Public Safety
We must work together to keep our neighborhood safe from crime and emergencies like construction accidents. In the wake of the two crane collapses on the Upper East Side last year that claimed 9 lives, we must increase financial support for emergency services, improve construction regulation and community notice, as well as expand our
Community Emergency Response Teams.
Councilmember Ben Kallos said the city is currently experiencing a construction boom, similar he said to the pre-recession one he witnessed while working as chief of staff to former East Side State Assemblymember Jonathan Bing.
In 2008, two crane collapses on the Upper East Side happened less than three months apart. According to Department of Buildings accident records, an incident on March 15 of that year left seven people dead and 22 injured after a tower crane collapsed at 303 East 51st Street. Shortly afterwards, on May 30, another crane collapsed at 335 East 91st Street, leaving two dead and one injured.
Operating a crane is an inherently dangerous job, and the risks are significantly greater in a densely populated urban environment like New York City. Nationwide, approximately 89 crane-related fatalities occurred per year in construction work and between the years of 1984 and 1994—502 fatalities in 479 crane accidents. With numbers like these, safety is paramount. Because of New York City’s uniquely difficult conditions, it is critical that we have the most stringent examination and licensing procedure for individuals permitted to operate cranes.
For decades, New York City has had such a rigorous system; it is required under our building code. Crane operators licensed by the Department of Buildings are some of the best in the world. That is not luck, but the result of a longstanding crane licensing regulatory scheme. The agency developed and administered a written examination for applicants for crane operator licenses that specifically tests them on New York City's conditions and requirements. It also gave a practical examination to see how applicants operated a crane, and required that before being eligible to even sit for an examination that applicants have a certain number of years’ experience working in New York City under the supervision of a licensed crane operator.
