Industry News

Crane Safety is Important to Everyone

If you cringe a little when walking or driving by a crane, your instincts are pretty good.

Within a one week period in July, six people died from crane-related accidents. One was an elderly man who was watching the assembly of a church steeple in Oklahoma City when the boom of a crane fell on his car. Another death occurred to an iron worker in Normal, Illinois who was killed when the boom of a crane fell on him. Four workers were killed and seven were injured when a 30-story crane collapsed at the LyondellBassell Industries refinery in Houston.

It seems that crane accidents are becoming more frequent and more deadly. For that reason, nine Senate Democrats sent a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, requesting her to issue new safety standards for cranes and derricks.

The letter said it was "unfathomable" that the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not implemented 2004 industry recommendations for a new standard to improve crane safety.

OSHA's response is that regulatory and legal requirements have slowed the rule-making process. OSHA is, however, sending more inspectors for training on crane safety. According to OSHA spokesperson, Sharon Worthy, "workplace fatality rates are the lowest in history."

Nevertheless, there have been 18 construction workers killed in crane-related accidents so far this year.

Joliet Junior College offers safety training for cranes and derricks because it has recognized the growing need for this program.

"We have been offering training in crane safety for a long time," says Bruce Kuzmanich, contract training manager for Joliet Junior College. "With all the construction and building activity in our state, particularly in the Will County area, crane safety is a necessity. This training is important not only for operators, but for the general public as well. Many of the recent crane-related accidents involved innocent bystanders."

To read more about crane safety, visit:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121694419350982879.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/02/opinion/02sat3.html?ref=opinion

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gM1aGBKzh-EbVtY0ew9QmNL0fMlgD92BQRTO0

To find out about training programs for crane safety offered by Joliet Junior College, contact Bruce Kuzmanich at (815) 280-1512, or visit bkuzmani@jjc.edu.

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