Two men are dead, another man is in critical condition and two others suffered minor injuries after an outdoor crane accident at the Manitowoc Crane Manufacturing Plant Friday morning.
“It’s a day of sorrow for us,” said Ion Warner, vice president of marketing and investor relations for Manitowoc Crane Company. “This has deeply impacted all of us.”
Pennsylvania State Police said that the accident at the crane-manufacturing company located on Buchanan Trail East between Greencastle and Waynesboro occurred shortly before 8:14 a.m.
Pennsylvania State Trooper Brent Miller couldn’t reveal any of the victim’s names or specific details about how the crane fell on the men, but described the scene as “very chaotic.” He said that police were working with the Franklin County Coroner’s office and were attempting to contact families Friday afternoon.
According to Miller, the man in critical condition was airlifted to York Hospital where he was undergoing multiple surgeries. Miller said the other two men were taken to Waynesboro Hospital for injuries suffered to an arm and a hand.
State police had a forensics team onsite and they also expect to take aerial photos of the scene.
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is investigating the accident and those type of investigations can take “a couple of months,” Miller said.
“Our investigation is all accidental, but it will be up to OSHA as to what they determine in their investigation,” Miller added.
Manitowoc Crane currently employs “several hundred people” at its Shady Grove facility, according to Warner. He did not reveal any specific information about the model of the crane.
Manitowoc produces Grove mobile telescoping cranes, Manitowoc lattice boom crawler cranes, Potain tower cranes, National Crane boom trucks and Shuttlelift industrial cranes.
“The Manitowoc Company is extremely concerned about the welfare of their employees and our thoughts and prayers are with the employees and their families who have been affected,” Warner said.
Authorities on Sunday released the identities of two men killed late last week in a crane accident at Manitowoc Co. as Chris Robison and John Marcoux.
Robison, 49, of Marion, Pa., and Marcoux, 66, of Chambersburg, Pa., succumbed to injuries from multiple blunt-force trauma, Franklin County (Pa.) Coroner Jeffrey R. Conner wrote in an email.
Friday morning’s crane accident occurred outdoors on the 300-acre plant off Pa. 16 in Antrim Township, Pennsylvania State Police said.
Isaac Notz, 38, of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, is still listed in critical condition at York Hospital after being flown from the scene on Friday.
Ryan Horst, 27, of Greencastle, Pa., and Gary Chaloupka, 66, of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, have both been released from the Waynesboro Hospital.
State police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were investigating, with a forensics team on the scene and plans being made for aerial photography.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Brent Miller said OSHA investigations can take months to be completed.
“There’s a lot of parts that make this an entire basically team (investigation). With OSHA involved, a lot of things at this point cannot be released,” Miller said at a Friday press conference.
The two men were killed instantly, Miller said.
He would not say whether the crane toppled over and referred questions of that nature to the manufacturer.
A Manitowoc spokesman did not return a phone message Sunday.
Manitowoc Cranes in Antrim Township is the current iteration of a company that started out making farm wagons in a garage. That company was founded by John L. Grove, Dwight Grove and Wayne Nicarry in 1946, and today makes rough-terrain cranes, truck cranes, boom trucks, industrial cranes and lattice boom crawler cranes.
