A tower crane working in the town of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada dropped a formwork section into the street last Wednesday.
Although the material landed on the pedestrian walkway, thankfully no one was hurt in the incident. This is partly if not wholly due to the fact that pedestrians had been stopped from walking under the load during the lift, while road traffic was held up while the load was over the road.
The Wolffkran hammerhead tower crane was lifting the large panels to a height of around six metres when it seems the lifting eyes, or whatever attachment method the slingers had used, gave way. The reason being we are told is the two leg chain set on the crane appeared undamaged. We have not though been able to corroborate that report and the photos are not clear enough.
The crane is working on the conversion of the old custom house into apartments being developed by Cielo Properties, its chief executive Stan Sipos, said: “The crane was lifting formwork to cast a stairwell in the building when it dropped after something on the crane gave out and the load fell onto Wharf Street, near the intersection of Government Street.”
WorksafeBC was notified of the incident and sent an inspector to site, with work resuming shortly afterwards.
