Back to the Old Ways in Construction?
After the city announced tighter measures for handling cranes, it has decided to go back to its original safety plans. According to therealdeal.com, “Two days after the Feb. 5 collapse, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced tougher regulations, which included halting crawler crane operations whenever winds were even forecast to exceed 20 miles per hour or if gusts exceeded 30 miles per hour. The cranes were to go into safety mode, and they were to be secured the day before winds were forecasted to begin. A working group looking over the city’s crane rules has suggested lifting that ban and going back to the former rules, Crain’s (Crainsnewyork.com) reported. Before the Tribeca incident, cranes had to stop working when winds got up to 30 miles per hour or according to a manufacturer’s specification. There are around 376 crawler cranes active in the city.”
Construction companies, as well as individual workers have stated how those new regulations are not necessarily making them safer, but they are causing delays in working due to the amount of stopping because of the tighter regulations. Crain’s has stated on their website, “Should the city adopt the new temporary measures, it would appease construction firms, crane companies and workers, who had complained that the 20 mile-per-hour limit was forcing them to shut down so frequently that it was wreaking havoc on their business without necessarily improving safety. But the working group, which had been criticized for lacking crane experts, also recommended two other measures as part of its proposal. One would require that an operator be on site for crawler cranes unless the crane is designed to operate in 30-mph or stronger winds or is in storage mode. The other would prohibit crawler cranes from being used in public areas if the machines can’t safely withstand 20-mph winds.”
The Building’s Commissioner has stated that this new proposal will be under review and they will announce any plans (whether they are changing the regulations or not) in the next 90 days or so.
Sources:
http://therealdeal.com/2016/03/14/city-to-scale-back-plan-for-stricter-crane-rules/
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160314/REAL_ESTATE/160319937/city-to-reverse-controversial-crane-ban
