Tower-Crane Fears Hit Home

Fatal Miami Accident Occurs as New Regs Near Implementation

By Debra Wood and Tom Sawyer

Miami-Dade County commissioners reacted quickly after the March 15 crane collapse in New York City, passing strict rules for crane erection and inspection. The subject struck home again suddenly on March 25 when a section of crane apparently disengaged during a lift on the 39th floor of the 46-story Paramount Bay condominium project in Miami and fell on the roof of a single-story building being used as a field office by project workers. Two people were killed and four injured.

The accident topped off a week of troubling crane-related news. In New York City, for example, a Department of Buildings crane and derrick inspector was arrested and charged with filing a false inspection report on the tower crane that fell and killed seven people.

The city’s Department of Investigations is now probing the building department’s entire crane-and-derrick unit. The high-profile accidents have sparked a debate on crane safety locally, similar to what happened in some other states after fatal crane accidents.

In Miami, the job’s construction manager, New York City-based Bovis Lend Lease, reports Morrow Equipment Co. of Salem, Ore., acting as subcontractor to Baker Concrete Construction of Monroe, Ohio, was raising the crane section.

“Our hearts are heavy at this moment for the two deceased individuals, including one of our own employees and the additional injured workers,” said Mary Costello, spokesperson for Bovis in New York, in a written statement issued at the time of the accident. “We are asking Baker Concrete and its subcontractor Morrow Crane to cooperate completely with the Miami-Dade investigation into this tragic accident.”

Terrance Hennessy, 59, was found dead in the rubble inside the office. Five people were transported to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Jeremy Thornsbury, 21, died at the hospital. The four injured included Theron Cook, 57; Emanoel Souza, 31; Russell Dyer, 48; and Mark Simone, according to the Miami Police Department.

All of the injured and dead were in some way associated with the construction activity, according to Ignatius Carroll, spokesperson for Miami Fire-Rescue. There were no civilians on the site.

New Miami-Dade Ordinance
The March 25 crane accident in Miami occurred just days before a newly enacted crane safety ordinance was set to go into effect. Additionally, the state legislature now is considering statewide action after a string of accidents that preceded the fatal March 25 incident.

A construction worker’s death during a 2006 Miami crane accident led Miami-Dade County Commissioner Audrey M. Edmonson to call for safer standards for the hoisting devices and to introduce the new ordinance.

“It’s a safety issue for workers and for residents,” says Gerard Philippeaux, director of public affairs for Edmonson. “When cranes are falling down, it’s a major safety issue.”
Still, prior to the March 25 accident, many members of the construction community were voicing concerns for various reasons.

The ordinance will provide standards for the manufacture and installation of cranes and other hoisting equipment, require education and certification of operators, set standards for hurricane preparedness and provide enforcement mechanisms. Certification of crane operators would become effective January 1, 2009, provided tests are offered in Spanish and Creole by that date. Violators would be fined $500.

“It will prevent loss of life, limb and property through having qualified operators and inspectors and compliant equipment,” says Gregory Teslia, president of Crane Safety & Inspections of Coral Gables, Fla., and a member of Miami-Dade’s Crane and Heavy Equipment Advisory Work Group.

For instance, the ordinance would require crane companies to adhere to the equipment manufacturers specifications, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers standards, all Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards, and the wind load standards contained within the Structural Engineering Institute/American Society of Civil Engineers’ SEI/ASCE-7 for High Velocity Hurricane Zones as applied to the crane base foundation, the tie-ins to the building, the free-standing height and the height above the top tie-in. The law would exempt mobile cranes with a boom length of less than 25 ft or a maximum rated load capacity of less than 15,000 lbs.

Edward Shapiro, a principal with Heavy Equipment Services Co. of Niantic, Conn., and vice president of the Crane Certification Association of America in Vancouver, Wash., says it’s not unusual for people to call for tighter standards after a crane accident and cited Washington State and California as examples of governments requiring independent inspections.

The law would leave wind speed design velocity reduction factors to the discretion of the building official on a site-by-site basis. Teslia says if a building inspector deems the crane a permanent structure, the ordinance would require additional tie-ins and a stronger base.

“The engineering will be a little stronger,” Teslia says. Base foundations were previously engineered for 94-mph winds.  The new ordinance requires them to withstand approximately 130-mph winds.

The tower crane would not be able to freestand as tall, Teslia adds. For example, a tower crane could have nine tower sections reaching 180 ft and withstand 94 mph winds. For the higher wind load, however, it could have only seven sections and reach 140 ft.

Future Miami projects could require shorter hook heights and stronger tower sections, which will increase construction cost, according to Peter Juhren, national service manager for Morrow Equipment Co. (Juhren made these comments for a March 5, 2008, ENR story on crane regulations.)

The increased costs from additional engineering could be a good thing, Shapiro says.
“Marginal guys will get out of the business. It levels the playing field in a way and gets the bad competition out of there.”

Brian Trusky, safety director for construction manager Moss & Associates in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., called the ordinance’s language, implementation and oversight problematic. He did expect it to increase construction costs, but says, “It’s not about the costs.”

OSHA plans a new standard. Shapiro did not view the Miami-Dade ordinance as a conflict with OSHA. Teslia calls the Miami-Dade ordinance “more intensive and a little ahead of OSHA.”

While the ordinance pertains only to projects in Miami-Dade County, Dennis O’Rourke, owner of National Crane Services in Orlando, expressed concern that what he considers a flawed ordinance could have national implications.

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