Time 17:12 Date 14 July 1999 Venue Miller Park | Type Crane collapse Number of deaths 3 Location Milwaukee | |
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Location Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States Similar Mecca crane collapse, Humberto Vidal explosion, Kaprun disaster, 1996 Garley Building fi, King's Cross fire | ||
Construction disasters the big blue crane collapse
The Big Blue was a Lampson LTL-1500 Transi-Lift heavy lift crawler crane that collapsed on July 14, 1999, killing three Ironworkers.
Contents
- Construction disasters the big blue crane collapse
- Big blue crane collapse at miller park
- Accident
- Aftermath and memorial
- References
Big blue crane collapse at miller park
Accident
On July 14, 1999 at approximately 5:12 pm, the Big Blue collapsed during the construction of the Miller Park baseball stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a load of over 450 tonnes (440 long tons; 500 short tons) on the hook. Three Iron Workers Local 8 members, Jeffrey Wischer, William DeGrave, and Jerome Starr, were killed when the suspended personnel platform in which they were observing the lift was hit by the falling crane. A camera crew was filming construction of the stadium on that day and captured the collapse on video as it occurred.
Wind speeds were between 20 to 21 miles per hour (32 to 34 km/h), with gusts of up to 26 to 27 miles per hour (42 to 43 km/h), at the time of the collapse. The boom was rated to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h), and other workers had expressed concern at the speed of the wind.
An investigation revealed that although the effects of side winds on the crane itself had been calculated, it had not been considered for the load the crane was lifting.
Aftermath and memorial
Three firms were fined a total of over US$500,000 as a result of the collapse. The widows of the workers, Marjorie DeGrave, Ramona Dulde-Starr and Patricia Wischer, settled a lawsuit against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America, the company responsible for constructing the retractable roof of the stadium, for $57 million. Attorney Robert L. Habush represented two of the widows in their suit.
Teamwork, a bronze sculpture by Omri Amrany, was installed at Miller Park in 2001 to honor the three workers.