04.06.2008

Crane training compulsory in New York

Construction workers in New York City hardhats will have to complete safety courses before working on cranes and contractors will be given numbers to track safety. The changes are part of the Bloomberg administration's latest proposal to make construction safer.

Less than a week after the second deadly crane collapse in three months, New York has unveiled more than a dozen new rules for contractors building in the city.

City buildings officials already had proposed many of the changes in recent weeks, following the crane collapses and more than a dozen construction deaths this year.

Workers helping to erect, dismantle or lengthen cranes would have to take a 30-hour safety course and get new training every three years.

Another proposal would restrict the use of nylon slings, which were involved in several construction accidents this year.