June 30, 2017

Seaburg fined $1,800 for crane incident

Reader photo [enlarge]

The tower crane in Belltown is back at work after the line snapped in April.

The state Department of Labor & Industries has fined Seaburg Construction $1,800 for an April 11 tower crane incident at JDA West's construction site at 2134 Western Ave. in Belltown.

Woodinville-based Seaburg employs the crane operator at that jobsite.

Leavitt Cranes, which provided the crane, and Compass General Construction, the general contractor for the mixed-use building, were not cited. A jobsite inspection by L&I concluded on May 30, and found no other safety violations.

A DJC reader who witnessed the April 11 incident speculated that the hook hit the boom of the crane, snapping the line and dropping the hook onto the construction site below. No one was injured.

An L&I inspection report said Seaburg did not ensure that the operations supervisor followed the crane manufacturer's recommendation to stop using the crane if the anti-two-block device was not working. Anti-two-block devices automatically slow the take-up operation when the hook gets near the boom tip.

The report says the crane operator was informed of the situation, and was told to be careful and keep using the crane. The crane suffered a two-blocking incident after working a full day under the condition.

L&I also noted that the manufacturer states the crane should never be used if limit switches are out of order, which could lead to a two-blocking situation that could sever the hoist line.

The report said the violation had been corrected.

Seaburg filed an appeal on June 20. A phone call to the company was not answered and an email to Dean Seaburg was not returned by deadline.

JDA West's eight-story Belltown project is expected to open next spring with about 150 apartments and street-level retail. Renderings of the project from Clark Design Group have the name Natasha on them.

JDA West is based in San Francisco.