Hand over hand, one rung at a time, a visitor arrives panting and pouring sweat at the office of Kirk Luba, 180 feet above terra firma. It’s the catbird seat of a Liebherr 316, one of four giant tower cranes doing the heavy lifting on the Memorial Stadium project.

New Zealand Crane Group is installing Standfast’s TRAM – Travel Restraint Access Module – fall protection system, on every crane in its fleet above 80 tonnes.

NZ Crane managing director Deane Manley said: “It has been standard industry practice for years to climb on top of booms without adequate fall protection, but this has just got to stop.

With all the talk about banning leisure activities with cranes, they actually seem to be on the increase. The most recent one we have heard of is a troupe from Antwerp the Theater Tol, a sort of Cirque de Soleil type act.

Indicative of both wind power’s continued maturation and the importance the industry places on the safety of its greatest asset, today the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) entered into an official Alliance to further protect the health and safety of the industry’s workers.

Facts
Construction work can be dangerous if you do not follow safety rules and guidelines while at work. There are a high number of construction fatalities each year compared to all of the other workplaces put …

A Rough Terrain crane overturned in Travis on Staten Island New York yesterday, no one was injured and the operator was able to exit the cab and walk from the scene.

Mike Gelskey Sr., president and CEO, Lift-It Manufacturing, Los Angeles, Calif., will be one of the headline speakers at Maximum Capacity Media’s (MCM) Crane & Rigging Conference (CRC) Canada, which will take place Oct. 12-13, 2011 at the Fantasyland Hotel, Alberta.

Gelskey will speak from 37 years of experience in the design and fabrication of synthetic lifting products, in particular outlining

W.O. Grubb has become a go-to crane and transport company when it comes to show business. The company’s cranes were featured in the movie “Evan Almighty,” and their crews erected an elaborate stage for a U2 concert in Virginia. Recently W.O. Grubb Crane Rental played a huge role in rigging and lifting race cars for a television commercial.

Ho Chi Minh City Construction Department has just done with draft instructions on the safe use of tower cranes in construction sites within the city. The horizontal jibs of tower cranes in a construction site rise above a street threaten lives of the passers-by (Photo: Minh Tri)

The crane driver involved in the ‘run-away’ crane that killed a farmer has been acquitted by a jury of any blame. Allan Woodrow was acquitted in under an hour at Bradford Crown Court of causing the death of Colin Chew by dangerous driving on March 26, 2009, and an alternative charge of causing his death by careless or inconsiderate driving.