If you were hoping to get home early via the highway south of Johannesburg on Friday 17 August you would have been pulling your hair out in frustration due to a long delay caused by a fallen crane.
The drama unfolded when a crane operator attempted to install a new signage portal across the highway. The only crane available for hire was an 80-ton beast, and as the crane operator positioned the portal over the vertical uprights – guided by a man on the ground – the crane arm over-extended and it toppled forward, sprawling ingloriously across the highway.
As these are clients of Barkers Insurance Brokers, our office was abuzz with telephone calls as all concerned immediately leapt into action.
Traffic came to a standstill for more than 11 hours while bigger cranes cleared the mess, finally finishing at around 10pm that evening.
Most devastating was the serious injury of an invaluable employee of our insured, who, after fighting for his life, died from his injuries five days later.