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Maryland Crane Accident Leaves One Worker with Serious Injuries

By Jack Lebowitz, Esq. and Vadim Mzhen, Esq.

In Anne Arundel County, a crane operator suffered serious injuries when he was crushed by falling machinery. The Maryland crane accident occurred last Thursday in Annapolis at a development where another worker got hurt in a similar accident in 2008.

The worker, 46, was sitting in the crane?s compartment and getting ready to lift cooling and heating units onto a gym roof at the Annapolis Towne Centre when a pulley and other components fell. The falling objects smashed onto the operator compartment. Workers rushed to remove the worker from the accident site and he was flown by Medevac to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Just 10 months ago, Denis Umanzor, a 44-year-old Maryland worker, sustained fatal injuries when part of a crane fell on him. That work accident occurred right by the gym where this latest accident took place. Umanzor became trapped and was suspended some 200 feet in the air where he died.

This latest crane accident comes just as Maryland regulators are getting ready for a public hearing on stricter crane operator safety standards to prevent crane accidents from happening. Currently, the state lacks standardized training procedures and rules for crane operators.

In the last year, a number of people have gotten hurt in US crane accidents. In March, seven people died when a giant crane fell onto a townhouse. Soon after, two other people died and five victims sustained injuries when a portion of another crane fell 30 floors, smashing into a home.

Crane accidents resulting in serious injuries can occur for a number of reasons, including:

? Failed rigging
? Falling loads
? Errors during crane assembly
? Mistakes during dismantling
? Collapsed crane
? Worker inexperience
? Inadequate safety measures
? Operator error
? Overloaded cranes

Crane operators, construction workers, and innocent bystanders who are injured in crane accidents may be entitled to personal injury compensation from liable parties. A worker injured on the job cannot sue his employer, but there may be third parties who can be held responsible in civil court.

Worker critically injured in Arundel crane accident, Baltimore Sun, February 9, 2009

Worker critically injured in Parole crane accident, Hometown Annapolis, February 5, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Crane Accidents

Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Lebowitz & Mzhen would like to discuss your crane accident injuries with you. Please contact one of our experienced Maryland construction accident lawyers to discuss your personal injury case.

Full post as published by Maryland Accident Law Blog on February 09, 2009 (boomark / email).