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NYC Crane Debate, For Now, Bypassed At Busy Ground Zero
wnbc.com June 13, 2008

At one of the biggest construction sites in New York, about 15 cranes are jockeying for space, building skyscrapers and excavating foundations for others. None has been cited with a violation.

As debates over crane regulation dominate the construction industry following two deadly crane collapses in Manhattan , the city doesn't have power to inspect the World Trade Center site and the high-profile building of office towers, a transportation hub and memorial to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The bistate agency that owns ground zero does its own crane inspections, and has stepped up training for its workers since two tower cranes collapsed over the past three months in Manhattan, killing nine people.

With 17 tower cranes expected on the 16-acre site by next year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has asked city buildings inspectors to begin regular visits. The buildings department said Friday it would discuss how to "have a role" in crane inspections at the site.

The city is under fire over the department's regulations of the cranes that collapsed, and two inspectors have been charged with corruption since March. Four inspectors monitor the more than 200 cranes at work across the city.

But the Port Authority has also faced criticism for not being subject to city regulations.

"If there's that many cranes down there, it seems to me that (New York City ) would actually have to assign ... at least a few people as their full-time job for something like that," said Glenn Corbett , an adviser with the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, which has lobbied for years for city oversight at ground zero.

Tom O'Connor , a Port Authority engineer in charge of cranes, says the agency has its own inspection system for cranes, although most of the ground zero contractors hire their own engineers to do annual inspections.

"We use the same city forms," O'Connor said. And if cranes are not registered in the city or contractors don't have the proper paperwork, "we've turned cranes away at the gate."

Two tower cranes -- the largest kind used to build high-rises -- are on the trade center site now, building the framework for the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower on the property's northwest corner. Standing about 180 feet tall, both rigs are owned by New York Crane, the owner of the two cranes that collapsed in March and May elsewhere in Manhattan. O'Connor said both cranes came to the site brand-new; the crane that collapsed on May 30 was more than 20 years old.

One of the tower cranes at ground zero needed to have its boom -- the arm that lifts and loads materials from the base -- replaced over a year ago after a rope attached to the crane got tangled with other equipment, O'Connor said.

Tishman Construction Corp., the general contractor building the Freedom Tower, retained an independent consultant recently to conduct crane inspections. The Port Authority has a 15-person safety team that monitors the tower cranes and the smaller cranes working on the transit hub and helping excavate foundations for three other office towers.

By next year, O'Connor said, two tower cranes will be assigned to each of the three adjacent towers being built on the site's east side. He said the agency had never had cranes collide and was looking at software that could help detect potential equipment collisions before they happened.

The Port Authority said it sought the city's help this year, while construction focused below street level on the buildings' foundations, before the site became too crowded with cranes.
"We're still working on the basement," O'Connor said. "It's pretty easy to see everything."

NYC Crane Debate, For Now, Bypassed At Busy Ground Zero wnbc.com June 13, 2008

NYC Crane Debate, For Now, Bypassed At Busy Ground Zero
wnbc.com June 13, 2008