Bad Day in Bedrock

Not a heavy hauler (yet!), so I gotta ask:

What caused the crane arm to lift? Operator screwing around? Control get bumped at the wrong time? Or do they just start going up all by themselves for no reason?

Bear in mind, the questions are all asked in due seriousness. Any knowledge on a situation like this, especially how to prevent something like this, would be greatly appreciated.

 

Glad noone was hurt.

 

...looks expensive.

 

That hurts to see.

 

Luckily you hadn't yet chained 'er down...would've whipped the truck over as well.

 

First of all, glad everyone gets to learn from this instead of someone paying the ultimate price!
NOT to be critical, but to simply offer my practices.
Something I see a lot, and personally I disagree with the practice. Unless you have a 10'w deck, cranes should only be loaded with outriggers in the extended position. I've loaded them without the outriggers extended before, but I won't do that again. Not saying this would have prevented this, and based on your description along with the pics, I don't think it would have.
I will not let a crane drive onto my deck with the boom higher than about 10-15 degrees above horizontal. IMHO the boom was too high. It was in the correct position if you were lifting the machine with the outriggers to slide a rail/beam underneath to load it.
Once on the trailer and positioned correctly, I get the operator to push slightly with the outriggers so I can block the cane under the outrigger boxes, this makes them very stable. If you do this once, you will never move them on a deck again without doing it.
Once a wheeled machine is on the deck and positioned where I want it, NO control is to be manipulated until machine is secured, the larger the tires, the more bounce in them and the higher the center of gravity, the more unstable they are. This is not open to debate, and I've had several operators get flat out pi$$y with me over it. Until it's secure, this is a possibility, and if I'm going to be under/around it securing it, I am the potential bug that gets swatted, that means I have the final say or bye bye.
This is the reason I prefer to haul RT's on my rail/beam. IMHO, it's the proper tool for the job.
This is the reason one of our customers now only moves RT's on rail/beam.

Oh, and thank you for sharing. It's not easy to share big mistakes, but they are the best way for ourselves and others to learn. And don't be too hard on yourself, we've all walked through the zone, it's easily overlooked, and occasionally we need to be reminded of it, so thanks for reminding me!

 

Glad everyone is ok, but this is why I Hate hauling RTs.

Someone tried to swing
the house on one out by Beaumont - tied to the trailer - it went right over with the trailer. Took 4 wreckers to stand it up.

I won't haul anything bigger than
A 770 on my flat deck because It am only 8 6 wide and worry about peeling off my outriggers.

I am with @Heavy Hammer on using a beam or blocking for stability.