Sunday, July 5, 2015

A CRANE WITH AN 82-FOOT BOOM HIT A BUILDING ON THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH CAMPUS IN OAKLAND, PA






JULY 3, 2015

PITTSBURGH, PA
A crane with an 82-foot boom hit a building on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland Friday morning.
Officials said the crane operator was trying to swing the boom around and the truck tipped over.
The boom hit Langley Hall, which houses biological sciences facilities and the Langley Library, and bent the metal frame roof.
“It's mostly cosmetic, the exterior fascia of the building. No structural damage to the building at all,” said Ken Service, a spokesman for Pitt.

No one was in the building at the time of the incident.

The operator has been taken off the job until the construction company, Franco Masonry, determines what led to the accident.

“We usually drug test our folks right after it happened. That's standard protocol for an accident like this,” said Jack Kramer, the project manager. “We will go through a debriefing on what happened to make sure it doesn't happen again.”

Crews have since worked to stabilize the crane and get the truck fully upright.


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CRANE TIPS OVER, SMASHES INTO ROOF OF BUILDING AT UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

Federal work safety officials are investigating what caused a crane to tip over and smash into the top of a University of Pittsburgh building on Friday. 

No one was injured, and damage was minimal. 

The crane wobbled and fell onto the roof of Langley Hall on Ruskin Avenue in Oakland about 9 a.m. 

A construction crew renovating Ruskin Hall, an apartment-style residence hall, was using the crane to lift scaffolding when the accident occurred, Pitt spokeswoman Sharon Blake said. 

Pitt spokesman Ken Service said Franco Associates, the Forest Hills construction firm that owns the crane, told him that worker error likely caused the accident. 

Jack Kramer, a project manager at Franco Associates, said it will interview the crane operator and he'll undergo a drug test. In the meantime, the crane operator is off the job. 

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration should know more on Monday, spokeswoman Lenore Uddyback-Fortson said. 

Neither she nor Kramer would say whether improper use of the outriggers used to balance the truck holding the crane might have contributed. 

Service said Langley Hall sustained minor damage, mostly cosmetic, when the crane pierced a metal overhang. 

Because of the Fourth of July holiday, Blake said, there may have been just a couple of people in Langley Hall when the crane hit the roof. 

Langley is home to science facilities and Langley Library.

Source: triblive.com