22.07.2009

Blame gets passed around for Delhi crane accident

A panel investigating the four crane accident in Delhi on July 13th has blamed the main contractor Gammon India for the "unusual incident” which it says was due to "mismanagement and lack of professionalism".
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According to the local newspapers the verbal statement added: "We have received the report on the snapping of cranes in Zamrudpur. And hold the contractor's mismanagement and non-professional approach as the reasons for the mishap.” It also added that a snag with one of the cranes was the direct cause of the accident.

The statement also added that two cranes ought to have been used, to lift the fallen beam, rather than four. Delhi Metro Rail Company has also appointed B P Singh, an expert on heavy construction and former general manager of NALCO, the national aluminium company, to inquire into the accident.

Vertikal Comment

There is a great deal of finger pointing and politics swirling around this incident, with Delhi Metro blaming the contractor and sidestep claims that it was rushing to get the work completed and cutting corners along the way.

In all likelihood the real truth about what happened is unlikely to surface. The fact is that on the crane accident, the job was not planned properly and it is unlikely that the load information from the cranes, if they all had operational overload systems in the first place, was being provided to a lift manager in order to allow him to monitor the relevant loads on each machine compared to its maximum capacity.

It will be interesting to see what comes out of this investigation.