Mobile cranes are a vital part of the construction and refinery industries, but the large, bulky and heavy devices can be dangerous and can cause catastrophic mobile crane accidents resulting in severe injuries and even death. When a mobile crane accident occurs, it is important to get a lawyer to protect your rights and help preserve the accident scene while you are attempting to heal from your injuries or losses.
Traveling on rubber-tire wheels or steel tracks for greater mobility, mobile cranes are mounted on a carrier platform and have a boom for lifting and lowering heavy objects. They also can rotate a full 360 degrees.
Such devices from the crane and rigging industry are used in factories, warehouses and chemical plants as well as on construction projects. Mobile cranes also are used at refineries, railroad yards, marine docks and anywhere else when heavy objects must be moved or transported.
Mobile cranes come in variety of types and configurations, including:
- Industrial cranes
- Boom trucks
- Mobile tower cranes
- Truck-mounted cranes
- Track Mounted Cranes
- Aerial-lift cranes
- Heavy-lift mobile cranes
- All-Terrain cranes
- Crawler-mounted telescopic boom cranes
Causes of Mobile Crane Accidents
By their nature, mobile cranes can be more easily moved from one place to another on a construction or industrial site. But wherever they are used, mobile cranes should have proper design and manufacturing for safety, and they should be tested and evaluated regularly for their suitability for specific jobs. Their weight limits and other factors also must be taken into account at all times.
Once a mobile crane has been positioned for the lift, the outriggers and outrigger pads must be properly placed to provide. This outrigger deployment requires the full extension of the outriggers as a partial or unequal outrigger extension can lead to a crane tip-over or collapse. Further the pads must be placed on solid ground, not over holes or void in subsoils are a pad sinkage or collapse can lead to an outrigger accident or tip-over.
Also, mobile crane operators and other personnel working with cranes should be knowledgeable of basic crane limitations and capacities, as well as job site restrictions such as the location of unstable soil or overhead electrical power lines.
Persons working around mobile crane operations also should be made aware of hoisting activities and any job restrictions imposed by such operations. Crane owners and operators, as well as general contractors, all should be aware of potential hazards before starting a crane operation. Cranes also should be thoroughly inspected for safety.
But safe design, manufacturing and operating practices don’t always happen. Horrifying mobile crane accidents — such as a collapse, tip-over, dropped load or fall — can occur due to crane defects or operator negligence. While lifting heavy loads has inherent dangers, that doesn’t mean safety measures cannot prevent accidents, and when accidents do occur, someone is to blame.
Families who suffer a severe injury or death due to mobile crane accidents have a legal remedy. With help from an experienced mobile crane accident lawyer with The Willis Law Firm, they can file a mobile crane accident lawsuit to claim financial compensation for such losses as their medical and hospital bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.
The target of such a lawsuit could be the head of a construction crew, the business which hired the crew or the company which rented the mobile crane to them. Renting expensive cranes is often the procedure of construction crews, with the crane owner also supplying crane operators and crane ground crews, such as loaders.
Get a Mobile Crane Accident Lawsuit
When safety measures are not followed, and when cranes maim or kill, the family of a victim has a legal right to claim economic recovery via payments for their losses. They can do this with a mobile crane accident lawsuit provided by The Willis Law Firm.
Contact us today for a free and confidential legal review of your mobile crane accident case. You can speak to a Board-Certified Personal Injury Trial Lawyer to discuss the legal options available to you and your family. All cases are accepted on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay no up-front costs. We’re only paid if we win for you, and then only from a portion of the settlement in your favor. Contact us today for your free mobile crane accident case evaluation.
Talk to a Mobile Crane Accident Lawyer – Call 1-800-883-9858