Three months after a fatal crane accident near Annapolis, the state's labor department is proposing sweeping new crane safety regulations that would make Maryland's rules among the strictest in the country.
Crane operators, riggers and signal people would be required to fulfill uniform training standards under the new regulations, and the state would increase requirements for inspections and accident investigations.
An advisory board of the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health program voted unanimously yesterday to recommend the new regulations. A state legislative committee must sign off on the proposal.
"I believe what we're doing here in Maryland will be mirrored in other areas of the country," said Robert Hileman, president of Baltimore-based United Crane & Rigging, which was part of a broad coalition of construction companies, labor unions and regulatory officials that drafted the proposed regulations.
House of Delegates Speaker Michael E. Busch, an Annapolis Democrat whose district includes Parole, where a worker was crushed by a crane April 30, said he believes the General Assembly's Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee will "most likely approve the regulations."
The Maryland crane accident followed fatal crane collapses in New York and Miami, and several states have responded by trying to beef up safety regulations while waiting for the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration to revise its own rules. On Monday, a truck crane tipped over on its side during the installation of noise barriers on a road in Gaithersburg. No injuries were reported in that accident.
About 15 states require some training certification or licensure for crane operators, but Maryland would be the first to establish uniform training standards for riggers and signal people, said Joel Oliva, an official with the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators.
Riggers attach loads to cranes. Signal people guide the operator with verbal or hand signs as loads are hoisted, lifted, moved and released.
Among the proposed new regulations:
* Crane operators, riggers and signal people must have completed training equivalent to a nationally recognized certification program.
* Cranes must be inspected daily when in use, and also undergo a comprehensive annual inspection.
* Employers must notify the labor department two days before setting up a lift that uses multiple cranes, or installing or dismantling a tower crane.
