Cal-OSHA said today the company that supplied the big crane that collapsed at an amusement center on Tuesday has a good inspection record.
Officials for the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration have looked at the history inspections for Maxim Crane Works, the owner of the crane that was performing the heavy lifting at Scandia Family Fun Center along Interstate 80 near Madison Avenue Tuesday.
"They have a pretty clean history," said Dean Fryer, Cal-OSHA public information officer.
In the last five years, Cal-OSHA has conducted 32 inspections of Maxim Crane and there have been no violations.
"Since they do work at construction sites, we do have a lot of random inspections where there have been no violations," said Fryer.
But Cal-OSHA staff does know of one accident last December in San Diego in which a small metal part fell from a Maxim crane when the crane was either being taken down or assembled. The part struck an employee who had to be hospitalized.
State inspectors were at Scandia Family Fun Center in North Highlands today where one arm of the 165-foot Scandia Screamer and the crane fell. Two workers were hosptialized.
"We need to look at the mechanics of the crane to make sure there were no malfunctions," said Fryer. "We always want to check the load capacity for the crane to see if it took on more than it was designed to do."
Cal-OSHA plans to speak with employees to understand what led up to the accident in order to understand the root cause of why the crane fell. The inspectors will also look at how much training the workers had completed.
"A lot of digging will be done into work processes, training, the procedures followed and what was actually being done at the time of the accident," said Fryer.
A Cal-OSHA investigation can take several months.
Previous coverage:
2 hurt in crane accident at Scandia center in North Highlands - Aug. 31, 2011
KCRA: Investigation begins in crane collapse - Aug. 31, 2011
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