Crane collapse kills 4 workers in Texas

HOUSTON — One of the nation's largest mobile cranes collapsed at a Houston oil refinery Friday, killing four workers and injuring seven others in the latest of several fatal accidents that have raised concerns about the safety of construction cranes.

The 30-story crane, capable of lifting 1 million pounds, fell over at a LyondellBasell refinery in southeast Houston about 2 p.m., said Jim Roecker, the company's vice president for refining.

The deaths were in the area of the crane, but officials still aren't certain whether they were on the crane or under it, Roecker said.

Three of the injured were treated and released at the scene, said Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria. Four other workers were taken to hospitals.

The crane belonged to Deep South Crane & Rigging. Roecker described it as one of the nation's largest mobile cranes, at 300 feet tall with a 400-foot boom. Construction cranes run taller, but they are not mobile.

The crane had not been scheduled to do any work until next week, but Roecker said its engine was idling after it hit the ground.

Aerial views of the site weren't immediately available; air space around Houston was restricted because President Bush was in town raising funds for a congressional candidate.

The refinery has about 3,000 LyondellBasell workers and 1,500 contract workers, Roecker said. He said all personnel at the plant were accounted for and the plant was operating as usual.

Crane safety has been getting extra scrutiny in recent months because of an alarming number of crane-related deaths in places such as New York, Miami and Las Vegas.

In New York City, two crane accidents since March have killed nine people — a greater number than the total deaths from cranes over the previous decade.

In November 2006, the collapse of a Bellevue crane damaged three buildings and killed a Microsoft attorney as he sat in his living room.

An Associated Press analysis in June found that cities and states have wildly varying rules governing construction cranes, and some have no regulations at all, choosing instead to rely on federal guidelines dating back nearly 40 years that some experts say haven't kept up with technological advances.

Texas led the nation with 26 crane-related fatalities in 2005 and 2006, according to federal statistics. Cranes in Texas operate without any state or local oversight, leaving that job to federal regulators.

The crane at the refinery had been delivered in pieces and assembled on site within the past month. It was brought in to remove the roof of the coker unit so that large drums could be removed from inside, Roecker said. Cokers convert crude oil to petroleum products.

The Houston refinery is one of the world's largest for processing high-sulfur crude oil. The facility itself covers about 700 acres along the Houston Ship Channel at the city limits of Houston and Pasadena.

Texas is one of 35 states that do not require crane operators to be licensed. Earlier this year in Dallas, city officials found that eight of 23 cranes being used across the city had uncertified operators at the controls.

Information from The Seattle Times archives is included in this report.