A bad day at VT Halter Marine

surprised that the gang at gCaptain didn’t pick this up (or did they and I missed it?)

[B]Tandem lift goes wrong[/B]

June 27, 2014

Two cranes collapsed at VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on Wednesday, injuring five people including a crane operator who was seriously hurt and remains in hospital. All five are employees of VT Halter Marine.We understand that the cranes which look to be large Manitowoc crawlers, were carrying out a tandem lift with three large crawler cranes. They were lifting a large boat module into position when the incident occurred. The boom of one crane came down onto a warehouse building injuring four people inside. Tandem lift goes wrongOf the three cranes carrying out the tandem lift, one completely overturned

VT Halter Marine vice President Jack Prendergast said:"We are investigating the accident, and our immediate concern is for those who are injured.

Today is not a good day. Safety is our number one priority, and we’re sad this happened. the cranes were performing a tandem lift of an offshore supply ship module when the accident occurred. We do this type of lift all the time. One crane clipped the end of a warehouse".

More News:

Two VT Halter Marine employees remain at USA Health Center in Mobile after two cranes collapsed Wednesday afternoon. That’s according to Executive Vice President John Prendergast. The other three employees injured in the accident were treated and released from Singing River Hospital. None of them had broken bones.

There’s still no word on what caused two cranes to collapse at VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula Wednesday afternoon, injuring five people. Officials say several cranes were being used to move a section of a boat being built at the facility when two of the cranes collapsed. WLOX News talked with one of the employees who was injured and released who said he hurt his leg running from under the crane boom. He also said the two others brought to Singing River Hospital also suffered leg injures.

Thursday employees returned to work and the cranes remained on the ground toppled over, but roped off. Prendergast said OSHA and the crane manufacturer, Manitowoc, were both in Pascagoula Thursday investigating the accident. Employee Joe Drape said a meeting was held Wednesday around 11:30 for all employees on that shift. “They were letting us know about safety first. That’s the main thing, safety first,” Drape said. “We can’t be in a rush about when we do things like that because the job will get done; we just have to take our time.”

Several employees, including Drape, said the accident does make them nervous about working at the shipyard. “It do, but I still have to feed my family and take care of what I have to take care of,” Drape said. “So we know the chance we are taking when we come here.” Multiple cranes were lifting in tandem when there was a failure and two of the cranes collapsed Wednesday afternoon. “Our number one priority is the welfare of the workers,” Prendergast said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families.” “I’ve been praying for the family,” Drape said. “I’m sorry about what happened.”

There have been other cranes manufactured by Manitowoc involved in accidents. In 2008 one person was killed and three others injured when the crane collapsed, but OSHA blamed the accident on the company operating the crane. In 2007, a crane boom collapsed. Luckily, no one was injured. And in 1999, one person was killed, three others injured when a crane buckled under the restraints and tumbled backward crashing in the street. WLOX News reached out to Manitowoc, but has not yet heard back from the company.

Show me the JSA!

lots of photos of tandem lifts going wrong around the world with mobile cranes
( union hoist issues forgotten…)