OSHA raises new crane rules

Published: July 28, 2010
Tags: crane, Dawes Rigging and Crane Rental, Department of Labor, derrick, Manitowoc Cranes, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, osha

John Collins, a crane operator for Reynolds Transfer & Storage Inc., Madison, works on a renovation project at Reuther Central High School in Kenosha recently. OSHA changed its crane and derrick rules for the first time in 40 years on Wednesday. (Photo by David W. Hoel)

By Tony Anderson
Special to The Daily Reporter

Federal officials are using fatality statistics to back up the first changes to crane and derrick rules since they were created 40 years ago.

On average, 100 people die every year in crane and derrick accidents, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“We believe the new standard will prevent more than 20 worker fatalities every year and will prevent many injuries as well,” said David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, during a telephone press conference Wednesday. “We estimate that implementation of this standard will save $55 million per year.”

The new rules will affect about 267,000 construction, crane and certification companies with nearly 4.8 million employees, Michaels said. The goal of the rule change is to deal with the leading causes of fatalities related to crane and derrick operation, including electrocution, overturning and crane collapse, crushing or striking individuals or objects.

Major changes include a new requirement that crane operators be certified for the equipment they are using, Michaels said. Operators will have four years to obtain those certifications. The standard also establishes an expectation that other workers involved with the crane, including signalers and riggers, be qualified, though they do not have to be certified.

General contractors will be responsible for ensuring appropriate ground conditions for safely operating cranes. Other changes require that tower crane parts be inspected before they are erected. There also are new requirements for working around power lines because the old standard was ineffective, Michaels said.

“We regularly see workers who were killed because the crane or some component hit an electrified line,” he said.

Peter Nowak, assistant safety manager for Dawes Rigging and Crane Rental Inc., Milwaukee, said it is the right time to update the rules, though making sure everyone is familiar with the changes and certification requirements will be a challenge.

“It’s going to make the industry, as a whole,” he said, “safer and more productive.”

Nowak referenced the rash of high-profile crane accidents in the past few years in New York, Florida and North Carolina. In 2008, two people were killed in New York City when a crane perched atop a high-rise fell nearly 30 stories.

Milwaukee construction workers also witnessed a tragic crane accident on July 14, 1999, when three ironworkers were killed when the Big Blue crane collapsed (VIDEO) while lifting a piece of Miller Park’s roof.

Nowak acknowledged there will be training costs associated with meeting the new rules. But those costs are worth it, he said.

“I’d rather spend $10,000 to $20,000 on training instead of a couple million on a crane accident,” Nowak said.

In 2003, the Department of Labor appointed a committee to review the rules. A 23-member advisory committee representing crane manufacturers and operators, the construction industry, safety experts, the insurance industry and government agencies met nearly a dozen times to develop the changes.

John Kennedy, a vice president of sales and marketing at Manitowoc Cranes LLC, Manitowoc, said the industry involvement was an important part of the process.

“We feel it’s a rule the industry itself has developed along with OSHA,” he said, “so we feel good about that.”

The new rule, which underwent public review and was finally released Wednesday, will be published next month and take effect Nov. 8.

“The standard,” Michaels said, “contains common sense processes and mechanisms that reflect the considerable technologic changes in equipment that have occurred since the publication of the old rule in 1971.”