BELLEVUE – A flawed engineering design caused a Bellevue tower crane to collapse and kill one person in November, state officials said Friday.
The foundation of the crane was designed to withstand only a quarter of the pressures exerted by the 210-foot-tall crane, an investigation by the Department of Labor and Industries found. The crane was fastened to steel I-beams instead of a more common poured concrete foundation.
Operator error was not a factor: Investigators said the crane operator was well experienced and operating the crane properly.
“The inadequate design of the tower-crane base clearly led to the collapse of the structure,” Steve Cant, assistant director for the agency’s Division of Occupational Health and Safety, said in a statement. “The problem was compounded by the failure of the general contractor to maintain and inspect the crane base in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications.”
Two companies are being cited for workplace safety violations: Magnusson Klemencic Associates, the engineering firm that designed the base, and general contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis. Labor and Industries proposed a fine of $5,600 for Magnusson Klemencic and a total of $8,900 in fines for Lease Crutcher Lewis. The companies have 15 business days to appeal the citations.
“The Department of Labor &Industries made several factual errors in its investigation and L&I refused to discuss these facts, despite MKA’s repeated attempts to do so,” said Jon Magnusson, Magnusson Klemencic chairman and CEO. He said his firm would appeal immediately.
Bill Lewis, president of Lease Crutcher Lewis, said he wanted to study the L&I findings before commenting.
On Nov. 16, the crane collapsed, killing a 31-year-old man and severely damaging three buildings.
Matthew Ammon, a lawyer at Microsoft, died when the crane crushed the top floor of the Pinnacle Bell Centre, a 248-unit complex with stores on the ground floor and apartments above.
The crane first hit Plaza 305, an office building, then struck the sixth and seventh floors of the Civica Office Commons before crashing onto the Pinnacle Bell Centre. Severe structural damage to all three buildings was reported.
The collapse led to a re-evaluation of all cranes in the Seattle area. Soon afterward, one crane in Bellevue was found to have significant cracks and was taken down, while a hairline crack in another was repaired.
The Legislature this year approved several changes in the oversight of construction cranes, including a provision that plans for nonstandard tower crane bases must be reviewed and approved by an independent professional engineer.
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