Just read that 60% of crane accidents happen during setup not the actual lift

I was browsing through OSHA reports last night and found that stat from a study they did between 2015 and 2020. It surprised me because I always figured the dangerous part was swinging a load over people or equipment. Has anyone else changed their pre-lift checks after seeing numbers like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

david92011d ago

Whoa, that stat really caught me off guard too. I mean, think about it - most of the near-misses I've seen on sites have been during the lift itself (swinging loads, snapped cables, that kind of stuff). So what specifically in the setup phase is causing these accidents? Is it like ground conditions giving way under the outriggers, or is it people rushing through the assembly and missing critical steps?

thomas.river11d ago

Three out of four crane accidents happen during setup according to the stats I've seen. Usually it's the ground giving out under the outriggers because nobody bothered to check if it was compacted fill from last week's pipe repair. Or the guy setting up the mats thinks "close enough" counts when the cribbing stack looks like a Jenga tower. Worst one I heard about was a crew that set up on a buried septic tank. That tank found out real quick it wasn't rated for 80 tons.

dianawilson11d agoMost Upvoted

That stat caught me off guard too, honestly always thought the lift itself was the dangerous part.