NYC Issues Crawler Crane Mandate

July 1, 2016 - The New York City Department of Buildings issued a temporary order Thursday requiring tighter supervision on crawler cranes, the type that collapsed there in February, killing a pedestrian and injuring three others. 

 

The order requires that a lift director be designated at each construction site to oversee the operations of crawlers, according to a Wall Street Journal article. The lift director would monitor local weather reports and make sure that cranes are properly shut down according to a newly-required “wind action plan.” Anemometers would be installed high on the cranes. The lift director would supervise a daily safety check at the start of each workday, the moving of cranes, and the raising and lowering of crane booms.

 

 

The order ends a citywide mandate to shut down these cranes when winds exceed 30 mph. Instead, the lift director would be responsible for that decision, based on local forecasts for the crane location. Thursday’s order is the result of technical working group recommendations released a few weeks ago.