Crane Safety Report Highlights Need for Improved Federal Rules

by Mike Hall, Jun 19, 2008

A new report recommending improvements in crane safety comes at a timely moment: In recent weeks, several high-profile fatal crane accidents in New York City, Miami and Las Vegas have claimed the lives of 10 workers and a bystander.

The report, Crane-Related Deaths in Construction and Recommendations for Their Prevention, recommends new federal construction crane safety rules, national training and certification standards for crane operators and inspectors and more stringent inspections of cranes. The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) produced the study.

The AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), the Greater New York City Building & Construction Trades Council (NYCBCT) and the Operating Engineers (IUOE) endorsed the report’s findings.

Says IUOE General President Vincent J. Giblin:

We need to hold government accountable for its role in ensuring the lives of America’s workers.

Worker safety advocates for years have been calling on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issues crane safety rules. OSHA estimates between 64 and 82 workers are killed and 263 are injured working around cranes and derricks each year.

In July 2004, a 23-member industry and union advisory committee that OSHA established issued its recommendations and a proposed standard on crane safety. But the safety agency has dragged its feet on crane safety. Just as OSHA has failed to issue so many vital safety standards during the Bush administration—combustible dust, personal protective gear, diacetyl (a cancer-causing chemical) and more.

Says BCTD President Mark Ayers:

OSHA needs to put in place its Safety Standards for Cranes and Derricks, which have been gathering dust at that agency for four years….Meanwhile, more construction workers die, bystanders and first responders are injured, killed and put at risk, and we wait for OSHA to act.

The CPWR report calls for a much great emphasis on training and certification for crane operators and other crane workers, including riggers and signal persons who direct the operator from the ground. It notes that only 15 states and a handful of cities require such certification. Another recommendation is the thorough inspection of cranes by a certified crane inspector, after the crane is assembled but before it is used. It also calls for OSHA to conduct more thorough investigations and more detailed reporting of crane fatalities.

Says Ayers:

CPWR’s recommendations would benefit all construction workers, as well as those who live and work near cranes, if they are implemented nationwide.

The report examined the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on construction worker fatalities between 1992 and 2006. The data included the numbers and causes of death, the trades of workers involved, the size of employers and types of cranes involved. The CPWR report found the leading cause of death among workers was electrocution when the crane touched an overhead power line, followed by workers killed in a crane collapses and those struck by the crane boom or hit by a boom falling from the crane.

The findings show more than half of worker deaths took place among construction laborers and heavy equipment operators. Workers employed by small contractors represent about one-third of the crane-related deaths.

Says NYCBCT President Edward Malloy:

Construction workers are counting on employers and OSHA to keep them safe on the job, Union contractors and unions spend millions of dollars training workers—we know we bring that to the table. But poorly maintained equipment or a “speed up” work schedule can bring disaster to any worker, even the best trained one.

Click here to download the report. 

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