Construction Accidents
Crane's Falling Counterweights Injure Four, Damage Atlanta Apartment Project
The aftermath of a crane counterweight striking a section of an Atlanta apartment building during construction. Photo: Courtesy of Atlanta Fire Rescue.
No one was seriously injured and the building damage was contained to a small area and construction resumed May 31, but a tower crane accident in Atlanta May 22 demonstrates the potential hazards posed by counterweights when something goes wrong.
Counterweights on a Potain MR415 crane dislodged and struck the garage deck at the 1018 West Peachtree apartment site downtown, according to a statement by Balfour Beatty, the project's general contractor.
Four workers were treated for injuries at a hospital and released the same day. But the other impacts of the mishap are longer lasting.
Firefighters evacuated all buildings within a one-block radius of the site after the incident and at least one building remained closed to residents until May 31. Work was also shut down for days as contractors, crane experts, structural engineers, staff of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and local officials developed a plan to dismantle the crane.
Before the crane could be dismantled, debris needed to be secured. The crane has been dismantled down to the tower mast, according to Balfour Beatty. And construction resumed May 31, with a priority on localized repairs.
OSHA has initiated an investigation, the company said in a statement. Balfour Beatty had signed a strategic partnership with the agency for this project last year, according to an OSHA announcement, to prevent worker injuries and exposure to hazards.
The project ranked No. 30 on ENR Southeast’s 2022 Top Starts with a cost of $227.2 million. The plan calls for construction of a 1.2-million-sq-ft mixed-use development with a 35-story student housing tower and a 37-story multifamily tower for owner Toll Brothers, according to designer WDG. In early May, the project team celebrated the topping out, according to structural engineer SK&A. The project is scheduled to complete next year.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said during a press conference that it was “very fortunate that only four individuals had non-life-threatening injuries.”
There have been several recent cases of fatal incidents involving crane counterweights. In August 2020, a crane inspector was struck by a moving counterweight on a Flatiron Constructors bridge project in Rodanthe, N.C., according to OSHA records.
In 2019, a worker was killed when 7.5-metric-ton counterweight segments came loose from rigging during crane assembly at a New York City construction site, ENR previously reported.
