Edited by Rowena Davis

Part 3:

Conclusions

On a near-monthly basis, a major crane or aerial lift failure adds another catastrophe to a long list of incidents. Sometimes, these tragedies attain the limelight of national attention. Usually such media attention is short-lived, and nothing happens to address prevention of such occurrences. An exception to the return of the status quo was achieved through legislative action in the states of California and Washington. These states have both recently passed tough laws requiring annual crane inspection and crane operator licensing after two horrendous crane accidents occurred. (In these two states, the focus is primarily on tower cranes.) If such inspections had been in place before the failure of the crane, the loss of life, loss of property, and millions of dollars worth of litigation could have been avoided.

In the technologically-bounding world of the twenty-first century, we do not have the luxury to wait for more crane disasters, slog through administrative rulemaking processes, and wait for accident-inspired laws to take effect. The construction industry must be creative and fast-thinking if they are going to successfully compete in the fast pace of the global market. Concepts in safety engineering bring new machines and applications to construction on an almost daily basis. Prevention afforded by this method is the only way to stay abreast of the monumental disasters that can be created by the incredible technological advances of the past decades.

We must look upstream to ensure that the life-cycle of the crane includes maintainability and failsafe assembly/disassembly procedures. Routine inspection and maintenance plays a vital role. Third-party competent inspectors and operator licensing strives for continuous improvement of performance, leading to fewer deaths and injuries from crane and aerial lift operations. Accountability can be achieved in the design, maintenance, and use of cranes and aerial lifts if every party involved makes prevention a priority.