Construction sites across the city are being frequently paralyzed by stricter rules on crawler cranes enacted after a deadly accident earlier this month, prompting construction industry leaders to appeal to City Hall.
The Allied Building Metal Industries and other trade organizations are pushing the de Blasio administration to re-examine the temporary regulations.
During the onset of a winter storm Feb. 5, a crane stretching nearly 600 feet into the air collapsed along Worth Street in lower Manhattan, killing 38-year-old Upper West Side resident David Wichs.
The Department of Buildings responded by shutting down all of the nearly 380 operating crawler cranes—which are equipped with tank-like treads for mobility—and inspected them, along with every tower crane, over the ensuing weekend.
Officials also decreed that these machines be safely stored whenever sustained winds of 20 miles per hour are reached. The temporary policy is intended to give the city time to review current rules and make changes.
The problem, says an organization representing construction subcontractors, is that winds hit 20 miles per hour all the time.
“This threshold has had a disastrous impact on the industry,” said William Shuzman, executive director of the Allied Building Metal Industries. Stopping a crane from operating can bring significant components of a project to a halt and delay others, he said, causing a cascade of logistical and financial problems.
In the week following the accident, for example, one of the organization’s members could only work for three days. In fact, on nearly half the days over the last two years, ground-level winds measured at Newark Liberty International Airport reached a 20 mile-per-hour winds for at least two minutes, Shuzman said.
Crane manufacturers rate the top wind speeds at which their machines can be operated, safety experts said, and those thresholds are backed up by rigorous tests and oversight by several regulatory agencies. Many of the crawler cranes sidelined by the city’s temporary rules are rated for wind speeds higher than 20 miles per hour, and constantly raising and lowering crane booms may create an even greater safety concern, said Shuzman.
The city defends its actions as erring on the side of caution.
“No building is worth a person’s life, so to protect public safety, the department implemented additional high-wind restrictions on crawler cranes following the deadly collapse earlier this month,” a Department of Buildings spokesman said in a statement. “Those restrictions … will remain in place until a technical working group identifies further measures to improve crane safety in the long term.”
Shuzman says he’s had no response so far to his attempt to be part of those discussions. “The city has completely ignored all of our requests,” he said.
More powerful industry groups are now pushing City Hall to act.
In the days following the Worth Street accident, the Department of Buildings was in contact with the Building Employers Trade Association, a construction contractors group. Louis Coletti, the group’s head, said last week he wrote to a high-ranking de Blasio administration official to say that while the new wind restrictions served a purpose, the city needs to bring on board members of the industry to start crafting a solution that allows operators to get back to work while ensuring the public is safe.
“I think the city has effectively responded to the emergency and has stabilized the industry,” Coletti said in an interview with Crain’s. “Now it is time to discuss what the right standard is.”
A de Blasio administration spokesman said industry groups will be consulted by the group issuing recommendations but won’t be part of it.
“The technical group will be made up of experts in the field without vested business interests in New York City,” he said. “While the group will consult a wide range of stakeholders, it’s recommendations will be made by an independent core group.”
[“Source-crainsnewyork”]
