Crane probe puts blame on steel base, source says

An unusual steel base probably caused a 210-foot tower crane to collapse in Bellevue last fall, killing a man, according to a source familiar with the state investigation.

Investigators have determined that operator error was not a factor, he said.

The state Department of Labor and Industries examined several other possible factors in the Nov. 16 accident, he said, including high winds and ice, which were determined not to be primary factors.

"We looked at pretty much everything," the source said Monday. "Everything's coming back to the base."

The state will not release its final report for several weeks, but some department officials were briefed late last week about the preliminary findings.

The state's early conclusions came just as lawmakers in Olympia introduced legislation that would transform the state's crane-safety laws into some of the nation's strictest. The bills would require third-party certification for cranes and operators beginning in 2010.

Currently, the state relies largely on federal standards that allow companies to gauge the safety of their own equipment and employees.

The crane that collapsed in downtown Bellevue was secured to four steel beams, configured in an H-pattern and built above the ground in a parking garage. Most cranes are bolted to a concrete foundation, according to crane experts.

The steel base was not strong enough to support the crane, the source close to the investigation said.

L&I Department spokeswoman Elaine Fischer said the state would have no comment on the cause of the accident until the final report is released.

The crane collapsed at Tower 333, a 20-story office tower under construction at 108th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Fourth Street. It damaged three buildings and killed a Microsoft attorney in his apartment.

Lease Crutcher Lewis, the Seattle-based contractor, designed the steel base with the help of Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA), a Seattle structural-engineering firm.

Northwest Tower Crane Service, based in Tukwila, erected the crane.

The operator of the fallen crane, Warren Taylor Yeakey, is an employee of Ness Crane Services. Yeakey was in the crane's cab the night it fell. As part of its standard procedures, the company gave Yeakey a drug test after the accident, and he passed.

Yeakey and his family declined comment Monday.

Until last summer, construction at the site of the fallen crane had been on hold for a few years, with just the parking garage partially completed. Hines, an international real-estate firm, and Washington Capital Management restarted construction and renamed the project Tower 333.

The project had a concrete base left over from an earlier crane, but Lease Crutcher had the base with the steel-beam design installed elsewhere because the building's design had changed, said Mike Brennan, the city's deputy director of development services.

Bill Lewis, Lease Crutcher's president, said he doesn't know why his company decided on the steel-beam base design. "The project-management team made that decision, and I'm not part of that team," he said.

Lewis had no comment on the state's preliminary findings.

When Lease Crutcher installed a replacement tower crane at Tower 333 last month, it went with the more common concrete foundation. The new foundation was also designed by MKA.

"We thought everybody would be more comfortable with that new base," Lewis said.

MKA CEO Jon Magnusson did not return calls seeking comment.

Lease Crutcher and MKA have been involved in a long list of high-profile construction projects, both locally and nationally. Lease Crutcher built Pacific Place and the Second and Seneca building in downtown Seattle, as well as the new Bellevue and Redmond city halls.

MKA worked on Qwest Field, the Seattle Central Library and Seattle Justice Center, as well as large projects in China and Singapore.

The sponsor of the crane bill in Olympia, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, said the legislation takes aim at the apparent cause of the Bellevue collapse.

Tower cranes would require inspections before and after each setup and crane owners would need an engineer's approval before using nonstandard bases.

Some employers and unions already require operators to be certified, but the state does not.

To get certified under the bill, operators would have to take practical and written exams and pass drug tests. The bill says the Department of Labor and Industries can require no more than 2,000 hours of experience as a certification standard.

Their equipment would also have to pass annual load tests and inspections and additional examinations after major repairs or modifications.

The bill already has strong support, with 30 sponsors in the Senate, 52 in the House and hearings scheduled in each.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com

Information in this article, originally published February 13, 2007, was corrected February 27, 2007. A bill before the state Legislature says the Department of Labor and Industries can require no more than 2,000 hours of experience as a certification standard for construction crane operators. A previous version of this story incorrectly said operators would need at least 2,000 hours of experience. Also Bill Lewis, president of Lease Crutcher Lewis, a Seattle-based contractor, was misquoted in a previous version of this story. Lewis was quoted as saying the building's "property-management team" made the decision to use a steel-beam base for the crane. This implied the building's owners made the decision. In fact, Lewis said the building's "project-management team," or Lease Crutcher employees, made the decision.