Firm Alters Procedures After Crane Accident

The contractor at a Long Beach construction site where a motorist was killed last week said Monday that it had altered its safety procedures to prevent future crane accidents.

The accident occurred last Thursday morning about 1:48 a.m., when Anjule Quitania, 36, was driving on the San Diego Freeway. As he approached the construction site at the intersection with the Long Beach Freeway, where workers were building an overpass, a crane lost control of a beam it was moving, knocking it into another beam, which fell into the fast lane. Quitania crashed into the beam and skidded off the road down an embankment.

The contractor, Ball, Ball & Brosamer, said it would begin using a different mechanism to secure the beams while they are being moved into place. Company President Ron L. Bruce said the contractor would change its policy at other sites “if it seems appropriate.”