Major Incident On The 405

[SB 405]

A crane fell across all N/B lanes of the 405 at the 101


SHERMAN OAKS, February 2, 2007 - A construction site crane toppled onto the 405 freeway Friday, trapping its operator and triggering a collision between a big-rig dirt hauler and an SUV when the truck swerved to avoid the crane boom. The accident shut down all lanes on the northbound 405 freeway for several hours.


Firefighters managed to pull the operator out of the crane cab where he was trapped for more than an hour, said Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
Humphrey said the operator was conscious and alert. The crane operator was flown to UCLA Medical Center. The CHP says the operator had moderate to major injuries, but those injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

The 1:02 p.m. accident brought traffic to a halt on the northbound side of the 405 near the 101 freeway in Sherman Oaks, one of the busiest interchanges in the nation. After 4 p.m., all lanes on the northbound 405 freeway were reopened.


SHERMAN OAKS, February 2, 2007 - A construction site crane toppled onto the 405 freeway Friday, trapping its operator and triggering a collision between a big-rig dirt hauler and an SUV when the truck swerved to avoid the crane boom. The accident shut down all lanes on the northbound 405 freeway for several hours.

Firefighters managed to pull the operator out of the crane cab where he was trapped for more than an hour, said Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
Humphrey said the operator was conscious and alert. The crane operator was flown to UCLA Medical Center. The CHP says the operator had moderate to major injuries, but those injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

The 1:02 p.m. accident brought traffic to a halt on the northbound side of the 405 near the 101 freeway in Sherman Oaks, one of the busiest interchanges in the nation. After 4 p.m., all lanes on the northbound 405 freeway were reopened.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/slideShow?section=local&id=4998551&slide=11

[Officer_Grady]

question for mac or xmait on this one, is it a Cal OSHA handle or because the crane got hit by a vehicle in transit, the beat officer has to cut a 555? Don't tell me it's a joint investigation, cause Cal OSHA does nothing at the scene, at least in the ones I've been to. They always say, "Send me a copy of your report," that's why I would defer this one to them.

[dw]

A crane fell across all N/B lanes of the 405 at the 101
Yeah... That can't be good for traffic!

[23112]

I work the area where this happened, and it definitely mucked up the 405--traffic was backed all the way up to South LA's area. One of our A-watch guys is taking the paper on this fiasco, but it sucked up a lot of B-watchers for about half of our shift. Unfortunately, I was on the other end of our area on the 118 while all N/B lanes were shut down. They had to shut down the trans-road to E/B and W/B 101 for a while, too. It couldn't have happened on a worse night!

One of our motors told me that OSHA was on scene doing their own investigation--as were a number of other folks from the construction company. Someone is going to pay through the nose for this one.

[SB 405]

I watched this yesterday on the CBS live feed from the stations helicopter for about an hour. At one point motorists became so fed up with waiting people driving SUV's and Pickups drove off the shoulder of the freeway onto what looked like a Caltrans dirt service road (I assume having no idea where this would lead them)....desperate people doin' desperate things.

23112...With all the construction projects going on between the Valley and the west side on the 405 I'm suprised something like this didn't happen sooner. And those projects still have a ways to go before completion.

[SB 405]

A crane fell across all N/B lanes of the 405 at the 101
Yeah... That can't be good for traffic!

I'm a man of few words.:cool:

[Mac]

question for mac or xmait on this one, is it a Cal OSHA handle or because the crane got hit by a vehicle in transit, the beat officer has to cut a 555? Don't tell me it's a joint investigation...
It's a joint investigation. :smile:

I'd imagine that we'd definitely cut paper on the t/c's that happened after the crane fell onto the freeway, but CAL/OSHA would (or at least SHOULD) handle the initial incident. A crane falling over inside a construction zone doesn't meet the definition of a t/c. We all know that theory and reality are often two entirely different things, though......

[CHPUSMC]

I'm a man of few words.:cool:

1,172 posts later... :lol: :lol: :lol:

[SB 405]

I'm a man of few words.:cool:

1,172 posts later... :lol: :lol: :lol:

I was wondering when someone would discover that.

[Mac]

I'm a man of few words.:cool:

1,172 posts later... :lol: :lol: :lol:

I was wondering when someone would discover that.
Yeah, but each of his posts contained few words! :lol:

[SB 405]

I came across some pictures of this incident.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lafd/sets/72157594522369166/show/