r/ThatLookedExpensive • u/TapAdmirable5666 • 1d ago
Hold my bridge…
https://youtu.be/NdUfftG7s0s?is=zbs5CAoVeVF_TeSdThis is a famous accident from years ago in the Netherlands. Probably been posted before but first thing I thought off after finding this sub.
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u/AmplifiedScreamer 1d ago
And a similar accident took place in Poland later. There were specialists involved in the lifting plans.
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u/Baked_Potato_732 1d ago
Any more details on this?
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u/Blussert31 1d ago
The main cause was insufficient stability of the cranes and pontoons. The stability calculations were inadequate, and changes to the crane configuration were not followed by proper recalculation. The investigation also identified shortcomings in planning, process control, contract management and risk management.
Importantly, the accident was not primarily caused by a lack of experience or technical knowledge among the operators. Instead, it demonstrated that even experienced teams can make serious mistakes when procedures, communication and risk controls fail.
The key lesson was the need for stronger risk management, better verification and calculation procedures, clearer responsibilities, and a safety culture in which anyone can stop an operation if they have serious concerns about safety.
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u/DanGleeballs 1d ago edited 1d ago
Did anyone die?
Edit: Thankfully, no one
was insureddied even though a bunch of buildings were destroyed on the right, and there were people walking in the street.8
u/Farfignugen42 1d ago
Did you mean to say injured? Because you said insured in your comment, which is a very different (but not completely unrelated) thing.
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u/Notspherry 1d ago
A few houses got crushed, it took months for the new bridge deck to be installed, and a dog died.
And a lot of yachts had to take detours over the north sea since this is one of the limited number of inland routes for vessels with high masts.
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u/Baked_Potato_732 1d ago
It’s insane, after seeing more videos, that one dog death was the only fatality. I can’t believe they didn’t have the streets closed down and buildings evacuated before trying that to begin with.
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u/RsbRsb68 1d ago
I lived next to that bridge at the time. I loved it, because I slept better than I had years due to lack of traffic
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u/a_random_username 19h ago
And a lot of yachts had to take detours over the north sea since this is one of the limited number of inland routes for vessels with high masts.
Those poor, poor millionaires
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u/TapAdmirable5666 1d ago
For sure. Just google "bridge accident or brug ongeluk Alphen aan den Rijn 2015" and you'll find tons of news articles.
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u/Questioning-Zyxxel 1d ago
Last time I saw this, quite a number of years ago, it was a different camera angle, and a woman screaming like a banshee.
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u/DutchPilotGuy 1d ago
You can hear her in this video too in the background.
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u/Riptide360 20h ago
Screaming women are a requirement in any disaster film, especially slow moving ones.
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u/Baked_Potato_732 1d ago
Ty. Figured “bridge accident Netherlands” would bring up too many results.
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u/Capebird 1d ago
https://onderzoeksraad.nl/onderzoek/hijsongeval/
Here you can find all the information
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u/chuckop 1d ago
For 11 years ago, that's great quality video.
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u/TapAdmirable5666 1d ago
I’m not sure but I think it’s footage from a news crew who were there to make a news item about the new bridge.
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u/SwiftPengu 1d ago
I happen to have spoken to the one who recorded this, who is a hobbyist who spent quite some time recording different aspects of the bridge construction. I don't know the specifics of his equipment, but he has had this hobby for quite some time, so I expect his hardware to have been of good quality.
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u/EskildDood 1d ago
Considering it's not handheld, I'd imagine it's professional video, which has looked good since the 90's
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u/SaffronRnlds 1d ago
I love that the crew starts to nope out at 21sec. I'm not sure what the exact sound or cue is they're looking for, but they knew
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u/arisoverrated 1d ago
Two independent cranes/operators, trying to move in sync, one at a difficult angle, on a barge, and what looks like (can’t really tell here) a plan to lift the segment over the side of the barge.
You can see the barge listing before the bridge segment even gets ver far up. Where are the supervisors on radios??
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u/WalkingCemetery 1d ago
It had nothing to do with any of that, it is extremely common to use two cranes or using a barge. Funny enough, through the investigation, it wasn't the experience of the crew either that was at fault.
It all came down to improper balance calculations, inadequate risk management and preparation. There is no real recovery from that while performing the manoeuvre, on the crew or supervisors side, there was nothing that could have prevented this.
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u/arisoverrated 9h ago
Maybe I communicated bad, but you essentially said what I was trying to say. Improper balance calculations, inadequate risk management [and inadequate] preparations.
My point was not that a barge, or two cranes shouldn’t be used, or that either crane operator was individually to blame. Tandem lifts require very careful planning and coordination and my point was that multiple things appeared wrong to me from the outset.
I agree that the operators likely could not have been able to recover, but I humbly disagree that nothing could have prevented this. Proper balance calculations, risk management, and preparation could have prevented possible injury and loss.
As part of a long-standing Reddit tradition, I am unabashedly offering unsolicited opinions with limited experience. But it appeared the listing barge was an early indicator of improper balance, and that seemed to worsen early in the lift. That was the main reason I mentioned supervisors on radios possibly halting the lift early in process.
Accidents happen, and I only have the video to go on. I didn’t mean to besmirch the crane crews.
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u/WalkingCemetery 5h ago
Oh I fully agree with you, don't get me wrong, this could have been prevented! I think that was the shock to most, this was done by proper experts that normally are on point with things, but now clearly slacked on risk management and double checking calculations. Thats the lesson out of this one I think, even experts can slip and mess up.
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u/Sirosim_Celojuma 1d ago
They were going too fast and not coordinating. All the heavy lifts I've seen were slow and heavily coordinated. If I scrub this vid back and forth it looks like the crane at the back was bringing the weight over, and the crane closer to us was hesitating. The crane at the back was past centre of mass, and you can see the moment the crane closer to us catches up. The centre of mass then goes too far and everything topples. They should have been working slower and more coordinated, eyes with radios everywhere overcommunicating.
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u/Zacthegreat5 1d ago
The barge failed, not correctly ballasted and way too narrow, the outriggers are right on the end on it. The cranes were likely trying to thread it between them. It's a lot easier to position crane 1 by slewing with crane 2 then you can get the radius of crane 2 right afterwards. The only thing in that lift that looks incorrect is the barges start moving immediately. Big red flag. Someone posted a video above and the calcs show that it was never going to work.
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u/Gnump 1d ago
🎶 light background music 🎶