It’s official — or at least painfully obvious: America is enduring a plague of construction crane collapse accidents. And anyone who’s near any of these towering cranes — often the height of a skyscraper — should be wary, be alert and be quick to leave the vicinity as soon as possible.

It shouldn’t be that way. Ordinary citizens shouldn’t have to fear for their lives whenever remotely near a construction site on which a construction crane is being used. But facts are facts, and the fact is, after construction crane collapses in New York City (with two), Houston, Miami, Las Vegas and Oklahoma City recently, yet another construction crane collapse now tragically arises in Quincy, MA. Sadly, they’re becoming almost routine, though their toll in lives is anything but that. Rather, it’s devastating. (more…)

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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. (more…)

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