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Labour Minister Visits Head Office.

Local 793 business manager Mike Gallagher has asked Labour Minister Brad Duguid to set up a special committee that would investigate the state of tower cranes in the construction industry.
Gallagher made the request during a meeting with the minister at Local 793’s head office in Oakville on March 6.
Duguid toured the Speers Road office during a morning visit and met with union executive members. Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn also attended.
“I’m highlighting this issue because we’re worried,” Gallagher said at the meeting. “The problem is that many of the cranes are too old. We really believe the time has come to stop the cranes from being operated if they’re more than 20 years old.”
“We’re looking to correct the situation before there’s a terrible loss or an accident takes place. It’s only by the grace of God or very good luck that we’ve not had a fatality.”
Gallagher said some experts suggest that the lifespan of a tower crane used in construction should not be more than 20 years.
The reason, Gallagher told the minister, is that parts on the crane wear out over time and become unsafe.
“It’s like any machine, in that over a period of time it gets worn down.”
Gallagher said Local 793 supported a labour ministry blitz in Ottawa in late 2006 and in Toronto in the spring of 2007 that targeted tower cranes in the forming sector.
The inspections were ordered after a couple of incidents and complaints from operating engineers about unsafe working conditions involving tower cranes.
Inspectors found a number of deficiencies and instances of poorly-maintained cranes.
Gallagher said Local 793 was not surprised that inspectors found problems with the tower cranes.
He said it appears that older tower cranes are now being imported from Europe and used on construction sites in Ontario, and there have been instances reported where cranes have been jury-rigged because parts can’t be found.
Gallagher noted that Local 793 is raising the matter because it wants to avoid a situation like in Seattle in November 2005 where a 210-foot crane collapsed due to a poorly designed foundation and killed someone in an apartment building.
He said Local 793 wants to work with the labour minister in establishing a special committee that would gather data about the situation and recommend action that needs to be taken.
During the meeting, training co-ordinator Joe Dowdall presented a brief to the labour minister and noted that a crane collapsed in Toronto in the spring of 2007 and an investigation found it was because a pin holding the boom together came loose. The pin had been fashioned from #9 wire.
The brief noted that it’s the duty of employers under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to maintain a crane in good condition. While the crane must be re-inspected every 12 months, there is currently no age limit after which cranes must be retired or derated.
Gallagher also told the labour minister that he’d like to see something done to reduce the number of accidents that involve equipment coming into contact with overhead electrical wires.
He noted there was one incident on a residential construction site in Burlington in late 2007 in which 12 tires on a concrete pump were blown off when the vehicle came into contact with hydro wires. The operator was not injured. In October of 2001, a father and son were killed in a nighttime accident in Belleville when a crane came into contact with hydro wires.
Gallagher recommended that procedures and policies used by Ontario Hydro could be adopted and applied to construction sites.
He suggested that inexpensive devices that warn operators when a boom gets too close to wires could be one option.
“I’m hoping we have your ear on these issues because they can prevent fatalities,” he told the minister.
Duguid thanked Gallagher and the union executive for bringing the issues to his attention.
“I appreciate the issues you have brought up and they are new issues,” he said. “We want to know what is going on out there. You are a very important sector. It is important for us to know that the sector is operating safely.”