ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- One day after a crane came toppling down on the construction site of St. Petersburg’s new police headquarters, city officials gathered to celebrate the building’s topping off and thank construction crews for making the important milestone possible.
No one was hurt in Thursday’s incident and the building was not damaged.
"We all need to say a little blessing that no one was hurt,” said Bill Byrne, president of Ajax Building Corporation.
Video shows the massive crane attempting to lift a scissor lift into the air when it slowly overturned, sending the massive crane boom crashing to the ground - nearly hitting several workers who barely escaped in time.
“We’re very fortunate the incident that happened yesterday didn’t affect the building, won’t affect the schedule, and most importantly no one was injured,” Byrne said. “It was just an unfortunate event that happened and the operator made an error lifting a piece of equipment. He got outside the safe zone of the equipment so this is a good opportunity to remind everyone to be diligent about every task they do so that something like this doesn’t happen again.”
Ajax, which specializes in public universities and government buildings, has an excellent safety record and is honored annually by OSHA for their clean track record.
Thursday’s incident could result in a fine for the company or the operator losing his crane operator's license. A spokesperson for OSHA said their investigation is required to be finished within six months.
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