Big Blue Crane collapse


The Big Blue was a Lampson LTI-1500 Transi-Lift heavy lift crawler crane that collapsed on July 14, 1999, killing three iron workers.

Accident

On July 14, 1999 at approximately 5:12 pm, the Big Blue collapsed during the construction of the Miller Park baseball stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a load of over on the hook. Three Iron Workers Local 8 members, Jeffrey Wischer, William DeGrave, and Jerome Starr, were killed when the suspended personnel platform in which they were observing the lift was hit by the falling crane. A safety inspector was filming construction of the stadium on that day and captured the collapse on video as it occurred.
Wind speeds were between, with gusts of up to, at the time of the collapse. The boom was rated to, and other workers had expressed concern at the speed of the wind.
An investigation revealed that although the effects of side winds on the crane itself had been calculated, it had not been considered for the load the crane was lifting.

Aftermath and memorial

Three firms were fined a total of over as a result of the collapse. The widows of the workers, Marjorie DeGrave, Ramona Dulde-Starr and Patricia Wischer, settled a lawsuit against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America, the company responsible for constructing the retractable roof of the stadium, for an undisclosed total of over $99 million.
Teamwork, a bronze sculpture by Omri Amrany, was installed at Miller Park in 2001 to honor the three workers.
Work on Miller Park was later completed with a new crane, a red and white Van Seumeren Demag CC-12600.