The accident happened at the site of a new 50-storey apartment building, Paramaount Bay, in Piscayne Bay, Florida. Construction had been completed on the 39th floor of the building, and contractors were at work climbing the externally tied luffing jib tower crane.
A 20-foot mast section fell from the crane, crashing into a house used as an office by one of the construction firm’s working at the site, killing two men and injuring four more. Associated Press reports that Mary Costello, senior vice president for lead contractor Bovis Lend Lease, has said that ‘the accident occurred when a subcontractor was trying to raise the crane section and it came loose’. It is unclear at this point whether this means the section was dropped while being lifted to the crane, or as it was being climbed.
Reports in local newspapers suggest that the climbing operation had been delayed because of high winds.
The accident comes a week after Miami-Dade legislators passed a new crane inspection regulation that is currently waiting to be signed into law. OSHA, the US workplace safety agency, is investigating the accident.
A video, from Associated Press, showing the aftermath of the accident, can be seen on Cranes Today’s video news page.
