OSHA fines company $280,000 for crane collapse

The deadly accident caused the bridge project to be delayed more than a year.
TOLEDO (AP) -- Federal safety investigators announced $280,000 in fines Friday against the builder of a bridge where four workers were killed when a 1,000-ton crane collapsed.
U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials said the bridge's primary contractor, Fru-Con Construction Corp. violated four federal workplace safety standards, including failing to comply with the manufacturer's instructions for the safe operation of cranes.
OSHA's investigation said the St. Louis-based company did not sufficiently anchor the crane to the concrete piers and failed to use the needed anchoring bars for the back legs of the crane.
OSHA termed the violations as "willful," meaning that the company knew of the problem and did nothing to correct it, said Jule Jones, the agency's director for northwest Ohio.
"Fru-Con could have and should have known that these anchorings were necessary," Jones said.
Fru-Con has 15 days to pay the fine or appeal. The company declined immediate comment but said a representative would be at a news conference later Friday when the Ohio Department of Transportation planned to discuss the investigation.
The crane that collapsed Feb. 16 was putting together the road on a new Interstate 280 bridge. The crane, which stretches above the bridge's pillars and lifts concrete sections of the road into place, was moving forward.
What happened
Workers were standing on the pillars and about to set the crane into place when it came crashing down. Nearly all of the crane fell between the highway lanes, narrowly missing passing traffic and landing on two construction trucks.
The anchorings were needed to counterbalance the crane when it moved forward to position itself for putting sections of the road into place, Jones said.
Investigators looked at a number of possible causes for the accident, including wind and weather, Jones said.
There were two identical cranes that were piecing the highway together. Both were not properly anchored, Jones said, but only the one crane collapsed.
The accident has delayed completion of the bridge by more than a year. I-280 connects the Ohio Turnpike and Interstate 75 and crosses the Maumee River just north of downtown Toledo.
Fru-Con won the contract to build the bridge after submitting the lowest of four bids. It was the company's first project working with the state transportation department.