did you see the 10:00 news on fox 5? when i first saw this on the news around 12:00 they stated that the bridge collapse had nothing to do with the concrete pump company(we didnt hit any of the shoring or bridge deck itself) that it appeared to be structual damage(design flaws) but i will be damned if fox 5 and OSHA didnt go and dig up any and all the dirt that they possibly could on the GC and my pump company. but what just rubs me raw is that not one thing was mentioned about the engineering firm who deigned the (cutting edge enviromentaly friendly) bridge deck and the company subed to build it. or better than that how about the inspectors hired to inspect it and gave it the thumbs up to proceed with the pour? it seems more times than not the finger gets pointed it the pump company just because we are there. it has happened to me personaly once in the past. i was on a job pouring a com. slab and there was a seperate building next to the one that i was pumping. the walls on the other building were block(about 40ft tall) and no shoring to brace it up(due to the fact that there was no lid) that day we had 30 to 50 mph winds that day and a gust blew in the building swirled around and collapsed the wall on the side i was pouring. the thing was  was i started on the side closest to that building and poured outward. slab was bout 350yds and i was bout 40yds from completion when it fell. my boom was bout 150ft from the wall but when OSHA showed up they asked me what did i do to the wall. my point is that just because we run about the biggest piece of equipment on the job doesnt mean that when something bad happens the finger should get pointed at us. with the wayt the economy is the last thing we needed was our name smeared across the local news. thanks alot fox 5!!!

In the not too distant past when a disaster happened on a pump job, chances were that it was the pump that caused it. Now when something happens it is easiest to go to the old cause; “The pump did it.” It reminds me of a cop show; some bank gets robbed and the old cop says “round up the usual subjects.”

For my money, today, the old 'usual suspects' are usually not the cause. When people stop ‘reacting’ and start looking at the evidence they see that the old ‘usual suspects’ are innocent, and victims just like everyone else.

The pump company will be, I am sure, completely exonerated once the [?news?] people get their collective heads out of their ass and report the facts. The facts don’t sell advertising and don’t make good headlines. “news people” are no longer news people; they are in the “round up the usual suspects” club.

If I was a betting man I would guess that years from now when this is brought to justice, the radical new engineering methods and procedures will be found to be at fault…… but that is a pure guess on my part. Like everyone else, I will wait to see the final outcome.

Concrete Pumping companies, for the most part, are safer today than at any time in our short history. We finally admitted to ourselves that what we do for a living is dangerous and we need to plan our actions to mitigate that danger. When you are a member of ‘the usual suspects club’ you need to do it better; training, documentation, enforcement of the rules and regulations that make us safe. And while doing all of that we need to watch out for what the other guy may be doing to us.

Watch out for the other guy and also watch out.. for the other guy .

Hey guys

Glad to hear your operators are doing good.

Nothing was said in the news about the concrete supplier, Did the ship the correct mix? light weight vs reg ?

What?

The RM can be wrong?

Never. ;~)

it was light weight with a heavy fiber mix. we had to change the hopper grate to a tube style that morning to keep the fiber from building up on the grate.it is just my opinion, but i believe that it had nothing to do with the mix and everything to do with a flaw in either the design or the construction of this bridge. from what i was told this was some "new innovative" design.

This "engineers" should do a mandatory 2 to 3 years in the fieid before designing anything. Just my opinion, but i've seen some things that make go "what the f...". Sometimes common sense will out do a big education hands down, but what do i know i'm just a dumb pump operator.

RF2,

Good to see that Ragghianti is part of the site, welcome.