Stunning moment a crane crashes down on a construction site in Sydney

A shocking crane collapse occurred on Sunday, December 1, 2019, at a construction site in Sydney, Australia.

The upper part of the structure was suddenly separated by its stand, the crane broke in half and it finally came crashing down to the ground. 

The incident occurred in a construction site located in Smeaton Grange, southwestern Sydney. The stunning failure was caught on camera (Click the video below to watch the staggering footage).

Fortunately, the construction site has been closed since July 2019 and, as a result, no one was injured. The collapse was probably caused due to a pin-bolt connection deficiency or another failure between the crane's slewing bearing and tower.

According to Tony Williams, Director, Regional and Response Operations at WorkCover New South Wales (NSW), the failure was peculiar. "This is something - speaking to the engineers on site - very few have seen before. It is extraordinarily unusual. Had this occurred on a day where we have up to 100 workers on site it could have been a tragic outcome," Mr. Williams, stated.

The owners of the crane, Reds Global, stated that safety measures are being taken in order to remove the debris and the crane parts. Until the site is cleaned, limited access will be provided. The firm also emphasized that its other cranes are not prone to similar failures. “While it is too early to determine a cause, we can confirm that the issue is limited to this model of crane, and we do not manage any other units of this model,” Reds Global stated.

An investigation on the collapse was launched by SafeWork New South Wales. The primary purpose is to check the same crane models for similar deficiencies and to withdraw them if they are found problematic. “In order to provide further clarity, this model crane is a Comedil CTT561 which has a specific connection assembly from the slew mast to the slew mount which is the point at which the crane separated. To our knowledge, there are three similar cranes in Australia manufactured by Comedil with this same connection assembly and we have reached out to the crane owners individually,” a statement issued by NSW mentioned.