Safety

Counterfeit spare parts for cranes originating in Asia are spreading into regions including the Middle East, said Thibaut Le Besnerais, global product director of tower cranes for Manitowoc Cranes.

Five men blamed for the death of a co-worker crushed by a falling crane in Dubai, have been fined Dh2,000 ($540) each and jailed for three months.

The Favelle Favco-brand tower crane-whose luffing jib dramatically flipped backwards as Superstorm Sandy blew into Midtown Manhattan-was properly prepared for wind, says the construction manager in charge of the project.

Well, the recovery continues faster than expected in New York. We’ve got subways almost miraculously coming back to life after flooding throughout the system, and now the securing of the crane boom dangling over West 57th Street has been completed

While New York is facing a massive clean-up in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, one problem looms above all others: the tower crane with a broken boom atop the 306-metre tall One57 building beside Central Park.

We have been asked to warn tower crane owners on the East coast of the United States, of the need to ensure that their cranes are at the very least left to ‘weathervane’ in to follow the wind rather than fight it.

One of the biggest building projects in Europe is currently employing nine Liebherr tower cranes in a crowded, highly dense area. On the new Karolinska Solna University Hospital, four more tower cranes will be delivered over the next 12 months.

Safety in the construction industry is something that has been hotly debated in the region for many years. With cranes dominating the skyline, almost as much as the high-rise towers alongside them, it has been an on-going challenge to ensure that these potentially dangerous pieces of equipment are operated and maintained safely.

A man was saved by his harness earlier this week after one side of a suspended platform collapsed while he was working on a 15 storey building in Coronado, California.

The 30th Bauma exhibition, being held in Munich, Germany from April 15 to 21 2013, will be the largest ever, with a total area of 570,000 m2.