Crane Collapses HAVE Increased: Some Data
I asked for some data on crane accidents and their supply and demand. Someone sent me a volley of links on accidents. However, I didn’t get data on crane supplies. However, there seems to be a pre-existing view that my hunch was right. This ABC article from January sums up what many others are saying:
The rise in construction fatalities can be explained by a deadly mix of untrained immigrant workers, lax attention to safety regulations and profit-minded contractors who cut corners in all areas from labor to materials.
Veteran crane operators are decrying the lack of training and training procedures of crane operators:
Training and testing is king when it comes to safety. . . .In California, it takes some 4,000 hours of training to wield a pair of scissors in a hair salon, but no experience necessary to operate a crane. . . Most tower-crane climbing crews are trained in a non-traditional manner, via second-hand knowledge that has been passed down over time. The problem with this type of hand-me-down knowledge is that it changes over the years, leaving out small but important details along the way.
The same site indicates a 50% increase in deaths from crane accidents (broadly defined) from 2000 to 2006 (using 3 year averages) and a 72% increase in reported accidents over the same period.
California has data on fatal and non-fatal work-related accidents. OSHA also has data on fatal and catastrophic accidents.
The most depressing figure, though, was from the ABC article which says that 6 or 7 per 1000 construction workers die per annum.
