NY Buildings Department Hosts International Crane Safety Conference

October 17, 2008 • New York Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri recently hosted an international conference on crane safety with more than 50 construction and public safety experts from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to discuss crane safety protocols around the world. Among the participants who attended the landmark meeting were representatives from major cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Toronto, and London, as well as state jurisdictions such as Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Held at the department's headquarters in Lower Manhattan, the conference is the first of its kind in the country and serves as a step forward in developing an ongoing worldwide dialogue among responsible parties in the crane industry, including government regulators, crane owners, manufacturers, operators, contractors, engineers, and riggers. In the coming months, LiMandri will hold a safety summit with major crane manufacturers to discuss how to make cranes safer and build upon ideas generated at the conference.

 

“We each represent different cities, states, and countries, but we are all facing the same challenge • how to make cranes safer,” said LiMandri. “Recent accidents in New York City and other jurisdictions around the world have made it clear that crane safety is a critical issue affecting all of us. Cranes easily move across state lines and international borders with varying degrees of oversight, and this conference will foster an international dialogue to help standardize regulations and better protect millions of New Yorkers and others around the world.”

 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, cranes have caused 323 fatalities across the country between 1992 and 2006, 68 of which were due to collapsing cranes like the one that led to the death of six workers and one civilian on March 15 in New York City. Following two crane collapses in New York City this year, the department has hired engineering experts to study crane operations, expanded crane inspection checklists from 35 items to more than 200, and implemented tougher regulations, including mandatory training for tower crane workers and the submission of detailed rigging and jumping plans as part of the crane application process.

At the conference, officials reviewed crane safety standards for permitting, licensing, maintaining, repairing, and operating cranes in order to identify ways to collectively address the problems that have plagued the crane industry. LiMandri also joined the officials in a brief tour of a construction site at 123 Washington St. in Lower Manhattan where a 200-foot-high crane has been erected.

 

At the conference, participants reviewed crane safety standards and systems of oversight in the respective jurisdictions represented. They also explored ways in which structural parts of the crane can be tracked throughout their lifetime. Other discussion topics included license requirements, and the need for national crane maintenance and repair standards.