The Associated Press
HOUSTON — Four workers were killed and six injured when a crane collapsed on Friday during routine maintenance at a chemical plant here, a company official said.
A fire official said that contract workers at the plant, the LyondellBasell refinery, were preparing to do routine maintenance when the several-hundred-feet-long crane toppled over.
The crane, operated by Deep South Crane and Rigging, was not scheduled to be active Friday, although the engine was running after it hit the ground, according to Jim Roecker, a vice president for refining at LyondellBasell.
Mr. Roecker said that about 1,500 contract workers are employed at the refinery.
An assistant chief of the Houston Fire Department, Omero Longoria, said that five people were taken to area hospitals — two in critical condition and three others with trauma-related injuries.
There has been a spate of crane collapses nationwide in recent months. In New York City, two crane accidents since March have killed nine people — more than the total number of deaths from incidents involving cranes over the past decade. There have also been crane accidents in Miami and Las Vegas.
An Associated Press analysis last month June found that cities and states have varying rules governing construction cranes, and some have no regulations at all, relying instead on federal guidelines dating back nearly 40 years that some experts say have not kept up with technological advances.