jessej23•3mo agoMost Upvoted

Just read the OSHA report on crane tip-overs from last year and the main cause shocked me

I was looking at the 2023 OSHA fatality and catastrophe summaries online. They said over 70% of mobile crane tip-overs were due to soft ground or outrigger setup failures, not high winds or overloading like I thought. The report specifically called out a case in Tampa where the ground looked solid but gave way under full load. Has anyone else had a close call with ground conditions that seemed okay at first?

4 comments

4 Comments

angela_robinson3mo ago

Wow, that's exactly it. Like @caseyf32 said, it's never just dirt, there's always something buried. I mean, even a washed-out trench from old rain or a layer of fill dirt that seems packed can just collapse. The Tampa case is basically the same story as a hidden tank, just different junk under the surface. It makes you wonder how many sites get a quick look and a "yeah it's fine" without any real testing.

caseyf323mo ago

My friend's crane sank into a hidden septic tank.

kim.nina3mo ago

That "hidden septic tank" detail is the real problem. Someone didn't do their job marking underground utilities before the crane rolled in. This is a major safety failure, not just bad luck.

finleyl391mo ago

But what about when the ground is tested and still fails? @angela_robinson mentions fill dirt, and that's the real killer. You can do a probe test and get a decent reading, but that only tells you about the top few feet. I've seen a crane punch right through a compacted gravel pad because there was an old, rotten timber mat buried from a job twenty years prior. It turned to mush under the point load. Sometimes the history of the site matters more than the current surface.