I despise the idea of being under anything heavy and when I say “heavy” and “under” I mean reaching below a small block Chevy on an engine crane. This video takes my fears and explodes them to a level that even I was astonished to see. What you are about to watch is a group of workers, presumably at a mine, furiously working under the chassis of a massive Caterpillar heavy haul dump truck that is being held aloft by a mobile crane. From appearances it seems that the workers are chucking wooden cribbing out from under the truck. We’re guessing that this thing had been torn down for transport and they were readying the area for a low trailer to back under it where it could be lowered and secured to a truck. They never get that far.
With the massive and impossibly heavy weight hanging inches above their heads, the workers are throwing the big lengths of wood out when the operator of the crane starts beeping the horn. They start to get out of the way when the hanging truck starts to move a little and when everyone has been clear for no more than a few seconds, the whole mess comes toppling over with the truck landing and pulling the crane into a vertical position on its nose. When the driver was blowing the horn he had to have known what was coming. Had the guys not been under there he could have dropped the truck down and perhaps kept the crane from standing up. The dude running the machine is a hero of sorts for keeping those guys from being killed!
Big weight, big danger, and BIG FAILURE.
Normal daily activities at a coal mine.
The crazies part is how long they just ignored the crane operator blowing the horn.