N.Y. Contractors File Petition to Block Crane Wind Speed Rule

October 26, 2016 - New York real estate news site, The Real Deal, reports that a the Building Trades Employers Association has filed a petition to block the city regulation that requires crawler cranes to stop operating when wind gusts exceed 30 mph. The association, which includes groups like the Contractors Association of Greater New York and the Allied Building Metals Industries, want the Department of Buildings and Commissioner Richard Chandler to appeal the rule. 

The regulation has been on the books since 1968 and was reenacted as part of a series of recommendations from a construction safety group appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio. The group's recommendations followed last February's crane accident in New York City that killed a pedestrian.

According to the Real Deal, the petition claims that while the rule is an old one, the DOB rarely enforced it. It also points out that the city hasn’t determined an official cause of the fatal crane collapse, even though the OSHA ruled that the incident was due to an operator error. The petition alleges that enforcing this rule will create the same hazard that led to the February accident when the crane operator lowered the boom after wind speeds reached 30 mph.

 

“DOB can point to no engineering or scientific study and no other municipal, state or national regulatory scheme that has found that crawler crane operations somehow become unsafe at 30 mph,” the petition states. “The 30 mph limitation has been mischaracterized as adding an extra margin of safety to New York crane operation, but it does the opposite: it makes unusual and risky crane operations more common.”

 

The petition also alleges that the safety group didn’t adequately consult the construction industry when it drafted the recommendations.

 

A DOB spokesperson said the working group regularly consulted the construction industry. He also noted that the DOB’s investigation is ongoing.

 

“The city’s crane rules are there to protect people’s lives,” a DOB spokesperson said in a statement. “Cranes should not be operating in high winds. We look forward to reviewing this action and are confident we will prevail.”