Saturday, July 19th, 2008
There was a deadly crane accident in Houston on Friday when a 30-story crane failed and collapsed at a Lyondell Basell refinery, killing four workers and and injuring seven others. The crane is owned by Deep South Crane & Rigging of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Crane safety has been under scrutiny in recent months because of several crane-related deaths in Miami, Las Vegas, and two separate incidents in New York which left 9 people dead. Texas, which lets cranes operate with no state or local oversight, led the nation with 26 crane-related fatalities in 2005 and 2006.
Tags: crane accidents, cranes, workplace safety
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Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
Allegations of corruption and shaky oversight are plaguing the construction industry following two fatal crane collapses in New York City earlier this year. Critics point to failures at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in explaining the deaths of at least 72 workers in crane-related accidents since 2006. For its part, the construction industry maintains that it has a strong safety record and is working closely with officials to prevent other accidents.
Here in the Metroplex, we’ve seen more crane activity due to new construction in Fort Worth and Arlington and due to Barnett Shale activity. This has caused an increase in injuries, unfortunately. Incidents we’re seeing are most often caused by operator error and poor maintenance rather than structural failure or weather-related problems. Stricter oversight, better training and more preventative maintenance would all go a long way towards alleviating some of these problems.
Tags: arlington, crane accidents, cranes, fort worth, workplace safety
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