Crane collapse during a tree removal:

From the first news cast I saw, within a few hours of the mishap, the HO was speaking into the camera. Much more was said than in this posted vid. The HO stated he made comment to the septic's location. If that was misunderstood or, AJS setup over it regardless remains to be answered.

I do believe, it was the right rear outrigger that collapsed in the shit tank. Not the one in the vid seen rupturing the home's wall. I'll learn more as the clock ticks. All my current work has been almost 2hrs away from that local. I'll hear more about it when I'm in that area again....I'm sure.
 
We recently fell through an undisclosed septic tank. It was under a gravel driveway. It didnt hurt the truck at all and the homeowner ended up paying us to fill it in for them. We did cut them a deal on the cost since they were being super cool about it. She was not home when it happened and when i called her first question was are we ok. Her second question was is our truck ok. She didnt know it was there. It was an old tank and the previous owner didnt fill it in when they were hooked up to city sewer. This was a requirement here but was often ignored.
 
ATH said:
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.
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Mine says we aren’t responsible for anything we can’t see unless it’s marked out and provided by the client.
Around here 811 doesn’t pick up water lines, unless a foil marker tape is laid in the ditch. I assume this means septic tanks and drainfields aren’t detectable.. 811 also doesn’t or won’t pickup phone lines, gotta call telecom for them to mark their own lines
 
evo said:
Mine says we aren’t responsible for anything we can’t see unless it’s marked out and provided by the client.
Around here 811 doesn’t pick up water lines, unless a foil marker tape is laid in the ditch. I assume this means septic tanks and drainfields aren’t detectable.. 811 also doesn’t or won’t pickup phone lines, gotta call telecom for them to mark their own lines
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In Ohio 811 is just a notification service. I think it is optional for utilities to participate? But it saves them a LOT of headaches.
A contractor marks communication - I think they all use the same one.
Same contractor, I think, does one electric company.
Electric co-op and gas companies do their own marking, but are still notified through 811.
City marks water and sewer they own. But not between the street and the house. Nobody marks those.
 
Serf Life said:
I’d be worried of damaging some other underground thing constantly probing around sites. Burried gas line, irrigation, romex to some thing etc
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How about just probe where you need to. Think about how much better it would have been if this company had probed for a tank where they intended to drive/park their rig. Most tanks are within fifteen feet of the house, although I have seen some crazy exceptions.
 
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Around here it’s not super rare for some old island hick to have filled in a leveled off a hole with old stumps and logs. I’ve even seen when they have done so with concrete from old foundations.
Never mind modern as builts. Ours from 1980 shows the tank in about the right spot but the drainfield 180 degrees in a different direction
 
ATH said:
I don't disagree @rico but what would the solution be to know if there is a septic tank? Ground penetrating radar for every setup?
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It shouldn’t be to difficult to come up with something better than someone’s recollection of where things may or may not be. How about a probe to check the ground where outriggers are going? Look for ground depressions? It’s really not that hard to find them when you have a finite area in which to look. Somehow the rest of the world can find them pretty easily with a little work and some smarts.
 
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