Florida Injury Victim Lawyer Blog

Florida crane accidents and deaths have mounted recently, with 6 deaths nationwide within the past six weeks alone. On March 25, 2008 a Miami crane accident killed two and left five others injured when a portion of a crane fell over 30 stories to the ground and crashing through an occupied building. A few weeks later another crane toppled over in Aventura, Florida severely injuring two construction workers who were attempting to lift heavy insulation onto the roof of a high-rise condominium. Also, this March a crane collapse at a construction site killed seven people in New York City.

These recent crane accidents have caused Democrats in the United States Congress to push for enhanced federal safety standards and put more pressure on the agency overseeing workplace safety. Recently, nine Senate Democrats sent a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, urging her to issue a new safety standard for cranes and derricks. The letter, which was signed by Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, said it was "unfathomable" that the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is responsible for maintaining worker safety, including inspecting cranes, hadn't implemented recommendations made in 2004 by industry and labor to issue a new standard to improve crane safety. Sharon Worthy, an OSHA spokeswoman, said regulatory and legal requirements slowed the rule-making process. She said OSHA is sending more inspectors to its training-institute class that focuses on crane safety and organizing training events with local unions and industry groups.

So far this year, at least 18 construction workers have died in crane-related accidents in the United States. That figure doesn't include bystanders' deaths. Industry and safety experts haven't come up with a central cause for the accidents, although some cite a shortage of inspectors and an increase in inexperienced contractors and workers who flooded the industry during the recent construction boom.

OSHA estimates there are 96,000 cranes used in construction each year in the United States but couldn't say Thursday whether the numbers of cranes in use has increased this year. Also, developers and contractors are under increased pressure to complete projects, as delays can be costly and the market is already suffering from the weak economy. This is, of course, never a valid reason for putting construction workers and others at risk of severe injury or even death.

Between 1992 and 2006, there was an average of 22 construction-worker deaths a year involving cranes, according to an analysis of government statistics by the Center for Construction Research and Training, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO. The leading cause of death was electrocution while operating a crane, for example from contacting a power line, followed by crane collapse.

The recent string of fatalities follows a series of construction accidents involving cranes earlier this year in New York, Las Vegas and Miami, which led to a hearing in June by the Democrat-led House Committee on Education and Labor on construction-industry safety.

Among those attributing the accidents to a shortage of qualified crane inspectors is Frank Burg, a safety consultant in Woodstock, Ill., who is chairman of a committee with the American National Standards Institute that sets safety standards for cranes. "You don't have enough qualified people to inspect cranes," he said. Mr. Burg said he believes that it will never be possible to inspect all of those cranes and that companies need the threat of large fines to upgrade crane-related maintenance and safety practices on their own.

As a Florida personal injury attorney I have represented many injury victims involved in crane accidents and am very familiar with the many legal issues that they will most likely encounter. Due to the inherent danger of cranes as well as the extreme heights involved these crane accidents result in serious injury and are frequently fatal. Crane accidents can be caused by a construction or crane company's failure to follow safety procedures, improper installation, faulty equipment, negligent operation or maintenance. Legal cases involving injuries sustained in crane accidents are usually very complex and can result in the injury victim and their family having several different causes of action. If the injured party was working at the time of the accident they may have a case under Florida's Workers' Compensation laws. They may also have a negligence claim against the company or companies, who negligently constructed, installed, maintained and/or operated the crane. If you or a loved one has been injured in a crane accident you should consult with an attorney who is familiar with crane accidents in order to protect your rights and maximize the compensation for your injuries.