Crane collapse during a tree removal:

This one was a little different. Not too large a piece, like usual. Instead, one of the outriggers was on the septic tank and it collapsed. The climber ‘fell from 100 feet” and walked away without injury.
 
Stumpsprouts said:
This one was a little different. Not too large a piece, like usual. Instead, one of the outriggers was on the septic tank and it collapsed. The climber ‘fell from 100 feet” and walked away without injury.
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Yea, that's so hard to comprehend. Sounds like dude was hella shook. Declined to comment.
 
I wouldn't be that jazzed to talk to the news either after something like that...

Not knowing the outriggers were being setup on a septic tank is a pretty big mistake, but honestly I've been places where the customer doesn't know where their tank is, and it doesn't have visible lids to help locate it. I wonder if they had the outrigger on a bunch of dunnage to spread the load or if it was just on a small pad.
 
27RMT0N said:
I wouldn't be that jazzed to talk to the news either after something like that...

Not knowing the outriggers were being setup on a septic tank is a pretty big mistake, but honestly I've been places where the customer doesn't know where their tank is, and it doesn't have visible lids to help locate it. I wonder if they had the outrigger on a bunch of dunnage to spread the load or if it was just on a small pad.
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I wouldn't be jazzed to talk to anyone but my closest either
 
I wondered how long it would take for news to reach here. I was working in Gilboa at the time and heard the reverbs within an hour. Strange enough, I live over an hour away from AJS home base. On my way home one evening, I saw their chip truck in my local. They were working close by and dumping chips at a dairy far just down the road from me. I stopped and shared my business card for contract climbing. I'm sooooo glad I never got called.

Mowerr said:
Not every year but I'm pretty sure some climber died at ajs a CPL years ago
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Good to know of this possibility too. I'll ask about it and ''see'' what I hear.
@Mowerr Hows you? You're from The Buff area, Right?
 
Tom Dunlap said:
In my work areas we didn't have septic tanks.

It would seem that during the 811 phase of crane setup all underground utilities would be located.
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I'm not defending AJS but, I did wonder if the homeowner mistook the location, or the operator may have mistook the HO's stating where the septic was?
 
MA Arborist said:
I’d say the crane operator
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How would the operator know if the owner didn't know that there was an unfilled, but out of service tank down there? I would think it would be the company that replaced the tank and didn't fill the old one, unless they got it in writing from the previous homeowner that hypothetically had the tank replaced, that they [homeowner] would handle it.
 
ATH said:
What's the contract say?

I'm guessing company will sue homeowner if they didn't disclose. HO (or their insurance) will countersue. Depending on what the contact said...
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Makes sense. I will keep this in mind when I write a formal contract
 
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Tom Dunlap said:
In my work areas we didn't have septic tanks.

It would seem that during the 811 phase of crane setup all underground utilities would be located.
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Don't know about all areas, but Ohio specifically states they do NOT mark privately installed lines/utilities.

There may or may not be a public record of when and where the tank was installed.

It "should" get pumped every few years, but there are hundreds of thousands of tanks that never get pumped. If it doesn't, the owners may just not know where it was.

If it was an old one not collapsed and filled in...was that a requirement? If that happened 2 owners and 20 years ago, would current owner even know???
When sewer lines are installed here, owner is required to tap in and have old tank collapsed...not just filled in.
 
Whene the dust settles and house repairs start the insurance companies are going to hash out responsibility. Who pays the bill?

My guess the person who didn't do a proper 811---underground utility check---will own this one. No matter if the locators don't locate because of their state's regulations.

There are many things to locate that may not be as crucial as a septic tank.

invisible fence for dogs
phone lines
utilities going to outbuildings
generators
solar
irrigation

As a contractor if you don't locate them and they get damaged you own them.
 
My contract says WE are responsible for calling 811. The HOMEOWNER is responsible for notifying us of any utilities not marked by Ohio Utilities Protection Service.

Haven't been to court with that...and hope we never find out! But how would a "reasonable person" as the contractor expect a septic tank to be somewhere they weren't notified about?

On the other side of the coin, would a "reasonable person" homeowner be expected to know location of an abandoned tank (assuming it was abandoned and that was a previous owner). If the tank was still in use or of they abandon it themselves, I think they should certainly be expected to know where it is.

IF it's an old tank, I wouldn't be surprised if the HO insurance pays for the house and company insurance pays for the crane...unless they neglected to have that communication or the communication was ignored.
 
There are tons of "IF'S" here. The town I lived in in Pennsylvania had septic tanks for years. When a sewer system was built we Ll had to connect. I had a pit system a d never sealed it up or e e got notice that I had to. Lots of places like that around I'm sure.
 
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