Cape’s offshore operations in the Far East/Pacific Rim have recently been buoyed by the award of two new contracts:
North Rankin B (Heerema) Woodside
Heerema, an existing Cape client in the UKCS, has awarded Cape its first contract in Australia with an estimated value of £6m. Mike Harding , Director of Offshore Operations Asia Pacific Rim explains, “Cape has been working closely with the Heerema Engineering team for some time providing detailed scaffolding designs and work packs for the known scaffolding scope. We have also been engaged at Batam providing innovative rope access solutions and scaffolding supervision for the local labour force erecting all the preliminary scaffolding.”
The main ramp up for all trades will be in September that will see Cape provide the full range of professional non-mechanical industrial services for the project inclusive of rope access, abrasive blasting, specialist protective coatings and scaffolding for the hook up scope.
Due to the locality of this project and the fact that it will be joined by two bridge sections to the existing North Rankin Platform it is an excellent opportunity for Cape to demonstrate its services not only to Heerema but also to Woodside.
PNG LNG Jetty (BAM Clough JV) Exxon Mobil.
Cape has also been awarded a service contract by the BAM Clough Joint Venture to provide Scaffolding Services for the PNG LNG jetty construction works.
The PNG LNG and condensate jetty will be constructed adjacent to the planned LNG facility twenty kilometres northwest of Port Moresby on the coast of the Gulf of Papua New Guinea.
Cape will deploy the first batch of operatives to the project at the end of August; for the initial phase of the construction works. Topside construction works are due to commence in January 2012 and take approximately twelve months.
BAM Clough is a joint venture group specialising in marine projects and construction in the Far East/Pacific Rim region. Headquartered in Perth WA, BAM Clough also has offices in PNG and Singapore. Although Cape has relationships with various Clough entities across the world, this will be the first contract with the BAM Clough JV.
Securing this contract is seen as a major achievement for the newly established operations in PNG.
Martin May, CEO of Cape Plc, commented:
“These contract awards again highlight the momentum building in the offshore market in the Far East/Pacific Rim region. The North Rankin contract is our third offshore contract award in Australia and we are delighted to be working with Heerema in the region. The BAM Clough award is also our third contract award in PNG this year and provides an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate our offshore capabilities.”
Major international sporting events contracts have been won by an events scaffolding business which will also be expanding in China.
RIM Scaffolding Events Services which is based in Leeds has won the contracts to provide specialist access scaffolding for the ongoing test events for the London Olympics, and for golf’s Omega World Cup in Mission Hills, China.
RIM Scaffolding has created 18 new jobs this year and a total of 65 staff with a £3.5 million annual turnover.
The company provides scaffolding structures including TV camera towers, seating grandstands, marquee sub structures, commentary boxes, bridges, scoreboards and LED screen supports for customers which include the BBC.
The joint managing directors William Irish and Peter Madden are launching a new office in Guangzhou China with plans to open a office in United Arab Emirates to expand its services in the Middle East
Image : business desk
Mr Irish said: “We achieve 85% repeat business on annual events and are currently heavily involved with the Olympic test events which is a good indication of our involvement with the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Harsco Infrastructure has provided Self-Climbing Formwork (SCF) which is now helping ensure quick and safe access during the construction of a 320m tall pylon for the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge.
The Harsco solution provides a fully enclosed temporary working environment which protects against extreme weather conditions during construction of the pylon and its 70m tall approach piers, which together form part of the record-breaking Russky Island Bridge at Vladivostok in Russia.
Optimised planning
During the technical planning phase Harsco’s SCF team used their expertise to accelerate the construction schedule and ensure maximum safety, particularly for the two climbing units used on the pylon. This eliminated the need for any time-consuming conversion work and resulted in a formwork and platform solution that is perfectly adapted to the tapering and inclined geometry of the pylon itself.
At the base, this calls for a ground plan of 7.8 x 13 m with a 2 m wall thickness, tapering to 7.1 x 7 m with a 0.7 m wall thickness at the top. The in-depth planning means that only a single work platform has to be removed from the SCF assembly, which is being done during a pre-scheduled break in construction work. All other adjustments and climbing can be carried out safely and without holding up the site work unnecessarily
Seven work levels
The SCF unit provides seven work levels with a total height of 19 m, with the top two used for upstream steelfixing. As both the external – and unusually also the internal – working platforms are all full-scale, steelfixing can proceed immediately after concrete pouring, thus saving time and increasing safety. On the next two levels, work is carried out on the formwork and the concrete surface can be heated from here if necessary. To accelerate work flow, the formwork level also has separate projecting materials platforms served by a crane.
The three trailing platforms round off the rigid, steel-frame climbing pier production unit. These platforms allow the concrete to be protected from the weather for two complete cycles after pouring, and again, heated if necessary. The result is that the concrete can be protected from the weather for almost three whole weeks after pouring, with any patching work carried out in a heated environment – a huge advantage during extreme winter conditions.
72 climbing cycles
To accommodate the tight construction schedule the system was specifically designed to allow adjustments to the self-climbing formwork, and the 72 climbing cycles of 4.5 m, to be performed quickly. Rigid separation between the steelfixing levels and the shuttering and climbing operations means that once the steelfixing is completed, the formwork can be retracted and cleaned before the climbing shoes are fitted and the climbing rails raised and tied for the next pouring cycle. This allows the SCF platforms to be raised immediately after completion of the steelfixing and the formwork to be moved into its new position ready for the next pour. Once pouring is complete, the steelfixing for the next cycle can begin.
Protection from the elements
To protect men and materials from the severe climate, the self-climbing formwork is fully enclosed, complete with a modular, movable roof. The enclosure ensures risk-free operations, even at extreme heights where the wind forces can be exceptional. It also allows the work chamber to be heated so that the concrete can set or be patched, even with external temperatures of 35O below (Celsius).
The SCF bracket: High load-bearing capacity, a single tying point
The exceptionally high load-bearing capacity of Harsco’s SCF brackets (150 kN vertically and 100 kN horizontally) is crucial to this project. The pylon’s special geometry and continuous tapering mean that only six of the 22 brackets employed actually climb vertically, with the others climbing at transverse and often changing angles of up to 5% from the vertical. Despite its high load-bearing capacity each SCF bracket requires just a single tie, with installation of the tie cones being a simple task. The cones only need to be positioned at the correct horizontal intervals, and unlike pairs of cones, they do not need to be set at a precisely measured angle. There is therefore no need for elaborate realignment of the bracket to accommodate changes of angle or inaccuracies when setting-up the formwork.
Perfect package
Harsco is providing a formwork foreman and a number of technicians to support the project and ensure that the meticulously planned work processes are followed on site. Along with Harsco’s SCF formwork and various other ancillary services it is providing, this is helping the construction process progress swiftly and safely.
Record-breaker
With its 1,100m central span the 3,100m Russky Island Bridge will ultimately be the world’s longest and tallest cable-stayed bridge. Traversing the Eastern Bosphorus, it will link the far east port of Vladivostok with Russky Island, which belongs to the city. The Russian building contractor, SK MOST, is aiming for a record-breaking construction period of just 43 months so that the bridge’s four-lane road is open in time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit at the end of 2012.
Russky Island Bridge – Data
Bridge deck width (steel structure): 21 m
Headroom under bridge: 70 m
Bridge length: 1,885.53 m
Total bridge length: 3,100 m
Largest span: 1,104 m
Height of bridge pylons: 320.9 m
Budget: €360 million
Two workers died and four others were injured when a scaffold collapsed at a construction site in Shanghai’s Pudong New District on Thursday.
The collapse happened at 11:30am at a construction site for a new urban railway route near Luoshan Road, the Shanghai Work Safety Administration said in a press release.
It said all the six workers were on the scaffold when it collapsed.
The four injured are being treated for fractures at a local hospital. Their injuries are not life-threatening, the press release said.
An inquest heard that a Scaffolder drove his car into a lorry just weeks after he was told he was being made redundant from his job.Paul Taylor (image from the mirror.co.uk)
Scaffolder Paul Taylor, 26, was in a lot of debt when he was laid off from Sellafield Power Station.
He died at the scene as he was not wearing a seatbelt, and tests found he had drugs and alcohol in his body.
Paul had spent that day in pubs with his brother talking about what music he wanted at his funeral and telling friends to read the newspapers the next day.
A few days before his death he told a friend that he had attempted to kill himself by driving in front of a lorry but it swerved out of the way. He also added that he was thinking about it again and did not want to see a psychiatrist.
Coroner David Roberts told the Workington inquest he was satisfied that Mr Taylor, of Egremont, Cumbria, had deliberately driven into the lorry to end his life.
He praised the truck driver, Ian Proudman, for trying to get out of the way but added: “It seems to me that Mr Taylor drove in your way.”
The verdict to the inquest was suicide.
NSG Scaffolding UK have completed two projects in Liverpool and Morecambe Bay.NSG UK have completed a complex contract which involved replacing a helideck surface for an offshore oil rig and scaffolding work at Liverpool’s Pier Head which is part of a project to build a new landing stage.
A team of specialist spent 14 days working on the installation in Morecambe Bay. The unmanned offshore oil rig work was the first project of its type undertaken by NSG since wining the maintenance and intervention contract with the energy giant Centrica.
The work involved replacing and repainting the helideck to meet up with new specifications.
NSG’s Barrow based area commercial manager Bill Morton said: “Helidecks have certain markings which help the helicopter crew determine the optimum place to land – therefore the surface and paint work has to be spot on.
“The anti slip deck coating is essential for personnel who will be walking to and from the helicopters.”
The work at Liverpool’s Pier Head was to erect support scaffolding to take a 22-tonne drilling kit and to give access for contractors to repair cracks in the waterfront wall.
The project was another first of its kind for NSG as the engineers had to make sure that the scaffold could withstand the high tides of the River Mersey.
NSG have won further contracts for a large tower block in Leeds with Downing, and repair works to the outside of Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
General manager Tim Walker said the value of the four contracts was worth more than £450,000.
“We have had a very strong first half of the year and the variety of these projects demonstrates our flexibility and ability to work across a range of sectors,” he said.
“The Pier Head and off-shore projects were particularly complex but our design engineers provided robust solutions which our scaffolding and painting teams were able carry out effectively and on time.”
A woman crashed her car in to the front garden of a semi-detached house in Kent this morning.
The accident happened at 4:50am in the High Street, Kent, opposite the Tesco Express store the car totally demolished the front wall of the property and left the Scaffolding that was being erected around the building in a dangerous condition.
Police patrols remained at the scene until noon while building control officers from the city council carried out inspections to ensure the scaffolding was safely secured.
Police are not treating the accident as suspicious and nobody was injured in the smash.
Workmen are being driven up the wall by problems getting permission to park near sites they are working in the center of Oxford.Image courtesy of Oxford Mail
Anthony Burden who is a Plumber and gas heating engineer was told to use park-and-ride buses after being refused exemptins from parking restrictions by staff from NSL who are the contractor which control on-street parking for Oxford county council.
The Plumber who does a lot of work for Oxford University and shops in the center of oxford said:
“Before NSL took over, we had a system everyone understood.
“We could go to the old city council parking shop on a Monday and pay £15 for a permit for the week and they left us alone.
“When NSL first came in, they were very helpful. The dispensations became free and it seemed to be working well but recently we are finding it harder and harder to get them.
“We just do not know where we stand. It has become a lottery. Sometimes you get a dispensation, sometimes not.
“Small businesses need all the help they can get at the moment.
“The Government’s saying that we are vital to getting the economy going again but NSL are not helping us.”
Scaffolder Michael Palmer said: “It just seems to be getting worse and we’re losing money over it. An hour’s pay one day, a day’s pay other times. We don’t mind paying a fee, so long as we know where we stand.”
A council spokesman said: “A request for special dispensation to park in a restricted area can be made by calling 08453 371138.
“When determining whether permission can be given we have to look at the regulations in place, the presence of any other vehicles that may be working in the area, and whether there is any viable alternative for the vehicle to park legally. This involves looking at whether there is off-street parking available close by.
“These criteria have remained unchanged since the council took on responsibility for on-street parking enforcement in 1997.”
NSL said the rules for parking dipensations are a matter for the Oxford county council.
A stage collapsed during a powerful storm at the Indiana State Fair on Saturday, sending steel scaffolding into the terrified crowd and killing at least five people awaiting a performance by the country band Sugarland.The collapse came moments after an announcer warned of the advancing storm and gave instructions on what to do in event of an evacuation. Witnesses said a wall of dirt, dust and rain blew up quickly like a dust bowl and a burst of high wind toppled the rigging. People ran, screaming and shouting, desperate to get out of the way.
Afterward, hundreds of concert-goers rushed amid the chaos to tend to the injured, many trying to lift heavy beams, lights and other equipment that blew onto the crowd. Witnesses said many of the injured were in the VIP section closest to the stage, known as the “Sugar Pit.” Emergency crews set up a triage center in a tunnel below the grandstand at the Indianapolis fairgrounds.
Indiana State Police 1st Sgt David Bursten said Sunday that four people died when the collapse happened and a fifth person died overnight at a hospital. At least 45 people were injured and treated at hospitals. Bursten said the injuries ranged from cuts and scrapes to “very serious injuries.”
At least 18 people were taken to Wishard Memorial Hospital with problems ranging from head injuries and bone fractures to lacerations and other cuts and bruises, hospital spokesman Todd Harper said. He said those injuries were not life-threatening and conditions ranged from fair to critical. One person treated there was a 7-year-old child, he said, but didn’t elaborate further.
Indiana University Health said Sunday that 26 people were treated at its hospitals, including three at its children’s hospital. It said 16 were brought from the fair by ambulance, and all but one of those patients remained hospitalized.
Fair officials canceled all activities Sunday. The fair, which runs through Aug. 21, was expected to resume Monday with a service honoring the victims, Bursten said.
The Iowa State Fair announced Sugarland and opening act Sara Bareilles had canceled their Sunday show there.
Sugarland lead singer Jennifer Nettles issued a statement Sunday saying the band is “stunned and heartbroken for the fans and their families in Indiana. We hold those injured in our prayers at this very sad time. There are no words. It is tragic.”
Nettles and Kristian Bush have sold more than 8 million records performing as Sugarland.
Emergency personnel and fair officials had been monitoring the weather and preparations were being made to evacuate the facility because a severe storm was expected in the area around 9:15 p.m., Bursten said. But the storm hit just before 9 p.m., and a “significant gust of wind” struck the stage rigging that holds lights and other equipment before the evacuation plan was activated, he said.
“As we all know, weather can change in a very rapid period of time,” he said.
Concert-goers said Bareilles had finished performing and the crowd was waiting for Sugarland to take the stage. They said an announcer alerted them that severe weather was possible and gave instructions on what to do if an evacuation was necessary. But the same announcer said concert organizers hoped the show would go on, and many fans stayed put.
The wind that toppled the rigging came just minutes after that announcement, fans said.
“It was like it was in slow motion,” concert-goer Amy Weathers told the Indianapolis Star. “You couldn’t believe it was actually happening.”
Associated Press photographer Darron Cummings was in the audience shortly before the collapse. He said he and his companions sought shelter in a nearby barn after seeing dark clouds approaching.
“Then we heard screams. We heard people just come running,” Cummings told the AP. “When you see dark clouds like that, if there’s going to be bad weather, there’s going to be mass chaos on leaving.”
Witnesses told WTHR that dirt, dust, rain and wind came up the main thoroughfare of the fairgrounds just before the collapse.
“Panic kicked in when they seen the dust bowl coming in from the Midway,” concert-goer Darryl Cox told the television station.
Another person at the concert, Emily Davis, told the station there was lightning and the sky got dark but it wasn’t raining when the wind suddenly toppled the rigging.
“It was horrible, people were running and going crazy,” she said.
Jessica Alsman told the AP the towering, metal stage scaffolding “kind of wobbled at first.” Then pandemonium set in as it fell.
“As soon as we saw the wind gust, the wind was in our faces,” Alsman said. She and three friends grabbed each other and formed a chain.
“You can’t imagine _ we just thought it was going to rain or something,” Alsman said.
The Marion County Coroner’s office identified the five victims as 23-year-old Alina Bigjohny of Fort Wayne, 29-year-old Christina Santiago of Chicago, and three Indianapolis residents: 42-year-old Tammy Vandam, 49-year-old Glenn Goodrich and 51-year-old Nathan Byrd. It was Byrd who died overnight.
Indiana’s position in the Midwest has long made it prone to volatile changes in weather. In April 2006, tornado-force winds hit Indianapolis just after thousands of people left a free outdoor concert by John Mellencamp held as part of the NCAA men’s Final Four college basketball championship tournament.
And in May 2004, a tornado touched down south of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, delaying the start of the Indianapolis 500 and forcing a nearly two-hour interruption in the race.
The exceptionally high load-bearing capacity of Harsco’s SCF brackets (150 kN vertically and 100 kN horizontally) is crucial to this project. The pylon’s special geometry and continuous tapering mean that only six of the 22 brackets employed actually climb vertically, with the others climbing at transverse and often changing angles of up to 5% from the vertical. Despite its high load-bearing capacity each SCF bracket requires just a single tie, with installation of the tie cones being a simple task. The cones only need to be positioned at the correct horizontal intervals, and unlike pairs of cones, they do not need to be set at a precisely measured angle. There is therefore no need for elaborate realignment of the bracket to accommodate changes of angle or inaccuracies when setting-up the formwork.
Perfect package
Harsco is providing a formwork foreman and a number of technicians to support the project and ensure that the meticulously planned work processes are followed on site. Along with Harsco’s SCF formwork and various other ancillary services it is providing, this is helping the construction process progress swiftly and safely.
Record-breaker
With its 1,100m central span the 3,100m Russky Island Bridge will ultimately be the world’s longest and tallest cable-stayed bridge. Traversing the Eastern Bosphorus, it will link the far east port of Vladivostok with Russky Island, which belongs to the city. The Russian building contractor, SK MOST, is aiming for a record-breaking construction period of just 43 months so that the bridge’s four-lane road is open in time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit at the end of 2012.
Russky Island Bridge – Data
Bridge deck width (steel structure): 21 m
Headroom under bridge: 70 m
Bridge length: 1,885.53 m
Total bridge length: 3,100 m
Largest span: 1,104 m
Height of bridge pylons: 320.9 m
Budget: €360 million
The collapse happened at 11:30am at a construction site for a new urban railway route near Luoshan Road, the Shanghai Work Safety Administration said in a press release.
It said all the six workers were on the scaffold when it collapsed.
The four injured are being treated for fractures at a local hospital. Their injuries are not life-threatening, the press release said.
NSG UK have completed a complex contract which involved replacing a helideck surface for an offshore oil rig and scaffolding work at Liverpool’s Pier Head which is part of a project to build a new landing stage.
A team of specialist spent 14 days working on the installation in Morecambe Bay. The unmanned offshore oil rig work was the first project of its type undertaken by NSG since wining the maintenance and intervention contract with the energy giant Centrica.
The work involved replacing and repainting the helideck to meet up with new specifications.
NSG’s Barrow based area commercial manager Bill Morton said: “Helidecks have certain markings which help the helicopter crew determine the optimum place to land – therefore the surface and paint work has to be spot on.
“The anti slip deck coating is essential for personnel who will be walking to and from the helicopters.”
The work at Liverpool’s Pier Head was to erect support scaffolding to take a 22-tonne drilling kit and to give access for contractors to repair cracks in the waterfront wall.
The project was another first of its kind for NSG as the engineers had to make sure that the scaffold could withstand the high tides of the River Mersey.
NSG have won further contracts for a large tower block in Leeds with Downing, and repair works to the outside of Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
General manager Tim Walker said the value of the four contracts was worth more than £450,000.
“We have had a very strong first half of the year and the variety of these projects demonstrates our flexibility and ability to work across a range of sectors,” he said.
“The Pier Head and off-shore projects were particularly complex but our design engineers provided robust solutions which our scaffolding and painting teams were able carry out effectively and on time.”
A woman crashed her car in to the front garden of a semi-detached house in Kent this morning.
The accident happened at 4:50am in the High Street, Kent, opposite the Tesco Express store the car totally demolished the front wall of the property and left the Scaffolding that was being erected around the building in a dangerous condition.
Police patrols remained at the scene until noon while building control officers from the city council carried out inspections to ensure the scaffolding was safely secured.
Police are not treating the accident as suspicious and nobody was injured in the smash.
The collapse came moments after an announcer warned of the advancing storm and gave instructions on what to do in event of an evacuation. Witnesses said a wall of dirt, dust and rain blew up quickly like a dust bowl and a burst of high wind toppled the rigging. People ran, screaming and shouting, desperate to get out of the way.
Afterward, hundreds of concert-goers rushed amid the chaos to tend to the injured, many trying to lift heavy beams, lights and other equipment that blew onto the crowd. Witnesses said many of the injured were in the VIP section closest to the stage, known as the “Sugar Pit.” Emergency crews set up a triage center in a tunnel below the grandstand at the Indianapolis fairgrounds.
Indiana State Police 1st Sgt David Bursten said Sunday that four people died when the collapse happened and a fifth person died overnight at a hospital. At least 45 people were injured and treated at hospitals. Bursten said the injuries ranged from cuts and scrapes to “very serious injuries.”
At least 18 people were taken to Wishard Memorial Hospital with problems ranging from head injuries and bone fractures to lacerations and other cuts and bruises, hospital spokesman Todd Harper said. He said those injuries were not life-threatening and conditions ranged from fair to critical. One person treated there was a 7-year-old child, he said, but didn’t elaborate further.
Indiana University Health said Sunday that 26 people were treated at its hospitals, including three at its children’s hospital. It said 16 were brought from the fair by ambulance, and all but one of those patients remained hospitalized.
Fair officials canceled all activities Sunday. The fair, which runs through Aug. 21, was expected to resume Monday with a service honoring the victims, Bursten said.
The Iowa State Fair announced Sugarland and opening act Sara Bareilles had canceled their Sunday show there.
Sugarland lead singer Jennifer Nettles issued a statement Sunday saying the band is “stunned and heartbroken for the fans and their families in Indiana. We hold those injured in our prayers at this very sad time. There are no words. It is tragic.”
Nettles and Kristian Bush have sold more than 8 million records performing as Sugarland.
Emergency personnel and fair officials had been monitoring the weather and preparations were being made to evacuate the facility because a severe storm was expected in the area around 9:15 p.m., Bursten said. But the storm hit just before 9 p.m., and a “significant gust of wind” struck the stage rigging that holds lights and other equipment before the evacuation plan was activated, he said.
“As we all know, weather can change in a very rapid period of time,” he said.
Concert-goers said Bareilles had finished performing and the crowd was waiting for Sugarland to take the stage. They said an announcer alerted them that severe weather was possible and gave instructions on what to do if an evacuation was necessary. But the same announcer said concert organizers hoped the show would go on, and many fans stayed put.
The wind that toppled the rigging came just minutes after that announcement, fans said.
“It was like it was in slow motion,” concert-goer Amy Weathers told the Indianapolis Star. “You couldn’t believe it was actually happening.”
Associated Press photographer Darron Cummings was in the audience shortly before the collapse. He said he and his companions sought shelter in a nearby barn after seeing dark clouds approaching.
“Then we heard screams. We heard people just come running,” Cummings told the AP. “When you see dark clouds like that, if there’s going to be bad weather, there’s going to be mass chaos on leaving.”
Witnesses told WTHR that dirt, dust, rain and wind came up the main thoroughfare of the fairgrounds just before the collapse.
“Panic kicked in when they seen the dust bowl coming in from the Midway,” concert-goer Darryl Cox told the television station.
Another person at the concert, Emily Davis, told the station there was lightning and the sky got dark but it wasn’t raining when the wind suddenly toppled the rigging.
“It was horrible, people were running and going crazy,” she said.
Jessica Alsman told the AP the towering, metal stage scaffolding “kind of wobbled at first.” Then pandemonium set in as it fell.
“As soon as we saw the wind gust, the wind was in our faces,” Alsman said. She and three friends grabbed each other and formed a chain.
“You can’t imagine _ we just thought it was going to rain or something,” Alsman said.
The Marion County Coroner’s office identified the five victims as 23-year-old Alina Bigjohny of Fort Wayne, 29-year-old Christina Santiago of Chicago, and three Indianapolis residents: 42-year-old Tammy Vandam, 49-year-old Glenn Goodrich and 51-year-old Nathan Byrd. It was Byrd who died overnight.
Indiana’s position in the Midwest has long made it prone to volatile changes in weather. In April 2006, tornado-force winds hit Indianapolis just after thousands of people left a free outdoor concert by John Mellencamp held as part of the NCAA men’s Final Four college basketball championship tournament.
And in May 2004, a tornado touched down south of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, delaying the start of the Indianapolis 500 and forcing a nearly two-hour interruption in the race.