04.06.2008

US cities to closely examine crane operations

New York City's latest crane accidents has prompted cities across the nation to closely examine their crane operations to prevent more crane-related tragedies from occurring in the future.

In Washington, D.C., the district's Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) announced it immediately will begin conducting emergency inspections of all cranes. According to DCRA Director Linda Argo, approximately 40 cranes currently operate throughout the District.

Argo said that the most recent crane collapse in New York, which smashed onto a high-rise apartment building and killed two construction workers, is not likely to happen in Washington, D.C., due to the district's building height limits (no building can be more than 20 feet taller than the width of the street on which it sits). Even so, she cautioned it was better to be safe than sorry.


“We owe it to the residents and visitors of the district to ensure all cranes currently operating are safe,” she said.

In Boston, city officials said they plan to be even more vigilant about crane safety, with building inspectors already required to take a 10-hour course in scaffolding and hoist safety, according to the Boston Herald. The crane tragedy in New York is expected to give a boost to a year-old drive by Massachusetts regulators to toughen up licensing requirements for crane operators. The proposal would require operators to demonstrate every two years, in a field test, that they can safely operate the complex machinery, the paper said.