|
Mr. Sandoval was in the process of attaching a pile driver
to the tip of a crane boom as it lay on the ground between two freeway overpasses
in Mountain View, CA. Unexpectedly, the
crane operator started to raise the boom tip.
Mr. Sandoval jumped from the boom and broke his arm. Mr. Sandoval claimed that the accident was
caused by inadequate lighting, inadequate communications, and an inability of
the crane operator to see what was happening.
We investigated & reconstructed this accident; this
included a detailed lighting and visualization study. We inspected incident scene at night and
measured available lighting levels with and without similar construction
lights. We created 3D models of the
scene with photo-realistic lighting using ray-tracing technology. We analyzed luminance and illuminance based
on test data. And we determined that the
crane operator had a perfectly clear view of the situation and had reacted
properly to hand-signals given by Mr. Sandoval’s foreman.
|
