The Big Blue was a Lampson LTL-1500 Transi-Lift heavy lift

crawler crane A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist rope, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It is mainly used for lifting heavy objects and transporti ...

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 American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium used primarily for baseball. It is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Milwauk ...

(now American Family Field) baseball stadium in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, 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 is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...

of America, the company responsible for constructing the retractable roof of the stadium, for an undisclosed total of over $99 million. ''

Teamwork Teamwork is the collaborative effort of a group to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way. This concept is seen within the greater framework of a team, which is a group of interdependent individua ...

'', a bronze sculpture by

Omri Amrany Omri Amrany (born 23 May 1954) is an Israeli-American best known as a sculptor and painter, though he also works in architecture and wall tapestry art. Philosophically a humanist, the human figure is his main subject matter. He is co-fou ...

, was installed at Miller Park in 2001 to honor the three workers. The Brewers wore an Ironworkers Local 8 memorial patch on the left breast of their jerseys following the accident for the remainder of the 1999 season. Work on Miller Park was later completed with a new crane, a red and white Van Seumeren Demag CC-12600.New red-and-white crane replaces `Big Blue' at Miller Park site
The Journal Times, Dec 9, 1999.

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em

External links

Video of the accident
1999 disasters in the United States Accidental deaths in Wisconsin Construction accidents in the United States Disasters in Wisconsin 1990s in Milwaukee Individual cranes (machines) July 1999 events in the United States 1999 in baseball 1999 in Wisconsin