When you look at a crane being used at any New Jersey construction site, it’s immediately clear how dangerous these giant pieces of machinery are. One false move, and a crane could fall off balance and come crashing down. Alternatively, a crane might drop a piece of debris to the ground or strike someone with its boom.

According to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), here is how crane accidents usually happen:

• Problems with electric lines: The boom or some other part of the crane could make contact with an energized power line. This is actually the cause of crane accidents in approximately 45 percent of the situations. Making contact with power lines can cause an electric shock to move through the crane, or it could cause the charged power lines to come crashing down into a construction site.
• Flipped over cranes: If a crane gets off balance, which can happen much easier than you might think, the entire apparatus can flip over and come crashing down, like a giant building falling into the construction site and surrounding areas.
• Dropped loads: Cranes carry heavy loads high into the air, if they become unsecured, they can fall and wreak havoc below.
• Counterweight crushing: Cranes have massive counterweights that keep them stable. However, these counterweights, if not monitored, can crush unsuspecting victims during assembly, disassembly and use.
• Outrigger failures: Outriggers are also vital to keep trains in appropriate balance. If these are not properly installed or used, they can fail and result in destabilized cranes and associated accidents.

If you were hurt in a crane accident as an employee at a New Jersey construction site, you can seek workers’ compensation damages to help pay for your injuries. A successfully navigated workers’ compensation claim may also pay for your time spent unable to work while recovering from your on-the-job cane accident-related injuries.

Source: graphicproducts.com, “Crane Accidents,” accessed Aug. 18, 2017