Detailed history reports are available online for most vehicles, allowing consumers and insurers the chance to make informed decisions. It’s hard to believe there’s no such clearinghouse for data on equipment that hoists thousands of pounds on rough terrain and in high places.
Prompted by recent crane accidents in New York City, Frank Bardonaro, the president of Philadelphia-based AmQuip Crane Rental and Tower Cranes, took matters into his own hands. Bardonaro has funded and developed CraneFacts.com, an independent site with information on inspections and locations of all major components and repairs on any given crane.
“Every state is writing their own response to these tragedies,” says Bardonaro, who also points out that Philadelphia was the first U.S. city to enact safe cranes laws in the winter of 2008. “We’re trying to put something out there that’s more of a white-paper response that benefits the public, not the politician.”
The biggest issue, Bardonaro says, is non-original equipment manufacturer repair parts. He cites a Chinese replacement part in one of the cranes that collapsed in New York last year and left seven dead as an example of a shoddy part going undetected.
As president of one of the top five crane companies and the chairman for the North American Safety Committee of the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association, Bardonaro is uniquely positioned to establish a universal website. With close to 5,000 crane rental companies in the U.S. alone, he believes a complete database including all daily, monthly and annual OSHA inspections will weed out bad cranes and those who rent them out.
“If a crane rental company doesn’t want to share information with us, they’ve got something to hide,” says Bardonaro. “Most people are at the mercy of the owner of the crane.”
Source: Frank Bardonaro, AmQuip Crane Rental and Tower Cranes
Writer: Joe Petrucci