Letter to the Editor

Bruce Whitten

I told you all that I would keep you apprised of what is transpiring in Florida and its current problem of getting crane operator certification on board and the issues with the Miami-Dade Ordinance involving cranes. Forgive me, but here goes my biased view!

 

The legislative session ended May 2, and our crane bill passed the House but was again held up in the Senate by the chairman, Sen. Rudy Garcia • Miami, and as such, did not pass. We are again back to the starting point for a state mandated crane safety ordinance. Thank you, Mr. Garcia, for holding the entire state hostage.

However, Miami-Dade (M-D) has passed its local crane regulation and is moving forward with passing a resolution involving the process for certification of special crane inspectors and the oversight needed by the building department for that process. 

 

Local municipalities in that area have already turned down new construction permits or are requiring the contractors to submit more engineering data than previously needed. Further, we have heard of six cranes (so far) being removed from existing jobsites because said projects did not meet the new requirements as mandated in the M-D crane ordinance. That must be because not one crane manufactured in the world (as per Lawrence Shapiro, P.E. of Howard I. Shapiro & Associates, PC - New York) will meet the language of the M-D crane ordinance. Yet when questioned about the language that states these projects had one year in which to comply but yet work stoppages are being issued, no written explanations are being given by building officials to contractors that state what provision is being violated.

 

This means that six projects are effectively shut down and workers from all trades are potentially out of jobs. That in light of recent economic downturns really makes you wonder what these building officials are up to.

 

Miami-Dade was scheduled to vote on the certification and oversight in spite of our objections, but the FCOC, along with the Associated Builders and Contractors of Florida, the Construction Association of South Florida and the Associated General Contractors, filed for an injunction against Miami-Dade in light of its crane ordinance. The injunction hearing was held at the United States Federal Courthouse in Miami on May 16, and while we thought we would only need a few hours to make our position known, the hearing lasted all day. It appeared that all had gone well, but like anything before a court, the judge has to evaluate the information given to them so the judge is doing just that. We should have an answer by Friday, May 23, so we will keep everyone posted.

I will say that our witnesses were great and gave excellent testimony before the court and we thought that the opposition, the county, struggled through their defense and cross examination of our witnesses. Thank you, contractors, for coming through for us and for the General Cranes resident engineer for giving such fantastic insightful testimony.

I will also say that I was very impressed in the caliber of experts we had in the form of Lawrence Shapiro (crane expert and author) and Russell Swanson (former OSHA directorate) who spoke in opposition of the M-D crane ordinance and in favor of our position.

We will keep you apprised of the court's decision.

Bruce Whitten - Chairman
Florida Crane Owners Council