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Liz Moucka

Local versus National Crane Regulations
July 31, 2008

Crane accidents have begun to hit home recently, and their increasing frequency is causing communities to seek stricter regulation. Austin is one of the first.

Recent Crane Accidents in Texas

      At the LyondellBasell refinery near Houston, one of the world’s largest cranes owned by Deep South Crane and Rigging Company of Louisiana collapsed, killing four workers July 18. That accident is still under investigation by OSHA. But now less than three weeks later, tragedy has struck again in Texas. One worker was killed and another injured on a bridge demolition project near Smithville, about 45 miles southeast of Austin between Bastrop and La Grange.

      Stomper Demolition, serving as a subcontractor to Capital Excavation on the Loop 230 project, was using an unusual approach in demolishing a bridge over the Colorado River. The 8-foot tall steel girders ranging from 140 to 180 feet in length were approximately 70 above the river. Stomper positioned a 300-ton crane on a pad in the middle of the Colorado River and had a 210-ton crane on the abutment. The plan was to stabilize each successive girder with the two cranes, cut the girders into two pieces, then remove each half onto opposite banks of the river. They had already removed 12 beams successfully before tragedy struck.

      According to reports published locally, another steel beam came loose, falling on the one being held by the crane, overweighting the load and causing the crane to tip over. As that collapsing beam fell, it struck the workers in a manlift below the beams where they were removing fasteners.

Photo Caption: No one was hurt when a small mobile crane collapsed during construction of the Red River Flats in downtown Austin last October. That crane had passed an inspection just days before.

Local Regulation

      The Austin-American Statesman reported that after fatal crane collapses in Houston, New York, Las Vegas and Miami, and before this latest accident near Smithville, Austin City Council Member Mike Martinez began putting together a petition for a Crane Safety Ordinance empowering Austin city staff to keep an inventory of the cranes operating within the city, to require crane inspections and to halt operation on a site if those inspections are not up to date. The city currently requires no permits to operate a construction crane.

      Rather than inspect the cranes itself, the city would check to ensure that each crane operating in Austin was inspected and cleared by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which requires, in part, annual inspections by a private or government inspector approved by the U.S. Department of Labor and inspections by a qualified employee before each use of the crane.

What Do You Think?

      OSHA guidelines on crane safety have not been significantly updated since the early 1970s, yet cranes have continued to incorporate new technology and in the wrong hands can become dangerous. Because national guidelines and OSHA aren’t definitive enough on crane safety, the onus falls back on the relationship between the contractor and local entities. What do you think about this idea? Should the city be getting involved?

Posted by Liz Moucka on July 31, 2008 | Comments (1)