The Citizen reports construction worker was seriously injured Thursday morning when a Link-Belt 218 HSL crane base boom collapsed that was being set up off Provence Road in Laconia.
According to Laconia Fire Department Lt. Jeff Desrosiers, a crew from Beck & Bellucci Inc. from Franklin was setting up a lower boom for the crane at about 9:21 a.m. Thursday when it collapsed on top of a construction worker.
The crew was supposed to perform maintenance work on the bypass bridge over Route 107 as part of the Department of Transportation improvement project in the area when the accident happened.
He said the crane equipment malfunctioned, resulting in the lower boom’s collapse.
The injured man, whose name was not disclosed, was taken by amubulance to Lakes Region General Hospital and then airlifted for treatment at Dartmouth-Hitchock Medical Cernter in Lebanon.
An ambulance and a Laconia fire engine assisted at the scene, as well as Laconia Fire Chief Ken Erickson and Laconia Assistant Fire Chief Kirk Beattie and Deputy Chief Shawn Riley.
A 2006 report issued by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health following multiple investigations of crane and boom collapses revealed that many construction workers may not be fully aware of the hazards that can occur when operating or working near mobile cranes.
The report suggested that crane tip-overs can result from operating a crane outside the manufacturer’s recommended safe-lifting standards and that sometimes crane booms can collapse as a result of incorrect rigging, incorrect assembly or from overloads.
Boom collapses and crane tip-overs can place workers in danger of being struck by parts of the crane or uncontrolled loads lifted into the air, the report found.
