Cranes are important. But what about everything else?
Jul 14, 2022
By: Adv. Eldan Danino, Expert in Construction Safety and Corporate Liability
Finally, after countless accidents over recent years involving crane collapses, which resulted in dozens of casualties, including fatalities and permanent injuries, a welcome decision has been made in recent days that may serve as an initial step toward a fundamental shift in the government’s approach to preventing accidents in the construction industry.
According to this decision, crane operators will be required to obtain authorization to operate directly with the project contractor on construction sites, rather than as was previously the case. This fact alone will compel both the crane contractors and the main contractors of the project to supervise the cranes’ proper functioning much more meticulously, and will undoubtedly reduce a certain percentage of future accidents.undoubtedly reduce a certain percentage of future accidents.
Thousands of cranes
Just to give readers an idea: Across the thousands of construction sites in the State of Israel, there are, according to a conservative estimate, approximately 1,800-1,900 cranes, most of them on tower sites that are 11 stories or higher, as required by law. According to unofficial data from both the Ministry of Labor and other sources, approximately 250 of those cranes operate without a license at all, which of course highlights the importance of the latest decision.
For the record, the cranes' decision will undoubtedly cost all parties considerable sums, but, and this is a big one, I have no doubt that it will save many times over, both in terms of casualties and from an economic perspective, since closing a site for a period of time due to an accident or improper crane operation would have cost the contractor both financially and to its reputation, and of course would have been a significant factor in halting many projects, which would have made it difficult to advance housing supply.
As someone who deals on a daily basis with safety issues in the construction industry and the corporate responsibility of entrepreneurs and contractors, I would expect decision-makers in the government, and first and foremost the Ministry of Labor and the Safety Administration, to "leverage", so to speak, the decision on cranes/hoists to other factors that have led to accidents with casualties in the last few years.
Just to give readers an idea: Across the thousands of construction sites in the State of Israel, there are, according to a conservative estimate, approximately 1,800-1,900 cranes, most of them on tower sites that are 11 stories or higher, as required by law. According to unofficial data from both the Ministry of Labor and other sources, approximately 250 of those cranes operate without a license at all, which of course highlights the importance of the latest decision.
For the record, the cranes' decision will undoubtedly cost all parties considerable sums, but, and this is a big one, I have no doubt that it will save many times over, both in terms of casualties and from an economic perspective, since closing a site for a period of time due to an accident or improper crane operation would have cost the contractor both financially and to its reputation, and of course would have been a significant factor in halting many projects, which would have made it difficult to advance housing supply.
As someone who deals on a daily basis with safety issues in the construction industry and the corporate responsibility of entrepreneurs and contractors, I would expect decision-makers in the government, and first and foremost the Ministry of Labor and the Safety Administration, to "leverage", so to speak, the decision on cranes/hoists to other factors that have led to accidents with casualties in the last few years.
For example, I find it puzzling how such a critical issue as scaffolding with advanced European standards, which have long been installed on every site around the world, has still not been approved, even though it was promised to do so two years ago. The Labor Ministry claims that this is a technical problem with standards at the Standards Institute, but this delusional ping-pong between the two parties, the Safety Director and the Standards Institute, costs us every day in both casualties and a lot of money.
An even more important issue, which has not been addressed at all so far, is the almost complete lack of effective and efficient supervision at the sites.
Scaffolding failure
The vast majority of construction sites are not supervised at all, because the number of inspectors from the Ministry of Labor is negligible compared to the thousands of construction sites scattered throughout the country.
This issue is increasingly causing municipal building inspectors, who lack professional skills, to interfere unnecessarily in all matters related to safety at construction sites. These inspectors cause double damage, because they constantly interfere with trifles such as the location of the fence surrounding the construction site, and unnecessarily close sites that are functioning properly, while, as mentioned, they are unable to discern the real safety problems, if any, at that construction site.
Supervision failure
I would expect that the welcome decision to monitor the cranes will be the first link in a chain of actions that will finally lead to the elimination of this unnecessary and painful damage of more than 40 deaths and many hundreds more injuries every year at construction sites.
In conclusion,
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