Saturday was Crane Day in downtown Bethesda, as assembly of tower cranes for two major redevelopment projects commenced under cover of darkness early yesterday morning. As regular readers know, it takes a crane to build a crane. Mobile cranes were parked on Fairmont Avenue and Hampden Lane, erecting the tower cranes for the St. Elmo Apartments and Hampden House apartment towers, respectively. Let's take a look:
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| St. Elmo Apartments, Fairmont Avenue |
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| Hampden House, Hampden Lane |
Love to see it, Bob
ReplyDeleteThanks for the crane posts
I recall reading an article and watching a story on the news about one of these type of cranes collapsing, then subsequently crashing down on an unsuspecting, vulnerable and horrified public in NYC (midtown Manhattan, I believe)... Are there any statistics on how safe these towering construction cranes actually claim to be?
ReplyDeleteThe most recent data on crane accidents from the Bureau of Labor Statistics dates back to 2006. In that year, there were 72 fatalities caused by crane accidents. Over the 10 year period from 1997-2006, crane accidents were responsible for 818 workplace fatalities. From 2003-2006, Texas led the nation in the number of fatal crane accidents.
ReplyDeleteMost accidents injure or kill construction workers on or near the site. Complete structural collapses and injuries to the public are very rare.
The most recent US tower crane accidents I could find is Salt Lake City in 2022.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxdjSG5IFds
I'm phobic about these things. They look so unstable.
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