Recent tower crane incidents prompt greater sharing of information
The New York Times has reported that officials in several places, including New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Ontario and Dallas have expressed interest in a new database for tracking tower cranes or their parts.
The NY Buildings Commissioner described the planned database “a major step toward establishing a standardised system of tracking tower cranes across the country.” The measure follows two recent tower crane incidents which claimed 9 lives. The system is intended to identify cranes in use in an area with details of the crane owner, make, model, date erected on the site etc.
An occupational safety and health expert commented that the database would help but that improvements should ”look at how the operators are using the cranes and what licensing processes and procedures are the crane operators going through. What’s the preventive maintenance schedule for the cranes? How regularly are the cranes inspected? How regularly are critical components inspected or replaced?”