Tower Cranes Put to the Test

May 30, 2008 — -- Tower crane collapses, like the one that killed two people in New York City today, are a relatively infrequent yet inevitable consequence of high-rise construction, industry experts said.

But that has not stopped the questions about overall safety procedures, government regulation and crane-operator certifications.

While crane-related fatalities nationwide have dropped 25 percent in the past decade, from 97 in 1997 to 72 in 2006, they have increased in New York City, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In today's accident, the crane operator and a construction worker were killed when the crane collapsed and hit a building across the street.

Between 2003 and 2008, there have been at least 11 crane-related fatalities in the city, compared with seven such fatalities between 1992 and 2002, according to an analysis of news reports and labor statistics. Between 2003 and 2008, at least four crane and tower operators died on the job, compared with three who died in the city during the previous 11 years.

Part of the reason for the increase is the jump in construction around Manhattan in recent years, say crane safety experts. Yet they hesitated to draw too many conclusions about today's fatal collapse until the accident is thoroughly investigated.

"Whether it's a statistical anomaly or something meaningful depends on the outcome of the investigation," said Matt Burkhart, a member of the crane safety committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

He explained that tower cranes, which were involved in today's accident and the March collapse that killed seven people, are not necessarily more risk-prone than other kinds of cranes.

Burkhart said that New York has "some of the more stringent requirements in the country" when it comes to safety procedures for the operation of cranes.

In recent months, several other crane accidents across the country have made headlines, from a Miami accident that killed two people and injured five to a brake failure on a crane at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant that resulted in a load of high-level radioactive waste being dropped.