When a tower crane is in operation while the wind speed is low, followed by a rise of wind speed, the crane's anemometer rings an alarms which tells the crane operator that he must cease working: unload the load, rewind the hook and the trolley, put the crane in free slew mode and climb down. I...
Tower cranes are temporary structures with regulations that require putting them into free slew under strong winds. And it seems practical and enforceable.
Perhaps stronger regulations should be decided for temporary structures which involve the presence of the general public, and even...
I was also wondering if there should not be a strong requirement to be equipped with an anemometer, to know the exact wind speed, as you have on the top of tower cranes.
There was already a thread open on this topic at http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=304714&page=2 where I quoted a European company which said it was using the German DIN4112 standards.
There is an interesting 2008 article on the US standards for wind loads on temporary structures at...
According to http://www.theindychannel.com/news/28866231/detail.html , "the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the contractor responsible for temporary structure, Greenfield-based Mid-America Sound Corp".
A short description of the structure is available at...
For example(by no way connected to the discussed accident) the technical info sheet available from one maker's website : www.milosgroup.com/en/getFile/189 says
which seems to confirm what the Wall Street Journal article was saying.
As I was searching the news about what happened at Indiana Fair State, I found the following article about a scissor lift that was collapsed by 51 mph winds in 2010. The problem seems to be how you train the people who are in charge of structures that are not designed to withstand strong winds ...
According to http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903480904576508250753964400.html "The engineering firms that design these stages incorporate ballast systems to keep the stage and rigging anchored, and some set strict guidelines for lowering the roof when winds exceed unsafe speeds".