New York safety organization formed
Tower Cranes
A new organization has been formed to promote safety on jobsites in New York City. The New York City Construction Industry Safety Council was created early in July and is made up of several large contractors operating in the city and trade organizations that represent the construction inudstry, including the Building and Construction Trades Council of New York.
The goal of the council is to bring together industry leaders to share safety procedures and to develop a database that lists tower cranes and the maintenance performed on them.
In a statement, Rober Limandri, acting building commissioner, said: "Development cannot take place at the expense of public safety, and it's going to take the industry's cooperation to make construction sites safer. The formation of the NYC Construction Industry Safety Council is a step toward that end, and I look forward to real results that raise the safety standards on job sites."
Funded by members of the group, the council has already raised $500,000 seed money. The database will be among the first tasks of the council, and it will be designed so that contractors can review the list of tower cranes and related maintenance before renting a machine. The goal of the system is to be able to get up-to-date information on cranes used throughout the city. It has been compared to the Car Fax program in which prospective car buyers can check out the records on a car before purchasing.
The new group also plans to research standard safety practices used on jobsites across the US and determine best practices for New York and ultimately adopt stafety standards that should be followed.
Comments (2)
We own a CAD software, MethoCAD, for the design of the construction site layout . This means that all risky situations of the cranes positioning on the site are foreseen and then hazards can be prevented at the stage of the site layout design. Can our software bring any help ?
Albert FITOUSSI at 19:32 on 19.07.2008
Having spent 40 plus years in construction, primarily as a crane operator, I read with interest the above safety organization concept as a tool to help promote safety on the job site. It is my belief, based on experience, that you can establish all the safety regulations, committies and other concepts you want. Your life is literally in your own hands on the job site and if you allow contractor supervision during erection, operation and maintenance of hoisting equipment to have final word over common sense, experience and manufacturer recomendations, it will be at the cost of equipment damage at the very least, and all too often someones life. As a "CCO" operator, in too many instances, my input regarding hoisting related issues or problems on the job site is superceded by the impact on the bottom line. From an operators standpoint, this brings about decision time. Do I talk the talk and walk the walk, or do I cave in and in a worse case scenario cost someone there life? So.... bottom line from a safety standpoint? Try utilizing a little experience and common sense before establishing more expensive rules and regulatory authority.
Tim Klein at 18:01 on 30.09.2008