Root Cause Analysis of Versalift Incident - Part 1

This is the root cause analysis video produced by the Lyondell Basell refinery after the July 18 2008 Versa-Lift Crane Collapse. It was released in order to educate all those in the industry, and to try and prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
The video is long, but please watch all of it before commenting.
We applaud Lyondell Basell's openness, and welcome a thorough debate on the state of training and experience in the crane industry.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families and friends of those that lost their lives in this unfortunate, but thoroughly preventable incident.
Although the video was released without copyright, I do not own it. Please do not contact me for permission to re-broadcast.
Safety First!
The video had to be cut short to meet You Tube's time limit. Part 2 will be posted shortly

Category:

Education

Tags:

• crane
• accident
• lyondell
• basell
• houston
• collapse
• versacrane
• fatality
• deep
• south
• kran
• unfälle

[dogsnake12]

I was there when it happened...It fell on the scaffiold builders lunch tent. I was in the fluid unit though, kind of close to the Coker.

[justchillian]

i just compleyed a job with this craneafter rebuild it went great the men on that rig were very perfecinal and dame good you go boys HILLBILLY you the man

[malaycobra]

@canucksteel

I'm sure it does. Not without the operator there though! ;-)

[malaycobra]

@canucksteel

The main boom may have been at the high point before they started pulling the derrick mast back. I have no idea how far the mast had to come, but t was obviously far enough to pull the main boom through the point of no return.

[canucksteel]

@malaycobra one last question. if they were pinning the cwt at the time why was the crane booming up so slowly, over a long period of time?

[canucksteel]

@malaycobra i see. i did work around this crane once at a turnaround . thanks for the info.

[malaycobra]

@canucksteel

The crane wasn't under load, it was still being assembled. They were pulling the derrick mast back to pin the super-lift counterweight. The operator forgot to lower the boom as he did it and pulled it over backwards.

[malaycobra]

@canucksteel

Sorry, didn't mean to sound harsh. If there is an inching mode it is only to make sure that there are no sudden or large movements of the crane. I'm pretty sure it doesn't allow the crane to be left moving unattended.

If the operator jerry-rigged the controls to move with out direct input then that's a different story. Hence my comment about "manufacturer approved" settings.

Anyway, while you are right about an inching mode, that wasn't the cause here.

[canucksteel]

@malaycobra i forgot to mention that the new link-belt 250t crane does have an "inching mode" for crane operation at near capacity, or for extremely delicate situations.

[canucksteel]

@malaycobra this is just what i'd heard. i was told maintenance was being done on the crane at the time and not under a load.