Precast Inc. - September/October 2008 - (Page 46) S A F E T Y & H E A LT H Raising Awareness of Cranes BY GUSTAVO A. GONZALEZ As the construction industry comes under intense scrutiny from its crane safety record, the manufacturing industry needs to take heed. F atal crane accidents have been in the headlines regularly during the past few months. Las Vegas, New York and Miami are among the most mentioned cities, perhaps because of their prominence in the news. While most of these accidents have been associated with the operation of mobile and/or tower cranes at construction sites and are well-documented, a vast number of less-recognized crane accidents occur every year in other industries where overhead cranes and hoisting operations are part of daily activities. The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor has no specific numbers for the precast industry, but the numbers for non-fatal injuries from crane operations are as follows: 2003 Construction Manufacturing 260 370 2004 240 330 2005 170 280 2006 250 380 These statistics clearly show that, while not being as highly publicized as the construction industry, crane accidents in manufacturing occur at a higher rate. According to the records, most non-fatal injuries occur on Mondays. It is also interesting to note that most accidents occur on any given day of the week between 8 a.m. and noon, which in our industry relates to the busiest time for crane operations because we are conducting stripping operations, reinforcement placement and, in some cases, early pours, all at the same time. There are many types of cranes, but in 46 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 | PRECAST INC. Dreamstime NPCA photo Dreamstime
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