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Crane Safety Addressed in Georgia Work Stand-Down
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Georgia contractors at 390 job sites stopped work for an hour earlier this month to specifically address crane safety as part of a statewide safety stand-down. | High-profile crane-related deaths and injuries at construction sites in Chicago, Houston, Miami and New York earlier this year prompted thousands of workers and hundreds of companies in Georgia's construction industry to halt production for one hour on Aug. 8 to address crane safety.
The safety stand-down by the Georgia branch of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) was the commercial industry’s first statewide effort focusing on crane safety — a topic that has received increased national media scrutiny, with 15 crane-related fatalities and 30 injuries in 2008 to date.
Sixty-five host commercial contractors — representing 390 job sites and more than 26,000 workers — simultaneously shut down their job sites to address best practices in crane safety.
“This stand-down was an important and progressive way of bringing a strong safety message and best safety practices to the construction workforce,” said Cherri Watson, AGC’s Georgia Branch director of safety, education and workforce development.
Organized by the AGC Georgia branch, the stand-down was supported by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) and AGC’s workers’ compensation program, CompTrust AGC Mutual Captive Insurance Company.
“This approach is an excellent opportunity to do safety training at the job site and not in the classroom,” said Carl Harris, of the Carl Harris Company in Wichita, Kan. and a member of the NAHB Commercial Builder Council.
Harris — an expert in light commercial crane operations — will represent NAHB at the AGC/Engineering News-Record crane safety summit on Sept. 9 to discuss the importance of improving crane safety in the construction industry.
“Safety is not a cost, it’s a savings, so it’s good that they shut down to invest in safety now so it minimizes the risk of costing production time later,” Harris said.
According to an in-depth report on U.S. crane fatalities by the Center for Construction Research and Training released in June, an averge of 22 workers are killed annually in crane-related accidents.
The report was based on 1992-2006 worker fatality data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which included the numbers and causes of deaths, the trades of workers involved, the size of employers and types of cranes involved.
AGC’s Watson said the spike in crane accidents made it even more important for safety directors, CEO’s and other company managers to participate in the stand-down alongside of their workers.
“The support and unity from these contractors across the state is a real credit to the caliber of construction professionals who are leading these organizations,” she said.
Industry Awaits New Detailed OSHA Crane Safety Standard Proposal
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NAHB is urging that OSHA consider the difference between the use of mobile cranes and large industrial cranes when rewiting the Federal Crane Safety Standard. | Although OSHA announced its intention to rewrite the Federal Crane Safety Standard through the Negotiated Rulemaking process six years ago, that process is still underway and no revised national standard has been implemented yet ― leaving it up to the commercial industry and the agency’s regions to implement new training measures like the Georgia safety stand-down.
Last week, OSHA Region VI established a Regional Emphasis Program on cranes in the construction industry to prevent crane-related injuries in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico.
OSHA is scheduled to announce the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the national standard within the next 30 days.
NAHB is urging OSHA to differentiate between light, mobile cranes and large industrial cranes in the proposed national crane safety standard so that the rule can properly address the needs and safety requirements for residential and light commercial crane use. Current drafts of the Federal Crane Safety Standard under consideration treat all construction and construction cranes alike.
Harris, who participated on a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) panel in June, said that cranes of less than 50 tons should be treated differently than large industrial cranes.
“The small cranes we use in residential and light commercial construction are more similar to forklifts than the huge industry cranes that have been collapsing and making news,” said Harris. “It’s not logical to make one uniform standard for small mobile cranes that lift 2,000 pounds and large stationary cranes that lift 200,000 pounds,” he added.
Harris noted that one generic standard would create a greater financial burden on residential and light commercial builders. They would be mandated to apply a safety standard for large industrial cranes that does not specifically pertain to their use of cranes, he said.
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