Steve,et al...any insight into the increase in crane accidents?

[w8liftinglady]

there have been two large crane accidents in 2 days here in the Dallas area...I can't help but think loose regulations and unmonitored subcontractors...

[seemslikeadream]

1. and bad bolts from China

just my two cents

[glowing]

2. probably just reporting them.. kinda like the Alligator thing..

Why are alligator's attacking this year? oh ahhh fear, terra, terra.. get your duck tape and clear plastic sheets.. ahhh.

[rocktivity]

3. DALLAS??? I thought you were talking about the ones in New York City!

:wow:
rocknation

[Omaha Steve]

4. Federal regulators' effort to update rules has idled for 4 years

Washington drags it's ass while workers and bystanders die.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080531/NEWS/805310355/1190/LOCALNEWSFRONT

Posted on: Saturday, May 31, 2008

By Dan Caterinicchia
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — An effort by federal regulators to mandate certification of crane operators has been languishing for almost four years.

A proposal to implement such a requirement is likely to be included in safety recommendations the agency expects to make public this year, a Labor Department spokeswoman said yesterday. Creating the new rule is a "top priority," said spokeswoman Sharon Worthy.

There have been three fatal crane accidents in recent weeks, including a collapse in New York yesterday that killed two construction workers and seriously injured another. Experts say such collapses are typically caused by wind or operator error.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's existing rules for workers who operate cranes have not been updated since 1971, though the agency acknowledges modernized standards could help prevent future accidents. Meantime, more than a dozen states have operator licensing requirements.

OSHA has been working with the industry on updated rules since 2003 and they reached consensus on a range of issues in July 2004, including the crane operator certification requirement.

The Labor Department in May estimated there are as many as 82 fatalities annually associated with cranes in construction "and a more up-to-date standard would help prevent them."

FULL story at link.

[ben_meyers]

5. From THE INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEERS

ACCIDENTS INVOLVING CRANES CLAIM 502 LIVES

More than 500 U.S. construction workers died on the job from 1984 to 1994 as the result of accidents involving cranes.

That figure was among the preliminary results of a yet-to-be-released research paper, "A Study of Fatal Injuries in the Construction Industry Involving Cranes," funded by the Center to Protect Workers' Rights and compiled by the University of Utah's Anthony J. Suruda, M.D.

Based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration re cords for that time period, the report found 480 separate incidents involving cranes and 502 deaths.

Electrocution as the result of power line contact was the leading cause of death, with 198 lives claimed; 58 deaths occurred during crane assembly or dismantling.

Of the 502 fatalities, 65 were crane operators; the rest mostly were other workers on the job. Crane operators were most likely to be killed when the crane was upset or overturned. Twenty-three crane operators died in such accidents, followed by 17 operator deaths as the result of power line contact.

Suruda still is researching whether or not OSHA cited the employers for safety violations in these incidents. Once completed, he said the report should have many uses, including targeting certain aspects of crane operations in union training programs.

Types of fatalities involving cranes in the U.S. construction

Industry--Identified from OSHA Investigations in 1984-94


http://www.iuoe.org/OE%20newspaper/articles/art1096.htm#oct96art3