What will it take to wake up Texas to its horrific problem with construction crane collapses? Texans like to think of their state as No. 1, but sometimes it’s No. 1 for the wrong reasons, and that’s too often the case with construction crane fatalities.

In 2005 and 2006, Texas led the nation in construction crane fatalities, with a total of 26 for that period, the Associated Press reports. Now Texas has four construction crane fatalities for 2008, after Friday’s collapse of a 300-foot construction crane at the LyondellBasell refinery at the Houston Ship Channel. Seven others were injured.
Did this accident have to happen? No. Almost by definition, no accident “has” to happen, and all accidents are preventable. In this case, it seems laws and regulations are extremely loose concerning the kind of towering construction cranes which collapsed in Houston and the two which collapsed earlier this year in New York City, killing nine people there.A spokesman for Houston Mayor Bill White says the city does not regulate the operation and safety of construction cranes. Rather, such cranes are randomly inspected by federal officials of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and might go a year a more between checks.

That probably means a lot of cranes are operating without sufficient inspections. The Houston chapter, Local 450, of the International Union of Operating Engineers estimates that 40 tower cranes are in use in this city alone.

On the heels of last week’s collapse of a stairwell in a Houston apartment complex which killed two boys, you have to wonder if this city is taking inspections of public places seriously enough.

Of course, the accident problem isn’t limited. San Antonio and Dallas don’t inspect construction cranes, either.

At any rate, this city is buzzing with rightful rumblings about addressing a problem that’s towering in more ways than one. That buzz includes city council members who are floating the idea that maybe, just maybe, we could save lives if we cared enough about public safety to scrutinize and regulate all public places — especially construction sites, which are inherently dangerous enough already.

Share on Facebook