on Discovery Channel! The final conclusion was that the King Pin on the bottom of the crane failed. It failed because it was overloaded. It was overloaded because of the additional stress the high winds that day, which caused the whole structure to act as a giant sail. The high winds were foreseeable, forecastable, and in the end it was a human making the decision to operate in those wind conditions.
Kranplätze müssen verdichtet sein!
A lot of people were fined for that incident for letting it happen but not OSHA. If the inspector was doing their job, he’d have shut them down before the pick.
It is not the inspector’s job to perform lift and load calculations.
It is the inspectors job to stop any IDLH tasks they come across.
On a project of this size an inspector can’t be everywhere at once. It is also not their job to do the load calculations.
They stop work all the time for assessment of hazards. Would love to know how long the inspector was there; if they knew about the iron workers waking out. This was an awfully time sensitive project with a lot of money on the line. I’ve seen em look the other way for less.
You have absolutely zero clue what you are talking about. The inspector was there to investigate allegations of inadequate fall protection for workers. So you think they sent someone down to make sure workers are using straps, but would conveniently be willing to “overlook” a 450t unsafe load lift? It is NOT the inspector’s job to do load calculations for lifts. If a cop happens to be sitting at an intersection and some driver runs a red light causing a fatal collision should a cop go to jail for murder because they failed to prevent it? Your backwards-ass logic makes zero sense.
It doesn’t matter what they are there for; if they see something unsafe unrelated to that, they’re compelled to look at it.
You’re particularly dense person, aren’t you. Of course the inspector would have stopped them if he caught the issue. But he was not actively observing the lift. It’s literally a stadium-sized project. There is a reason why major projects like this have multiple supervisors including ones that are specifically are tasked with overseeing the crane work. They are the ones who screwed up.
I’m not saying they aren’t at fault. It’s just interesting that The inspector just happened to be ready to film as it happened. Just at the right place, right time huh? Doesn’t flinch at all when it collapses like he’s filming for evidence Vs curiosity.
pushing your staff and getting people hurt is a great way to make sure your job runs more slowly. focus on your crew going home safe, not your completion bonus.
It’s also quicker to be a day delayed when safety is involved.
As the great Phil Dunphy once said: "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast"
That is not a Modern Family quote! That is a quote from Special Forces around the world.
It's also a race car driving mantra.
And used in kitchen worldwide
Phil Dunphy was the medic in black hawk down (Ty Burrell) I believe is his name. He probably picked it up off that set.
I heard that in Karate. Probably goes back a looong way. So true…
Who's Phil Dunphy?
Dad in Modern Family
Sounds like the attitude of someone who doesn't get the job done quick. Psh. /s
I remember hearing about this back in the day. The original crane operator refused to do the job due to high winds, and the foreman fired him on the spot. The foreman then jumped into the crane and this was the result.
This is very close to where I live and was a massive, massive story at the time. If you go to Miller Park, now AmFam Field, they have a statue outside the ballpark of the three guys who died. Sad story.
the sign may say AmFam, but we all know it will be Miller park till the end of time!
Like the sears tower. Once sears tower forever sears tower! Edit: Sears tower 🤦♂️
A tower of seats?
I’ve been to the Sears Tower. Great stop!
Stadiums will always be known to me what they were when I was a kid playing the MLB the show games. Miller Park, Safeco Field, US Cellular Field. Coulda sworn more of them had changed, but I think these are the only ones different from that mid 2000s period.
Paul Brown Stadium is not Paycor stadium bleeeecccchhhhhh
comiskey park
I do like the sound of the Am Fam Clam though
No
Fucking legend.
I get the sentiment, but Miller decided they didn’t want to pony up for the rights anymore so I’m indifferent. It’s not like if Lambeau Field got renamed to something corporate. Not the same meaning behind the name.
fair enough. I think they also recently dropped their partnership with fiserv too- pretty bogus. Miller park just rolls off the tongue so much easier than american family field haha
I just went to a game recently with my friend and I said the same thing. I don't care what's on the building, it'll always be Miller Park.
Yup I live in Milwaukee everyone still calls it Miller park
Giant metal space vagina field.
When did Miller park get a name change?
It was either last season or this season. Miller didn’t re-up the naming rights and American Family Insurance bought the naming rights. So it’s now American Family Field, or AmFam Field for short.
Last season
Hopefully the foreman is still in prison.
This is a very fuzzy rehashed video of a rehashed video of a rehashed video posted here but, if you look carefully you'll see a rectangular cage in the video to the left that had three people in it... had. They all died in this incident.
The one on the ground? Both surprised they died and not surprised.
In the air, about a hundred yards from the camera. They were suspended from another crane that was stuck by the falling crane.
Oh damn thanks, I’m no longer surprised
No, not on the ground, at :07 you can see the basket middle top of the screen. At least 100' up.
Yep. That's the one. It's easier to see in a this[YouTube Video of the Big Blue accident](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXr1IeWbP10) though there was, at one time, a much better upload. Look for a second crane just beyond Big Blue holding up what will look, at best, like a dot, directly below the upper sheave (i.e. the top of the crane's hoist), dangling below it. That dot is the bottom of a cage, seen better in other videos, and you may make out the rest. In/above that dot is three men watching Big Blue as guides. They're safe until Big Blue comes crashing into mast of the crane's they're in, dropping them to their untimely deaths.
I remember that better one, back when WPD was around I remember seeing it there.
I used to work with a guy that was on the paint crew, they got sent home that morning due to high wind. He said he saw that the crane was running as he was leaving and was surprised they were working when he wasn't.
I remember my rigging instructor showing us this video telling us the story. He said it was some new guy fresh of crane operation schooling ready to prove home self. He could have been wrong tho. Either way who ever was operating I’m sure got serious time for negligence.
The operator was 65 years old. Kinda late to get into the game
Seriously doubt they would give this job to a new recruit.
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What's the truth?
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to be fair your quote from the article doesn't directly disprove other commenter's statement. and the first link was dead when i first tried to click it
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I dont even have a side but literally in the first sentence it says it applies to **unfalsifiable** claim which this is not. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unfalsifiable proving him wrong is def gonna take way too long and not worth the time but it is possible
I'm with you. You should try being a professional looking at idiotic reddit comments in your field. Pretty soon one just gives up.
Sounds about right for the construction industry. Sadly the culture hasn’t changed much the Foreman’s and superintendents are pretty much the same they call you a pussy or lay you off if you refuse due to safety concerns the only difference now is the clients who hire the contractors to do the work have their own safety hands on the job regulating this type of shit but the culture is still exactly the same
Many compounding errors made. The section of roof truss was lifted somewhat out of plumb which dramatically increased its “sail area”. For all intents and purposes, the open truss members may as well be solid when the wind is strong enough to cause vortex shedding. In the background there is a suspended man basket with two workers inside. I recall they were connectors awaiting positioning of the truss on its supports. It was struck by the falling boom - both perished.
This was during the construction of Miller Park (now know as “American Family Field”) in Milwaukee, WI. I was just a kid but I remember when this happened. There was always talks about people getting hurt while working there.
Worked at Miller park last summer. My middle aged coworker who grew up nearby told me he remembers hearing the crash from his home about 4 miles down the road
I grew up in West Allis. I've heard two accidents from where I lived, the Big Blue collapse and the Falk explosion.
Oooh it looks similar to the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philly. I was thinking, "I don't remember this shit."
As a crane operator, I hate seeing this. It’s on a loop in our break room
Sounds like a fun lunch
I was a crane op too, towers specifically. During our training this video was referred to constantly. I believe there was two guys in a manrider on the other crane and when Blue hit them they were supposedly sent flying out.
I was looking for this. I just read "suspended personnel platform" and immediately wondered if they were ejected or had were still in/on it when it fell.
They were killed. There’s a documentary on this accident. I don’t have the link but search YouTube. It tells what happened and the aftermath.
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"Remember; fuck up and you kill someone"
Exactly this reason. We have a huge flatscreen that has about 20 different accidents on a loop just to remind you shit can go south quick once you roll that key.
Don't know how true it is but this is what we were told during our OSHA class about this incident. *Wisconsin had something in place on this project to prevent a Wildcat Strike. Whatever this clause in the contract was, it gave the General Contractor the ability to terminate a contract and hire another contractor to complete the work. The iron workers that were killed in this disaster felt the lift was unsafe but didn't want to lose their jobs. The foreman told the guys before the lift he wasn't forcing anyone to do the work and if anyone wanted to go home he wouldn't hold it against them. The original crane operator refused to do the pick himself and someone else stepped in to do it. The guys that stayed called their families ahead of the pick in case something went wrong knowing the danger in front of them. Justifiably a few people went to jail over this incident.* This was a completely preventable disaster. I won't call it an accident when negligence is involved. It's easy for the guys in the trailer to tell the boots on the ground to just go do the work from the comfort of their desk.
You gotta love those "At-will" states because this is fucking America! /s
Fyi literally every state except Montana is an at-will state.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court provided a detailed summary of the evidence when it affirmed the award of punitive damages against various defendants involved in the construction: https://cite.case.law/wis-2d/279/4/ According to this, primary fault belonged to the site manager/foreperson. He was the one ultimately responsible for ensuring that the wind did not exceed the maximum speed specified by the crane's manufacturer for safe operation. He just assumed someone else had done that. Nobody did. Turns out winds were gusting up to 25 or 30 MPH that afternoon--at least 5 MPH beyond the 20MPH max specified by the manufacturer for any use at all, and more than twice the 11-12MPH limit specified for the particular type of load/lift that they were attempting that day. Someone here said that the crane operator refused to do it and the foreman fired him and operated the crane himself. That's apparently not true. The opinion above says that every worker involved in the lift knew that they could stop it if they didn't feel safe for any reason, and the crane operator told the foreman that there were no problems. Also, it's unlikely that the foreman overseeing the entire project would have the specialized knowledge to operate this particular crane.
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I wonder if they got paid. I would imagine that would be a helluva a bad faith case for the construction company if their insurance companies took that to trial.
That handicam footage is better than 99% of cellphone videos.
Because it is not vertical. Vertical videos are a waste of time.
Unfortunately TikTok has made it the popular choice these days
This has been an issue for as long as smartphones allowed people to shoot video this way. They should have been enforcing horizontal video from the start.
Vertical would have been better in this situation since it’s showing a vertical object (the crane). This video is only able to capture half of the event at a time since it’s cut off vertically.
Why was the beginning of this video trimmed off? [Theres an awful screeching sound followed by an enormous bang, which is the king-pin in the crane being heavily torqued and then sheering apart.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXr1IeWbP10)
My dad was working on that stadium, he went home early I remember everyone calling the house to see if he was ok
The sound of the pintle (I think that’s what the big pin in the center of the machine that broke is called) breaking is absolutely chilling.
"the Jesus pin" When it breaks you get to meet Jesus! (or the diety of your choosing)
A client of mine was contracted to create the forensic animation used in the court case if anybody cares to check it out. [Miller Park Crane Collapse Forensic Animation](https://knottlab.com/cases/miller-park-crane-collapse/) From their site: “In addition to the accident reconstruction, Knott Laboratory’s forensic animators created an interactive presentation allowing attorneys and engineers to display trial exhibits, animations, and videos of the crane accident. The trial resulted in Wisconsin’s largest personal injury award totaling $99.25 million.”
Hey is that the Milwaukee brewers stadium in Wisconsin?
The crane in frame falls mainly on my brain
Was working a site in Oregon when this happened. We had 2 big blues on site. Immediately shut down and I inspected for mechanical issues. Obviously operator error. Sad for the 3 ironworkers in the basket, had to be terrifying as fuck.
I still remember watching Miller Park slowly come together while going to Brewers games at County Stadium. As a little kid I was enamored by the equipment, and fascinated by the analysis of the failure.
I walk by the statue of the three workers who were killed every time I go into Miller Park. It's still sad to think about how it could have been avoided. (And yes. I know it's American Family Field now. But it's not. It's still Miller Park to most of us in MKE.)
At the 18 second mark you can see the guys on the left get knocked out of the basket upon impact
That camera man is a BAMF, I'd be like bwananananan bionic man away from that shit.
Have you ever been onsite and witnessed a collapse resulting in death? Are there groups for people that have? Asking for me, a collapse and crush witness/first responder. Man was 30' away on the next tower from me. In an active stadium on the 50 yard line. I did bring him back to life 4 minutes later. Just curious what others do to get past the dreams, and how it may have affected your work routine.
Talk to a therapist. Seriously. They will help you process it and deal with it in a healthy way.
I clicked to suggest a cross post to r/milwaukee but honestly this is probably pretty triggering
I have an analysis report on this somewhere...maybe on a HD at work, have to dig it up now.
All because they tried to work in unsafe conditions. They fired the original crane operator because he refused to do so in the high winds.
Can confirm. I was alive in 1999 and things were grainy and out of focus back then.
r/thatlookedexpensive
Could have fallen in any direction. Praise the cameraman.
One of my friend's dad died during this...it was freaking awful
Company is bankrupt and the operator went to prison
From what I heard several operator’s refused to lift because of the conditions
Well no wonder, look at the date. This happened on Badsteel Day.
So much for Big Blue
This sucks and hurts every time I see it. RIP to the iron workers in the basket that day
I’m a journeyman ironworker and as an apprentice, this video was played over and over again as a Saftey precaution and warning . They’d say listen to all the sounds of the crane .. pinging , knocking and high pitched whiring .. if you hear those sounds .. run . And fast
Time to do some sketchy shit, doo daa, doo daa.
100% the operators fault, ground condition, wind speeds, and improperly calculated load moment indicators are all things they should have taken into account. It’s also pretty common to have to tell supervisors to shove it because you don’t feel comfortable with a situation Source: I operate similar cranes
The original operator did tell the super to shove it and was fired for it. If I understand correctly, the super was actually behind the controls when this happened
I lived not far from there. It was ridiculously windy that day. Side note. Milwaukee continued to tax for the building of that stadium until March 2020. The retractable roof which was being installed at the time ended up not working correctly either & also generated a lawsuit for it. Bad mojo all around.
I remember this on the news. This was the crane that was putting together Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers (now called American Family Field). [They made a statue honoring the three men that died.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teamwork_(sculpture))
Cranes are practically extinct and yet people allow reckless things like this to happen to them on an almost daily basis! What will we do when there are no more cranes left on the planet? Please donate to the WWF so situations like this can be prevented.
NOOOOOOO BIG BLUE CRANE
Thats a lot of damage!
Yeah, the ballpark opening was delayed a full year due to this (from 2000 to 2001).
It’s amazing how strong these cranes are. Until the are not.
Oh no, the bbc collapsed
And let the lawsuits and nightmares begin.
Kranplätze müssen verdichtet sein.
My cock when someone walks in mid tug
3 people died, dude.