Toronto Fire Service performs aerial rescue of ailing crane operator
Crane operators are comfortable lowering and raising valuable loads, but for one Toronto operator the load was the most valuable of all – his own life.
Proper assembly required
B.C. embarks on tower crane pre-assembly pilot project.
Leavitt Cranes takes down fire-damaged crane in Kelowna
A blaze completely destroyed a four-storey condominium project and left an extremely damaged crane hanging over the site for several days.
Some of Canada’s heaviest-duty cranes are quarterbacking one of B.C.’s most ambitious wastewater treatment projects.
SC&RA Crane & Rigging Workshop
A preview of the agenda for the 2021 edition of the popular conference and trade show. 24 Tire prices increase due to COVID-19
Several tire manufacturers have increased tire prices in 2021 due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 25 Graham Construction promotes
Graham Construction is doing their part to encourage employees to get a vaccine with their “I Got the Shot” campaign.
Steel erectors contribute to community revitalization projects.
FROM THE EDITOR
BY ANDREW SNOOK
Top 10 Under 40 is back!
Time to recognize the industry’s best and brightest
Have a young up-and-comer on your team that you believe should be recognized for their hard work, dedication and innovation? Then nominate them for Crane & Hoist Canada’s Top 10 Under 40 awards program!
The deadline for submitting nominations of your best and brightest is September 15, 2021. This means you’ve got ample opportunity to submit those names via the Crane & Hoist Canada website and give your young stars the recognition they deserve.
This program will recognize 10 outstanding individuals from across Canada who had made significant contributions to the industry before their 40th birthdays. This can include anyone who was under the age of 40 as of December 31, 2021.
Nominees can come from anyone who is involved in Canada’s heavy lifting industry, including business owners and management, crane operators, engineers, software programmers, technicians, industry educators, and research and development staff.
What are the qualifications to nominate an individual, you ask?
Here are the guidelines to the Top 10 Under 40 contest:
• Nominees must be younger than 40 before Dec. 31, 2021.
• Nominees must either be working in Canada or of Canadian nationality.
• Nominations are due by Sept. 15, 2021.
Must the nominee be Canadian?
No. The nominee can be of any nationality, but must be employed in Canada. We also encourage the nominations of Canadians working outside of the country.
Who can nominate someone?
Nominators can include advisors, supervisors, coworkers, or colleagues familiar with the nominee’s work and character.
What type of information should be included about the nominee?
Potential information to submit about the nominee can include (but is not exclusive to): Projects or initiatives the individual is or has been involved in; results from past projects; day-to-day job responsibilities; workplace initiatives outside of regular job duties; and community involvement.
Is a secondary reference for the nominee required?
No. However, the nomination form includes fields for a secondary reference, which is suggested to include. All nominees that are selected for Crane & Hoist Canada’s Top 10 Under 40 program will receive a framed certificate recognizing their achievement, and will be featured in the November/December 2021 issue of the publication.
Who knows, one lucky individual might even have their photo end up gracing the front page!
Still have more questions?
For more information on the Top 10 Under 40 program, or how to nominate an individual, contact interim editor Andrew Snook at asnook@annexbusinessmedia. com, or call 289.221.8946.
Good luck to all the nominees for this year’s program. We look forward to featuring the industry’s best and brightest upand-comers in the November/December 2021 issue of Crane & Hoist Canada!
Reader Service
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7
• Crane Control System (CCS)
• New wider full vision cab with 20° cab tilt
•
bauma to be postponed to October 2022
The world’s leading trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, construction vehicles and construction equipment has been postponed until Oct. 24-30, 2022.
Initially, bauma was to be held from April 4 to 10, 2022.
Regardless of the postponement, the technical and organizational planning for bauma 2022 continues. The core of bauma 2022 will be the face-to-face event, augmented and expanded by digital offerings.
“This allows customers from all over the world to participate in bauma, even if they can’t or don’t want to travel to Munich,” explains Klaus Dittrich, chairman and CEO of Messe München.
Reflecting the trends of digitalization and sustainability, bauma 2022 will focus on the road to zero emissions; digital construction sites; construction methods and materials of tomorrow; the road to autonomous machines; and sustainable, efficient and reliable mining.
For more information, visit: www.bauma.de.
A.W. Leil Cranes and Equipment opens new branch in Saint John
A.W. Leil Cranes and Equipment has opened a new branch in Saint John, N.B. The branch will be focused on servicing the Saint John, Fredericton and surrounding areas.
“We are very pleased to be continuing on our growth plans with the opening of our new location,” said Caleb Wood, vice-president of A.W. Leil. “We have continued to grow our customer base in New Brunswick over the last few years with the opening of our Moncton branch in 2018 and are looking forward to increasing our market coverage with our new Saint John location. With four
offices currently located in Nova Scotia and two locations in New Brunswick, we can meet all of our customers’ needs throughout the Maritimes.”
For specific inquiries relating to the crane rental operations of the new Saint John branch, contact local manager Tom Bishop at 506.349.6608.
Established in 1958, A.W. Leil is an Atlantic Canadian crane rental and heavy lift services business. The company operates a fleet of more than 50 cranes across six offices. For more information, visit www.awleil.com.
CONEXPO-CON/AGG unveils new logo as it takes construction to the ‘next level’
CONEXPO-CON/AGG has launched a new brand identity and a new tagline: “Taking Construction to the Next Level.”
The updated branding reflects the growth and momentum of the construction industry and the role the exhibition plays in connecting innovators, equipment manufactures and construction professionals, according to the show’s organizers.
Held every three years in Las Vegas, CONEXPO-CON/AGG is North America’s largest construction trade show featuring the latest construction equipment and technology applications for the industry.
The forward-pointing arrows indicate progress and momentum, while the deepening colors represent growth. The tread-like arrangement of the arrows conveys traction and making a mark on the construction industry. This is the first complete overhaul of the CONEXPO-CON/AGG identity since CONEXPO and CON-AGG combined in 1996.
The next CONEXPO-CON/AGG and co-located IFPE takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center from March 14-18, 2023. Learn more at conexpoconagg.com.
TD acquires Wells Fargo’s Canadian equipment finance business
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) has completed its acquisition of Wells Fargo’s Canadian Direct Equipment Finance business.
The acquisition wrapped up on May 1, and TD said it adds scale and capabilities to the Toronto-based bank’s existing Canadian Equipment Financing business and expands its presence in core markets.
“This acquisition enhances our position
and competitiveness in Canada’s Equipment Finance industry and will allow us to better serve a more diverse set of business customers who require customized financing services and leasing solutions,” said Darren Cooke, president, TD Equipment Finance, Canadian Business Banking, TD Bank Group.
Headquartered in Mississauga, Ont., with regional offices across the country, including Montreal and Calgary, Wells Fargo’s Canadian Direct Equipment Finance business has a 25-year operating history, which includes the acquisition by Wells Fargo of GE Capital’s Canadian Equipment Finance business in 2016.
With approximately $1.5 billion in assets and over 120 employees, Wells Fargo’s Canadian Direct Equipment Finance business provides loans and leases covering a full range of commercial equipment for businesses across Canada.
New sales team for Terex Cranes in North America
Terex Cranes is renewing its focus in North America with two new appointments: Jonathan Caldwell to sale representative for tower cranes and Michael Goll to business development manager for rough terrain cranes. These appointments, which follow the appointment of Andreas Ernst to general manager, Cranes Americas (announced earlier this year) is part of the company’s ambitious growth strategy for North America and will build on the
strength of its well-established parts and service support team, primarily located in Wilmington, N.C., and supported by factory teams in Fontanafredda and Crespellano, Italy.
Caldwell has assumed responsibility for growing the Terex Tower Cranes business across North America and looks forward to building and sustaining effective relationships with distributors across the region. Having studied civil engineering at the University of Central Florida, Jonathan started in the industry as an application engineer at AmQuip Crane Rentals and is a two-time recipient of the Terex Continuing Education Scholarship.
Goll is responsible for directing the sales strategy for Terex Rough Terrain Cranes and Franna Pick & Carry Cranes across North America, in partnership with its nationwide distribution network. He has more than 20 years of business development experience.
Jonathan Caldwell
Michael Goll
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Mobile and crawler cranes
Manitowoc launches newest slewing crane
Manitowoc held a virtual event on April 30 celebrating the launch of its latest slewing crane, the Potain MDT 489.
The high-capacity topless crane will be available in two versions: 20-tonne and 25-tonne models.
The crane features an 80-metre jib (up to 3.5t at 80 metres); and an 85-metre free standing height. It is built with a new high performance hoisting winch, the 110HPL; the CCS control system; and comes with the CraneSTAR crane asset management system, which offers up-to-date crane fleet information, including monitoring capabilities for locations and working conditions; maintenance planning; and lifting schedules.
The MDT 489 is largely intended for the North American market. At Manitowoc’s Shady Grove, Penn. facility, sales director Steve Johnson stated that the company will begin receiving the new model later this year.
“The 400-class crane is a staple of tower crane rental fleets in the U.S. For this reason, our customers actively participated in the voice of customers for this product. We wanted to make sure that our customers were going to get
the crane they wanted and needed,” Johnson said. “As a result, our customers are anxiously awaiting the introduction of this crane. We’ve already received orders for the MDT 489. We’re looking forward to seeing the first machines arrive in the second half of 2021.”
The unit is designed for compact transport requiring only nine containers for optimized packaging and can be assembled in a maximum of two days.
Laurent Siebert, technical inspector for Manitowoc with 30 years of experience at the company, says the MDT 489 is quick and easy to erect.
“As a technician, you see the benefit of the whole evolution of this type of crane. It’s a 400-ton machine that can be erected like a small machine,” he says.
The virtual event was ended with a brief message from Thibaut Le Besnerais,
vice-president of brand and product management at Manitowoc, who said that the launch of a new product is always a very special moment for the company.
“It’s the culmination of hard work and where both internal and external resources were deeply involved. The teams were focused on targets which were simple but ambitious –innovation, compliance to the product specifications, respect of the timelines and costs without any compromise on quality. When all steps are achieved, then the product launch can take place,” he said. “This success is the reward for the whole team and the company’s pride of seeing how equipment all over the world constructing buildings and infrastructure for future generations.”
For more information on the MDT 489, visit: www.manitowoc.com/potain/top-slewingcranes/mdt-489-m20.
CRAC announces 2021-2022
Board of Directors, celebrates safety
ASSOCIATIONCANADIENNE DELOCATIONDEGRUES
The Crane Rental Association of Canada recently announced its new Board of Directors representing 10 crane rental companies and three supplier companies.
CRAC members met virtually for the association’s annual general meeting on May 26 and elected the following directors to serve the 2021-2022 Board:
• Heather MacCallum, NCSG Crane & Heavy Haul Services Ltd.; and
• Tony Niese, Nelson Manufacturing Company.
“Leading the association as we come out of the pandemic will certainly present some challenges and opportunities, my objective is to bring us closer and make us stronger” says Michel Riverin, director of operations at Guay Inc.
Riverin, a 33-year veteran at Guay, will succeed Gijs (Gus) Verdeijen, vice-president of Mammoet Canada who has served on the Board for six years.
“We are grateful for Gijs’s leadership and commitment to our Board,” Riverin says.
Gijs will remain active as ex-officio member as he assumes the position of past chair.
Celebrating safety
The Crane Rental Association of Canada also announced the recipients of the CRAC Safety Awards for their outstanding safety standards in 2020.
The awards, presented during the annual general meeting, placed 13 crane rental companies on centre stage for their commitment and dedication in creating a safe work environment for their staff, operators and the public.
• Energy Crane Service/Div. of Myshak Group, Stony Plain, Alta.;
• Irving Equipment Limited, Saint John, N.B.;
• Mammoet Canada, Edmonton, Alta.;
• Myshak Crane & Rigging Ltd., Acheson, Alta.;
• NCSG Crane & Heavy Haul Services Ltd., Acheson, Alta.;
• Radius Crane & Rigging Inc. - Niksu, Alta.;
• RKM Services Ltd., Langley, B.C.; and
• Sterling Crane, Edmonton, Alta.
“The Crane Rental Association of Canada is dedicated to improving the safety of the Canadian crane industry and it is more important than ever to celebrate safety among our membership. We congratulate these companies on their performance,” Verdeijen said.
CRAC NEWS
Dura-Mod Modular Spreader Beam
In an effort to add to our large range of below-the-hook lifting devices, Caldwell is proud to introduce the Dura-Mod Modular Spreader Beam. Our new product will come in a variety of sizes that allow the user to configure a spreader beam suitable for different projects and applications depending on the desired capacity and spread.
Lightweight in comparison to fixed/multiple point beams.
Easy to transport & store; single longest component is only 20’!
Two end units, drop links, and spreader sections make it fully customizable.
Distributors are able to keep them stocked, offering customers quick ship access to certified spreaders.
World-renowned Caldwell brand name on a modular spreader system.
Components can be added and bought separately; take what you need now, add later!
Dura-Mod can be used with corner fittings to create box and rectangular configurations
All of the Dura-Mod spreaders conform to ASME B30.20, BTH-1, DESIGN CATEGORY B, CLASS 0.
For additional Dura-Mod information, contact Caldwell or scan the QR code!
Toronto Fire Service performs aerial rescue of ailing crane operator
By Matt Jones
Crane operators are comfortable lowering and raising valuable loads, but for one Toronto operator the load was the most valuable of all – his own life. On March 31, a tower crane operator at York University began experiencing chest pains and Toronto Fire Services (TFS) performed a daring aerial rescue, bringing the operator down through the use of a skate-block system so that he could receive medical attention.
“With the assistance of the rigging team on the ground [TFS] were able to gain access to the operator,” says John Davidson, divisional chief of technical operations with TFS. “To actually assist him back down the ladder system wasn’t appropriate due to his medical condition. The crews went up top, did a quick medical assessment and reported down to Toronto Emergency Medical Services, who also responded with the unit.”
The crane operator was already wearing a harness, so TFS officers were able to quickly connect him into a skate-block system. A skate-block system is effectively like a zip-line but designed for controlled movement with built in redundancies to ensure safety if anything goes wrong. TFS attached anchor points at the top of the crane and at the ground.
“It’s nerve-wracking,” says Davidson, of being lowered in the system. “It’s kind of weird, as any human feels when they’re off the ground. But it does work and there is redundancy in the system that if one line breaks the other is built to capture the weight. So, there’s technically a fixed line and then a moving line.”
In cases where the subject needs the assistance of a rescuer to make it down the line – either due to nerves or their medical situation – both parties are connected to different lines. In that way, if one line breaks the other will still be in place. In this case, the crane operator was capable of being lowered by himself. But to prevent his harness from putting too much pressure on his chest, he was placed in a second larger harness-like device called a Pitagor, which was connected to the other line to provide an additional level of redundant security.
The crane operator was lowered in a Pitagor harness, which avoided placing undue pressure on his chest, says Toronto Fire Services.
After a crane operator began experiencing chest pains, Toronto Fire Services performed an aerial rescue, lowering the operator nearly 30 metres to the ground.
It took roughly 45 minutes from when TFS arrived on scene until the patient was on the ground.
“Once they got him all hooked in, they actually got him over the rail and he was brought down on his own,” says Davidson. “He was still conscious, and he was verbal.”
It took roughly 45 minutes from when TFS arrived on scene until the patient was on the ground. The actual descent from the top took about 10 minutes.
“We didn’t know what his comfort level was,” says Davidson. “Obviously, heights don’t bother him, but we wanted to make it as comfortable as possible without jerking and stopping so we brought him down in a nice, controlled manner.”
Davidson says that the operator was calm and seemed much more concerned about his chest pains than he was about being lowered from a height of nearly 30 metres.
“There was no verbal from when he was on the line, like ‘get me out of here,’” says Davidson. “Some people, sometimes they freak out. If you haven’t been through it before or haven’t been on rope, it can freak you out. And there was no rescuer with him to be that comfort level. But he was quite calm, I didn’t hear a peep out of him.”
These types of rescues are a rarity for TFS, but Davidson says that they are well prepared for them – they have a decommissioned tower crane that is used for training.
The crane operator was taken for medical attention. His employer, Premform Limited, was happy to confirm that he had since recovered and was back to work.
TORONTO FIRE SERVICES PARTNERS WITH OETIO
Toronto has the most crane activity of any city in North America. With that comes an increased chance of collapses, malfunctions, and even dramatic incidents, such as the infamous “Crane Girl” of 2017. John Davidson says that after two crane collapses took place in the city within a few weeks of each other last year, he decided to get more proactive.
“We’ve really struck up a strong relationship with the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO),”
Davidson says. “The executive of the organization reached out and said, ‘We had something running about five years ago, developing an awareness level training program for emergency services,’ so we jumped all over it.”
In cooperation with OETIO, they are developing a three-module set of online learning tools designed to bring a shared knowledge base to emergency services and crane operators. The first module, which has been completed, covers general knowledge about cranes and their parts. The second module will go more in depth into crane operations, controls and safety mechanisms. The third module will be more for the benefit of crane operators themselves – teaching them about Toronto Fire Services’ equipment and rescue systems and how those systems could work with cranes.
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Proper assembly required
B.C. embarks on tower crane pre-assembly pilot project
By Andrew Snook
April 27, 2019 was a dark day for the crane industry.
While working on a Google office building in Seattle, Wash., a tower crane collapsed onto the street below resulting in the deaths of four people and injuring four others.
An investigation by the Washington Department of Labour and Industries found that the companies responsible for the crane did not follow the manufacturer’s procedures for dissembling of the crane and had removed dozens of pins prematurely, resulting in its collapse.
This incident impacted many people and organizations in the heavy lifting sector, especially those in the Vancouver area, who live a short two-and-a-half-hour drive away and often travel to Seattle for work and leisure.
“Close to home is the operative phase,” says Clinton Connell, executive director of BC Crane Safety.
According to the Rider Levett Bucknall Top in US Markets Crane Index, November 2019, Seattle had 59 erected tower cranes in comparison to the 350 tower cranes (WCB statistics 2019) throughout B.C. in 2019 – 250 of these could be found in the Vancouver Lower Mainland.
When the Seattle crane collapse occurred, WorkSafeBC and BC Crane Safety were in the midst of planning its second tower crane conference – the first one held in March 2018 and the second held in November 2019. Because of the close relationship among these organizations, members of BC Crane Safety and WorkSafeBC invited Brian Haight, DOSH crane compliance manager for Washington State Department of Labor and Industries to make a presentation titled, “Seattle Tower Crane Collapse: Lessons Learned,” and shared copies of the then released investigation bulletin.
“Over 160 industry representatives, including tower crane industry suppliers, owners, engineers, erectors and technicians attended and took an active part in the question-and-answer portion of Brian’s presentation,” Connell says. “Participants who attended appreciated hearing about the investigation updates and the ability to get the current facts to put the incident and the investigation into perspective for tower cranes operating within B.C. This presentation and discussion only underscored the importance of the project work being carried out by BC Crane Safety and its collaborators.”
Pilot crane assembly team meeting with representatives from City of Vancouver, WorkSafeBC and BC Crane Safety in February 2021.
As part of the pilot project, a new Tower/ Self-Erect Crane PreAssembly Requirements Checklist has been set up to accompany permit applications.
CRANE ROPE CENTRES
At the same conference, BC Crane Safety’s Fraser Cocks presented early work on a collaborative proposal to the City of Vancouver for improved safe work practices on using city streets during tower crane assembly-disassembly work.
That proposal stemmed from a meeting held between WorkSafeBC, BC Crane Safety and other industry representatives earlier that year, where discussions centered on concerns related to crane assembly and disassembly processes.
The two organizations came up with the concept of revising the current assembly/disassembly checklist to make completion of the list not only mandatory, but to also better coordinate street usage needs such as: street closures; traffic control; pre-planning operations and responsibilities; and discussion of issues like being how to better keep workers safe during assembly process, some cities not allowing road closures, and not being able to take cranes down during reasonable hours, explains Connell.
Following this meeting, a core group that included representatives from the IUOE, crane owners, WorkSafeBC Crane/ Equipment Team and BC Crane Safety, met over in the final months of 2019 with City of Vancouver representatives.
The groups then met in person over the course of early 2020, and then via email throughout the pandemic, to flesh out and work out the details of the checklist and supporting bulletins.
“There were not many challenges in developing the concepts, landing on minimum standards and requirements, though it took time working with the City of Vancouver so they could understand the needs of the crane community and balance these operational needs with their other stakeholders and city operational requirements,” Connell explains. “There were concerted efforts by both WorkSafeBC’s Crane/Equipment Team and BC Crane Safety’s management team to come to an equitable resolution to protect the safety of crane workers as well as members of the public.”
install sockets, crane buttons and aluminum loop back sleeves in strict accordance to ASME B30.30 and EN 13411
Proof Testing of any end fitting on any crane rope. For over 50 years we have been the industry experts on rope selection and application.
As part of the pilot project, a new Tower/Self-Erect Crane Pre-Assembly Requirements Checklist has been set up to accompany permit applications.
The new checklist is broken down into several categories, each
with multiple questions determining who are the responsible parties for various actions. The options listed as those responsible include: owner/supplier; erector; general contractor; user; mobile crane; or other.
The categories for the various questions are broken down into the following sections:
• Crane base: Type and support;
• Crane position: Proximity to crane, structures and public areas;
• Emergency preparedness;
• Worker and equipment safe work systems;
• Worker orientation and training; and
• Crane components.
A TRULY COLLABORATIVE EFFORT FOR IMPROVING SAFETY
• August 2019: WorkSafeBC Prevention – Crane/Equipment Team and BC Crane Safety host the kickoff meeting.
• October 2019: International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115 and BC Crane Safety created a proposal to the City of Vancouver to strengthen its permitting processes for the assembly and disassembly of the tower cranes within the city. Along with this proposal, IUOE and BC Crane Safety developed a comprehensive communication plan to ensure key messages were consistently used in discussion of the proposed project/pilot.
• November 2019: BC Crane Safety and WorkSafeBC Prevention and Consultation and Employer Services Divisions (formerly Industry and Labour Services) hosted the second Tower Crane Conference and made a presentation on the development of this checklist/proposal.
• Fall/Winter 2019: IUOE, BC Crane Safety, Coupal Cranes and Kansen Crane Service created and submitted its proposal to the City of Vancouver’s permitting standards for the assembly and
There is also a sign-off section for the owner, assembly/dismantling supervisor, general contractor, primary operator and mobile crane.
As part of its updated requirements, the City of Vancouver is now requesting:
• 60 days of lead time be required for permit applications;
• A traffic control plan be submitted directly to: streetusereview@vancouver.ca;
• 30 days of notice are required for a site kickoff meeting;
• The submission of a crane assembly/disassembly plan with steps/key dates outlined; and
• The submission of drawings showing crane locations (tower and mobile), their respective swing radii, and approved Traffic Management Plan (layered, if possible).
The pilot project currently has no specified end date, though it was tentatively discussed as possibly a six-month project, Connell says.
“Early discussion on the results illustrated the checklist and the form works because stakeholders were carrying out better planning, respecting the time requirements of city and constructing contracting firms,” he says. “City representatives were pleased with the engagement of all parties. The regulator, WorkSafeBC, reported a lot of interest in inviting a WorkSafeBC Crane/Mobile Equipment team member to planning meetings and crane stakeholders were reporting better communication on requirements and determination of assembly/disassembly responsibilities.”
BC Crane Safety views this new checklist as a useful tool for the industry right across Canada.
“The principles, procedures and standards are applicable across Canadian jurisdictions, or, if required, could be modified to suit the regulatory requirements of a particular province or territory,” Connell says. “BC Crane Safety has shared this checklist with jurisdictions outside of B.C., like Washington state, who are very impressed with the checklist and the pilot project with the City of Vancouver.”
The new Tower/Self-Erect Crane Pre-Assembly Requirements Checklist can be found at: https://bccranesafety.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/BCCS-SWP-4Tower-Crane-Erection-Checklist-Revised-January-2021.pdf.
dismantling of crane towers to improve public and worker safety and reduce the types of hazards that were present at the tower crane collapse in Seattle.
• A number of meetings were held with various representatives of the City of Vancouver (engineering services, traffic planning, construction review, safety) in person until most business and places shut down in March 2020. The City of Vancouver’s position was they were willing to discuss this proposal further, however discussed that improved planning requirements will be required.
• While this group met a number of times over the course of 2020, a separate group worked on the development of the checklist, including: Bigfoot Cranes, Titus Cranes, Coupal Cranes, Micron, Leavitt Cranes, Legions Rigging and Lifting Ltd, Opticrane, IUOE, BC Crane Safety and WorkSafeBC’s Crane/Equipment team.
• The checklist was then finalized and posted on the BC Crane Safety website and loaded on to USBs to support the association’s serparate “Level Up, Own Your Lift” self-planned inspection program.
*Courtesy of BC Crane Safety.
NEXT GENERATION ROUGH TERRAINS
SAFETY. PERFORMANCE. COMFORT.
Tadano’s new line of Next Generation Rough Terrain cranes was specifically designed with high-pressure situations in mind where reliability can’t be compromised. The narrow and confined spaces of refineries, active urban environments with strict safety requirements, and bustling commercial construction sites are where Tadano’s new GRs perform best.
The GR-1000XLL-4, GR-1000XL-4, and GR-800XL-4, all include a high performance transmission powered by a dual compliant Cummins Tier IV engine that reduces emissions, improves fuel economy, and minimizes noise. With a redesigned tiltable cab that facilitates greater efficiency, operability, visibility, and safety, Tadano’s latest GRs offer one of the best operator experiences in the industry. Innovative features, such as the Tadano View System--a multi-camera system created to increase visibility and obstacle detection--enhance safety on the way to and at the job site.
Call or visit our website to learn more about the Safety, Performance, and Comfort of Tadano’s Next Generation Rough Terrain Cranes.
Leavitt Cranes takes down fire-damaged crane in Kelowna
By Matt Jones
In the early morning hours of April 6, a three-alarm fire broke out at a construction site at the corner of Glenmore Road and Union Road in Kelowna, B.C. The blaze completely destroyed the four-storey condominium project and left an extremely damaged Potain HDT80 crane owned by CS Construction hanging over the site for several days. Leavitt Cranes were contracted with taking down the damaged crane.
“The big thing here with the crane was being able to fold it up and dismantle it without the use of the hydraulic systems or the electrical systems because they were pretty much burnt out on the crane,” says Dean Lucarino, double charge hand and crane technician with Leavitt Cranes. “That specific crane uses hydraulic systems to hold the jib up and also uses a cable over hydraulic system to tower the mast down. There were two mobile cranes used – one to hoist personnel and another to hoist equipment that we used to fold the crane up.”
Leavitt Cranes coordinated and planned the takedown effort and subcontracted RKM Crane Services out of Chemainus, B.C. to utilize their 120-ton Liebherr LTM 1095 in an 80-ton configuration with an
The tower crane was self-erecting; however, all hydraulics were damaged in the fire requiring an eight-hour effort by Leavitt Cranes and their subcontractors to dismantle it.
80-foot radius and 20,100 lb. of counterweights. The second crane utilized was provided by Kelowna-based Dave’s Crane
and Equipment – a 90-ton Tadano GT 900 XL with 35,000 lb. of counterweight and 144 feet of boom, which was used to hoist the pump.
The takedown operation required careful planning. Due to the potential danger of the damaged crane hanging overhead, fire investigations would not be able to inspect the site until the crane had been taken down. That meant Leavitt Cranes had to coordinate with the fire inspectors how to set up their operations while disturbing the site as little as possible to preserve any possible evidence.
“We were very specific in planning a pathway to get into the site,” says Lucarino. “When we did all our pre-meetings with the fire department and WorkSafeBC, we created a pathway to get into the site and everybody had to stick to that pathway and not disturb the site in any other way. There was a ton of debris – the whole site burned down to the slab, pretty much. Burnt lumber, steel equipment, there was a burnt forklift, the generator that powers the crane was brunt. There were quite a few things that we had to deal with.”
A dramatic blaze at a Kelowna, B.C. construction site caused significant damage, notably to a Potain HDT80 tower crane that hung over the site for several days.
The planning and coordinating with the fire department and WorkSafeBC took place largely the day before and the morning of the operation. They also had a drone fly into the site the week before to take video and photos of the site to inform their planning. Due to that meticulous preparation, the takedown operation was conducted without incident in about eight hours.
Lucarino says this type of job – taking down damaged equipment after a fire or other incident – isn’t common, but he’s definitely been tasked this type of job several times over his long career in the crane industry.
“I specialize in this type of self-erecting crane,” says Lucarino. “Our team put our heads together and figured out how we can safely dismantle this crane – aside from the way the manufacturer wants us to dismantle it in a perfect scenario, which we definitely did not have. When you have a piece of equipment that’s burned that bad and it’s hanging in the air like that, nothing is really normal about it. Us knowing the equipment as well as we do, we just
take an approach to look at the scenario up front and make a plan to try and take it down as safely as possible. There’s just so many unknowns. We got to pat ourselves on the back. We didn’t really have any
hitches and the crane came down as safely as possible. It went really well.”
The building was vacant at the time of the fire and there were no injuries to any members of the fire crews who tackled the blaze. Kelowna Fire Department’s Rick Huber, who led the investigation into the fire, says that no conclusive cause for the fire was discovered on site.
“Any of the evidence, if there was any, is gone,” says Huber. “We were knee-deep in burnt wood. There was nothing else there. We couldn’t conclusively say one way or another. There were a few things we could possibly rule out, but that was it.”
Huber says by the time he arrived on site, fire crews had already been fighting the blaze for a couple of hours. By that time, the tower had started to straighten itself up, but fire crews told him there had been a 20 to 30 per cent bow in the crane due to the heat, which was causing it to lean over.
“Once we started getting the fire knocked down, the heat went away and it straightened itself right back up,” says Huber.
A pair of mobile cranes – a Liebherr LTM 1085 and a Tadano GT 900 XL – were used to lift personnel and equipment to facilitate taking down the damaged crane.
Cranes barge in on Annacis wastewater project
By Saul Chernos
Some of Canada’s heaviest-duty cranes, working from land and water, are quarterbacking one of British Columbia’s most ambitious wastewater treatment projects.
Metro Vancouver manages wastewater systems for 23 member communities on the Lower Mainland and, with the population reaching three million and some facilities exceeding the half-century mark, the need for refurbishment and upgrading has been pressing. Factor in increasingly stringent environmental regulations and never-ending worries about a significant earthquake, and the sense of urgency is clear. Multiple projects are in fact in play, each with their own work team and timeline. In North Vancouver, the new North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, slated to open in 2024, will replace the 50-year-old Lions Gate plant and add clarifiers and digesters to enhance treatment. Metro Vancouver has approved a comparable upgrade to the 57-year-old Iona Island treatment plant at the mouth of the Fraser River, near
Vancouver International Airport. And the Northwest Langley plant, which currently serves 30,000 people, is being expanded to handle a geographically broader population of 230,000.
A signature piece, though, is work underway to reconfigure the Annacis Island plant in Delta, 20 kilometres inland on the Fraser River. Annacis is one of the region’s largest wastewater facilities, processing 175 billion litres of effluent annually from 14 municipalities across the Lower Mainland, and Metro Vancouver is looking to enhance the level of performance and build a new outfall and diffuser to safely release the treated wastewater into the river.
While considerable work has been underway on shore with crews installing new clarifiers, aeration tanks and primary-level sedimentation tanks, a brand new $184-million high-capacity outfall and diffuser, slated for completion by 2024, is proving a magnet for heavy lifting.
The outfall will see 770 metres of tunnel dug through thick wet sand up to 40 metres
Crews used cranes working from barges to install the temporary steel cofferdam. The cofferdam will act as a form for the concrete used for the river riser and, at the same time, will help protect workers from strong currents, inland tides and drifting obstructions.
underground. The tunnel, effectively a 4.2-metre (inner diameter) wastewater conveyance pipe, will be built in two sections. With Mississauga, Ont.-based Hatch serving as construction manager, the tunnel and outfall have been contracted to a general partnership of construction giant Pomerleau and Bessac, a French tunnelling company. Bessac, in turn, has procured a five-metre-diameter slurry pressure balance tunnel boring machine (TBM), manufactured in its factory in Saint-Jory, France, with the machine’s front shield built in partnership with Herrenknecht in Germany. The TBM is equipped with a cutter-head, hydraulic propulsion rams and a precast concrete lining erector to protect the machine and workers from the pressure underground. The operator will even work from an air conditioned, soundproof cab. First, crews needed to build a shaft from which to launch the TBM on its underground mission. Teledippers, excavators with 30-metre telescopic arms and clamshell buckets, made initial headway. Then,
Pomerleau-Bessac General Partnership used an FM Gru 2560 TCK tower crane able to lift 10 tonnes up to a radius of 18 metres to remove rocks and sludge from the shaft’s lowest reaches which the excavators couldn’t access.
The TBM arrived in pieces on board nearly two dozen trucks, and crews used a variety of mobile cranes ranging from 50 tons to a 500-ton Liebherr LTM 400-7-1 to begin assembly, tilt and place larger sections inside the shaft, and then complete the assembly down below.
“The biggest parts were five-metrediameter pieces weighing up to 110 tonnes,” said Guillaume Roux, deputy project manager with Bessac.
Crews also used 200-ton and 250-ton crawler cranes in tandem to preassemble TBM shield components while the machine was still on the surface. Down below, the Liebherr LTM 400-7-1 helped with assembly at the outfall shaft and, as work proceeds, will help retrieve the TBM shield at the effluent shaft and reassemble the TBM at the outfall shaft to work on the second section of tunnel.
As tunnelling proceeds, crews are using the tower crane, working within an 18-metre radius to lower precast concrete ring sections weighing eight to nine tonnes to solidify and strengthen the tunnel interior and thus maintain its long-term integrity. The tower crane is also handling six-metrelong, 10-inch diameter pipes the TBM uses to dispatch muck and other slurry waste up to the surface for disposal. Materials are carried from the shaft to the TBM by underground battery locomotives.
This kind of lifting required nearly a year of pre-engineering and had considerable impact on the shaft design itself.
“We had to be very accurate to tilt those pieces (of the TBM),” Roux said. “The machine is worth something like $10 million, so you don’t want to break it.”
Project managers also needed to consider the hoisting capacity of locally available cranes when selecting the TBM because procuring cranes locally is much less costly than shipping them from elsewhere.
“The idea was to have a maximum size and weight of components so that we could manage those lifts with cranes (available) here in BC,” Roux said.
Crews also used the crawlers to assemble a temporary slurry treatment plant for processing the sand and muck the TBM is dredging while building the tunnel.
“It’s kind of like assembling a small fac-
These barges, firmly anchored in the Fraser River to prevent movement, will support work on the outfall at Annacis Island. The moon pool barge moved the whaler structure (ie: template for driving of the cofferdam sheet piles) into place.
tory,” Roux said. “The plant looks like an industrial warehouse and is nearly as complex as the TBM itself.”
Crews used a LinkBelt HSL 218 lattice boom crawler crane to install the slurry plant’s heaviest component, a 27-tonne filter press.
The biggest lifts, however, are 150 metres into the Fraser River, where crews have built a steel cofferdam to contain the work environment and isolate it from strong currents, inland tides, floating objects and other hazards in order to install equipment to dispatch the treated wastewater. All construction within the cofferdam is completed in the wet, with most installations prefabricated and lifted in while divers conduct the lighter work.
Ensuring stability of cranes mid-stream isn’t easy. Currents are so strong that work on the cofferdam was set back several
months in 2020 when a late snow melt substantially increased the river flow, stirring up the sandy bottom and undermining the partially built structure’s integrity. Crews completed the cofferdam installation in February aided by crawler cranes perched atop massive derrick barges anchored firmly to the riverbed. A 300-ton LinkBelt 348 lattice crawler crane operating from one derrick barge placed steel sheet piles for the cofferdam while a second derrick barge with a 150-ton R30 Revolver crane handled logistics as a service crane. Cranes working from barges will also place components for the diffuser. Daniel Hurd, a marine field engineer with Pomerleau, said many lifts are large and heavy, so items such as sheet piles are split into manageable lengths. Manoeuvres to drive sheet piles are particularly tight because loads can extend to 60 metres underwater, maximizing the Link Belt crane’s 240-foot boom capacity.
The river riser, designed to connect the outfall tunnel to the diffuser pipes in the river, stands to be the heaviest lift, at 250 tonnes once it’s encased in concrete and lifted into the cofferdam. Fabricated by Ideal Welders, the riser was placed on a moon pool barge and will be towed to site this summer. The appropriate crane to lower the riser into place will be chosen when the time comes, but local heavy-lift derricks such as the 900-ton-capacity Dynamic Beast, owned and operated by Dynamic, and the 600-ton Arctic Tuk, owned and operated by Amix, could potentially handle such a job, though lower-capacity crawlers working in tandem might also be feasible, Hurd said.
Work on the cofferdam was set back when a late snow melt increased the river’s currents and created scour conditions, forcing crews to remove sheet piles already installed and begin anew.
PORT INFRASTRUCTURE
BY WENDY ZATYLNY, PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN PORT AUTHORITIES
Sustainable, clean, efficient, and reliable, port authorities are well-positioned to help shape Canada’s economic recovery
What a year it has been. Epic. One for the books. And one that tested all of us, individuals and institutions alike. The good news: collectively, we rose to the occasion, in ways that we probably couldn’t have conceived of before all of this started.
Almost a year to the date of writing this piece, the ACPA team went home on a Friday, saying we would see each other on Monday and would figure out next steps. On Sunday afternoon, I emailed them to say that we would be working from home for the foreseeable future. We haven’t really seen each other in person since then. Every
one of you reading this article has had virtually the same experience. The affects have been far-reaching, as almost every piece of our daily lives has been re-engineered.
What was true for people and households also holds true for institutions, as government, commerce, trade, and supply chains had to pivot quickly to adapt to this new reality.
Throughout the pandemic, Canada Port Authorities (CPAs) did just that to continue operations, move cargo, employ people, and support communities in a sustainable, safe and innovative manner, all with remarkably little disruption.
port workers. In Saint John, physical space was donated to an emergency food program to carry out its work. Similar activities took place at every port authority in Canada, as they looked for ways to help their communities weather the storm. This commitment to communities began long before the pandemic, and will continue long after it has ended.
As we begin to emerge from that scary, epic year and start to look to the future, the COVID-19 recovery represents a unique opportunity to catapult Canada into the position of a global leader in green, inclusive, digital, and resilient supply chains. CPAs are well-positioned to facilitate this and help drive Canada’s economic recovery.
From the onset, CPAs adapted quickly by building on their commitment to innovation. The Port of Halifax, for instance, launched its “Fastlane” initiative to help identify and fast track the delivery of critical COVID-19-related cargo such as PPEs. With similar technologies in place at other ports, CPAs successfully continued to do their part to keep food, pharmaceuticals and other everyday necessities flowing to Canadian homes.
First, the recovery will require economic development heft. Ports are powerful generators of wealth for Canada — directly and indirectly — through the tonnage they move, the people they employ and their role connecting Canada to global supply chains. An OECD study has shown that for every additional million tonnes of cargo moved at a port, 300 jobs are created in the port’s hinterland. With a direct economic impact of $36 billion, CPAs maintain more than 200,000 direct and indirect jobs and handle more than $200 billion in goods annually.
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This positive response was thanks, in part, to good planning. CPAs have spent years investing in new technologies and improving operations to develop a national ports network that is fully integrated into an intermodal supply chain that spans every continent and reaches into every
But there is more to port activities in our society than just moving goods. CPAs also responded to the human side of the pandemic, acting quickly to help those most affected in their communities. For example, with the cruise industry on hiatus, the Port of Quebec realigned tasks for some of its employees towards other areas of operation, as well as community involvement during COVID-19. When it offered assistance to local organizations in Québec City, many responded to the call, which led to port employees providing support to a community centre by delivering meals to families living in low-income housing.
In Windsor, the port authority purchased locally-produced face masks for all of its
The recovery will require innovation, and CPAs are innovators. As managers of data as much as they are movers of cargo, Canada’s ports are part of a global logistics movement to apply new technologies such as artificial intelligence and internet of things to move cargo and people in a greener, safer and more efficient manner.
Lastly, the recovery will require a commitment to safety, environmental protection and sustainability, which CPAs prioritize. CPAs seek sustainability and take many steps to reduce emissions and support safe and green infrastructure and operations, all of which are a source of competitive advantage for ports and the country.
Having withstood the pressures of COVID-19, ports have emerged resilient and ready to move forward as true partners and key players in Canada’s economic evolution: innovative, responsive and sustainable. With the support of government and by working together, we can achieve unprecedented heights and improve the lives of all Canadians.
This column originally appeared in the March 2021 Ports Recap Issue of Canadian Sailings Magazine.
Liebherr adds LTR 1040 to its telescopic crawler crane series
Liebherr is following the “wishes of its customers” by adding a lightweight version of its 60-tonne LTR 1060 telescopic crawler crane with the LTR 1040.
The main difference to the LTR 1060 is the significantly reduced ballast. The 1040 weighs 20 tonnes less — 10 tonnes of central ballast have been taken off the chassis while a further 10 tonnes of counterweights have been removed from the slewing platform. As a result, most crane jobs can be carried out without a folding jib, Liebherr said.
Long, powerful telescopic boom
High lifting capabilities are particularly important for assembling prefabricated components, one of the main areas of work for telescopic crawler cranes. For example, the LTR 1040 will hoist up to 8.6 tonnes with a radius of 10 metres throughout its entire 360-degree operating range. When it is fully raised, the lifting capacity of the 30.7-metre extended telescope is 18.8 tonnes and when fully extended, the 40 metre-boom can hoist 10 tonnes.
Using a 16-metre double folding jib, the LTR 1040 can achieve a maximum hoist height of 55 metres and can hoist a weight of 3.1 tonnes in this configuration.
Transport, set up
The LTR 1040 can be transported economically as it weights 43.5 tonnes. That includes the 5.6 tonnes of ballast. The axle loads for transport are less than 10 tonnes for a three-axle tractor unit and a four-axle semi low loader. By removing five tonnes of ballast, the LTR 1040’s weight can be reduced to 38.5 tonnes, which means it has a gross transport weight of less than 60 tonnes. The crawler travel gear is retracted to a width of three metres for transport. The low crane height of 3.15 metres ensures that economical standard semi low loaders can be used.
Assembling prefabricated components
The construction and design mean the LTR 1040 is a good choice for assembling prefabricated components. With a 2.5-metre erection jib and a second hoist unit, it can also carry out work in two-hook mode.
The load absorbed with the erection jib by the low loader is transferred to the second hook on the telescopic boom. This means that prefabricated components can be rotated into the correct position and move to the installation site on the crawler travel gear.
It can hoist up to 17.7 tonnes with four-line reeving of the hook block on the erection jib. The runner on the LTR 1040 can handle loads of up to nine tonnes as it can also use a double reeving constellation.
Safety
Being able to travel with the full load on the hook is a major benefit of crawler cranes. To exploit this feature to the full, Liebherr provides lifting capacity tables for various ground inclines.
The fine gradation of up to 0.3, 0.7, 1.5, 2.5 and 4 degrees ensures perfect lifting capacities even on uneven site terrain types. On constricted sites, the LTR 1040 can also operate with its crawler tracks retracted to a width of three metres. Special lifting capacity tables are provided for this type of operation.
The crane cab itself has been designed to be particularly safe and convenient. The crane operator can access his workplace in any slewing platform setting using folding ladders, a fixed platform on
the crawler track and an extra-wide step on the cab.
The LTR 1040 already meets the highest safety standards of the future, which will come into force when the new EN13000 revision is enacted over the next few years. www.liebherr.com
SC&RA Crane & Rigging Workshop coming to Chicago
Submitted by SC&RA
Conducted annually in September, the Crane & Rigging Workshop represents the industry’s premier crane and rigging event of the year, and brings together hundreds of top managers, safety directors, legal experts, operations personnel and crane operators from many of the industry’s foremost companies.
Covering everything from legal education, consensus standards and regulatory updates to cutting-edge technology and safety practices, workshop sessions also emphasize training, equipment maintenance and current issues affecting the industry. Similar to every SC&RA event, networking opportunities at the workshop are world-class (with nearly a dozen countries represented), and the Exhibit Center, featuring over 90 booths, has sold out each year for nearly two decades.
An additional highlight of the Crane & Rigging Workshop are the committee meetings: Safety Education & Training, Labor and Governing. These gatherings allow attendees to gain an understanding on SC&RA activities in specific industry areas and identifying other association members who are confronting similar issues with whom they can network.
The Leadership Forum – another key component of workshop week – represents a popular and exceedingly impactful initiative through SC&RA. The inclusive program
SC&RA Crane & Rigging Workshop is covering everything from legal education, consensus standards and regulatory updates to cutting-edge technology and safety practices.
is designed to help fast-track the best and brightest young minds to the next levels of professional and association leadership.
Accepted applicants meet throughout the day via group work and networking, and are matched with a mentor in order to learn from various industry veterans about work-
place trends and industry issues. If you’re looking to put faces with names, gain awareness on common/current challenges, share information and network, network, network, then the SC&RA Crane & Rigging Workshop is a must-attend for you and your business.
WHEN: September 14 to 16, 2021 • WHERE: Hyatt Regency Chicago, Chicago, Ill. To
Tuesday, September 14
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. LGH Tour
Transportation and lunch (after tour) provided Come take a tour of North America’s largest inventory of rental hosting, jacking, winching, rigging and other material handling equipment. This tour includes the processes of equipment intake coming back from a project, including stripping out load chain on hoists, cleaning it, to the final details right before delivery to a job site. You will learn how the different equipment is broken down, re-certified, and properly stored, inventoried, and tracked. See demonstrations of equipment being test-loaded.
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Registration/Information Desk
5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. First Timers’ Briefing Is this your first time attending an SC&RA event? This briefing provides you the opportunity to meet with officers, staff and other first-time attendees to network and learn more about how to best leverage the event for business success.
Wednesday, September 15
7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Registration/Information Desk
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast
Sponsored by Allied Insurance Brokers, Inc.; Deep South Crane and Rigging, LLC.; Liebherr; and Transport Products and Service Enterprises, Inc.
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Leadership Forum (By invitation only)
This inclusive program is designed to help fast-track the best and brightest young minds to the next levels of professional and association leadership and connect with other young industry leaders. Accepted applicants will be matched with a hand-picked mentor and spend one-on-one time with various industry veterans discussing workplace trends and industry issues. Apply by visiting: www.scranet.org/leadership.
AGENDA
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Crane & Rigging Group Governing Committee All attendees welcome.
1:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. Welcome
1:15 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Opening Session: Electric Cranes: The “Unplugged Series”
2:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. Breakout Session: 3D Modeling and Animation: Change How Clients Look at Projects
2:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. Breakout Session: Daily Impacts that Affect Your Insurance Costs
3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. Networking Break Sponsored by Liebherr
3:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. Breakout Session: When Your Crane Operator Becomes a Driver
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception Sponsored by Link-Belt Cranes and NationsBuilders Insurance Services, Inc. (NBIS).
Thursday, September 16
7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Breakfast with Champions
Featured winning entries from the 2020 Competition: Barnhart (Under $150K), Oxbo Mega Transport Solutions ($150K-$750K), Barnhart ($750K-$2M), Fagioli SPA (Over $2M).
Breakfast sponsored by Enerpac; H&E Equipment Services; National Interstate Insurance Company; and Rigging Gear Sales, Inc.
7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Registration/Information Desk
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Keynote Session: TBA Sponsored by Emery & Karrigan; National
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Breakout Session: How Social Media Can Ruin Your Company’s Reputation
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Installation and Stowing of Swing-a-Way Jibs
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Exhibit Center (Buffet lunch and refreshments provided) SC&RA brings together 82 of the industry’s top manufacturers, software and training providers, insurance representatives and media all in one place. With no conflicting sessions distractions, the Exhibit Center is the best place to meet with your customers and make new contacts quickly and easily. Lunch sponsored by J&R Engineering Co., Inc.; Lift Systems, Inc.; MATCOM; and National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO). Refreshments sponsored by Tadano America Corporation.
3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. Breakout Session: Evolution of Workplace Safety Training
3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. Breakout Session: Lessons Learned: Building Company Culture Amidst Transitional and Generational Change
4:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Networking Break Sponsored by Liebherr.
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Ask Me About ASME: Experts weigh-in on B30.5 Updates
6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception Sponsored by Kobelco Construction Machinery USA and National Interstate Insurance Company.
Tire prices increase due to COVID-19
By Matt Jones
Several tire manufacturers, including Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear, have increased tire prices in 2021, due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since April 2020, natural rubber prices have almost doubled and carbon black and steel prices have also increased.
Sam Lai, director of marketing and communications for CITEXPO (the China International Tire Expo), noted in a January blog post that rubber production had stalled due to travel restrictions keeping workers from Laos and Myanmar from travelling to Thai rubber plantations.
Lai says nearly all Chinese tire companies had announced price increases that went into effect at the start of the year. Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear all announced price increases of up to eight per cent to go into effect as of April 1. Bridgestone has since announced further eight-per-cent increase on Bridgestone and Firestone OTR and a 14-per-cent average increase in the price of Firestone Tracks to go into effect in June.
“This price adjustment is a necessary step as Bridgestone continues to manage increased business costs, including escalating transportation and raw material costs that are forecast to continue into the second half of the year,” says Laura McCaslin, communications manager with Bridgestone Americas. “This increase is partially related to adjustments required by COVID-19 complexities, but also due to a significant increase in freight costs.”
Bridgestone increased prices on the company’s portfolio of commercial truck tires and Bandag retreading following price increases across the brand last year. In October, increases were an-
nounced for all Firestone truck and bus radial tires, followed by a December announcement of increases for Bridgestone and Firestone passenger and light truck replacement tires.
McCaslin says that Bridgestone is committed to minimizing the impact of increased business costs on their customers.
“We are closely monitoring changes in the market and evaluating the cost of doing business,” says McCaslin. “We will continue looking for new opportunities to engineer efficiency into our business while also investing to protect the value of our brands to unlock new, sustainable growth opportunities with our customers.”
Michelin is increasing prices on select Michelin, BFGoodrich and Uniroyal passenger and light truck tires and Goodyear is increasing prices on Goodyear, Dunlop and Kelly-brand consumer tires including light trucking tires.
Continental Tire has also announced price increases for select Continental and General brand passenger and light truck tires. The details of which specific products’ prices would increase and by how much will be announced in June.
More troubling is the likelihood that further prices will follow this year and in the coming years. Bloomberg reports that, in addition to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, rubber prices are expected to increase in the coming years due to the flooding and rubber tree leaf diseases.
“I suspect in 2021 the price of the tire will increase further while supply may tighten,” wrote Lai. “We all should follow the market more closely and keep in contact with your suppliers so you are prepared for 2021.”
Graham Construction promotes employee vaccinations
Kurt Thurlow, senior health, safety and environment coordinator at Graham Construction wrote that he got the vaccine “to keep myself and my family and my co-workers safe from COVID-19 and to keep the sites open and functioning.”
With COVID-19 vaccines rolling out across Canada and the United States, Graham Construction is doing their part to encourage employees to get a vaccine with their “I Got the Shot” campaign.
“The health and safety of our employees and communities is of utmost importance to Graham,” says Andy Trewick, president and CEO. “We are in this pandemic together. It’s therefore important for all of us to do what we can to come out of it together – safely, healthy and as quickly as possible.”
The campaign has employees submitting post-vaccine selfies and sharing their reasons for getting vaccinated on Graham’s website and sharing the “I Got the Shot” badge and hashtag on social media.
“I got the shot to travel again safely visiting family and friends,” wrote Graham communications advisor Vicky Stey. “I can’t wait to hug my Oma in Germany. This is one shot closer to normalcy.”
An employee named Stewart wrote that he got the shot “to help protect my friends, family, colleagues, neighbours and community. Let’s all do our part to protect each other and get back to the things we enjoy.”
A Fort Saskatchewan-based employee named Adam shared that he was vaccinated “because it will help keep me, my daughters, our unborn baby, and my fiancé healthy.”
The company’s website notes that as the vaccines become more readily available and more age groups become eligible they encourage all Graham employees and workforce partners to participate in the campaign. Graham Construction have significant crane operations, with a fleet of mobile cranes that see use in everything from large infrastructure projects to low rise structures that require mobility in a lack of space. The company also has a versatile fleet of 14 tower cranes used for a wide variety of applications.
A LONG WAY TOGETHER
WHEREVER YOU ARE, BKT IS WITH YOU
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Graham Construction communications advisor Vicky Stey shared her post-vaccine selfie and her reasons for getting the vaccine on the company’s website as part of their “I Got the Shot” campaign.
Steel erectors contribute to community revitalization projects
Submitted by SEAA
Seven steel erection companies have been named as recipients in the annual Project of the Year awards by the Steel Erectors Association of America (SEAA).
One winner was selected in each of four categories based on the dollar amount of the erection contract. In addition, three companies received Honorable Mention. Categories are Class I up to $500,000; Class II $500,000 to $1 million; Class III $1-2.5 million; and Class IV over $2.5 million.
Three of the projects were part of broader redevelopment plans in the local communities where they were built, and five of them house centres for cultural expression — including performing arts, sports, and a museum.
Chosen by an independent panel of judges, the companies received notice of their awards in April 2021 for projects that were topped out in either 2019 or 2020.
“Erectors often work in close collaboration with other teams and trades, and sometimes the customer. Challenges frequently deal with logistics, crane selection and rigging methods, and execution of complicated connection plans,” said Alan Sears, SEAA Awards committee chairman. “We congratulate these companies for excellent delivery of these unique structural steel construction projects.”
2021 Project of the Year Winners
Hodges Erectors Inc., for Turnberry Ocean Club condo entrance, Sunny Isles, Fla.
(Class I for erection contracts up to $500,000)
This oceanfront condominium tower was built to provide a luxury lifestyle for residents, which starts with a grand entrance composed of a free spanning structure. The frame of plate girder and tube steel spans 150 feet from the building façade to a waterfall feature. Because the curved beams are under compression at both ends, the structure was able to be erected without intermediate support columns. One of the main challenges was the number of mobil-
izations required due to sequencing. Hodges Erectors used a tower crane for unloading and erection for about half of the project, but had to bring in a 450-ton mobile crane, properly shored, to set up on a parking garage to complete the job.
FM Steel LLC, for Talking Stick Resort arena renovations, Phoenix, Ariz.
(Class II for $500,000 to $1 million)
This job is part of the $230 million Project 201 PHX Reimagined redevelopment to convert a small, dated arena into a new venue for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury basketball teams. “The 125 tons of steel that we stuffed in between the existing roof structure was designed to hold new visuals for fans,” said Michael Mulsow. This steel structure will hold a new a centre-hung scoreboard that is six times larger than the previous videoboard, and two new LED ribbon boards. This project required multiple mobilizations in order to work around home games. In addition, limited headroom for the crane, meant that some steel was transferred in mid-air from the crane using bull rigging techniques.
United Steel Inc., for Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater, Bridgeport, Conn.
(Class III for $1 million to $2.5 million)
Conversion of a dilapidated ballpark into an amphitheater is part of a larger economic redevelopment plan for the south side of Bridgeport. The joint venture between the City of Bridgeport and Harbor Yard Amphitheater in association with Live Nation
Entertainment will house concerts, graduations, community events and festivals. The hallmark of the building is a 125 ft high tensile roof and unique 107-ft. high pavilion entrance, which is complemented by a 25ft. oculus. This one-of-a-kind structure required extensive planning and coordination utilizing three cranes working in unison on a tight site to install a 135-ft. diameter trussed ring that supports a 60,000-lb. cable-supported centre mast and several cable-supported “flying masts.”
Deem Structural Service for Buddy Holly Hall performing arts centre, Lubbock, Texas
(Class IV for over $2.5 million)
Part of downtown Lubbock’s revitalization efforts, a 220,000-sq.-ft. performing arts centre honours the area’s musical heritage of the 1950s. The first-class music venue features a 13-ton stair, shaped like a funnel cloud to remember the tragic tornado of 1970, and a guitar wall consisting of more than 9,000 pieces of cast aluminum guitar picks depicting Buddy Holly. Complicated sequencing, limited site space, monitoring major truss deflections, and bracing were among the challenges of the job. In addition, connection design was delegated to the steel team. Adding to the complexity of the job was a project-within-a-project — the
erection of the funnel cloud shaped stair, comprised of double-axis HSS tubing, supported only by cantilevered steel at each floor level.
Honorable Mention:
High Plains Steel Services LLC, for Hunters Overlook Bridge, Windsor, Colo. (Class I)
A 168-ft. clear span bridge over a private reservoir for a private residence was purchased from a bridge supplier, but the construction method proposed by the supplier was drastically over budget. High
Plains Steel was brought into the project when the customer realized the initial plan was not feasible. High Plains Steel worked with the customer’s crane supplier to devise an alternative construction method that saved tens of thousands in costs.
CAS Steel Erectors Inc., for International African American Museum, Charleston, S.C. (Class III) South Carolina presents unique construction challenges in that it is a multi-hazard zone subject to hurricanes, earthquakes, and flooding. A 41,760-sq.-ft. elevated structure, which will house a new museum, required numerous moment and seismic welds and use of an unprecedented zero tolerance brick relief system. The complex project was further complicated by an aggressive schedule amid COVID-19, requiring additional health and safety protocols. CAS Steel Erectors built a temporary canopy with cantilevered beams and scaffolding to temporarily shore the cantilevered beams at elevation until moment welds were completed. In all, hundreds of inches of field welding was required for
connections, which included 220 standard moment connections and 110 rigid frame moment welds.
Cooper Steel for Belmont University Performing Arts Center, Nashville, Tenn. (Class IV)
A multi-purpose theatre, designed to house two event spaces, features a dome ceiling and arch entryways. Cooper Steel served as the fabricator and managed the erection on the project, which was performed by fellow SEAA member Sentry Steel Service. In all, 14 trusses were erected. They weighed up to 21.5 tons and measured 91 ft. With minimal laydown area available, the trusses were erected directly off the trailer and delivery times had to be carefully coordinated. To speed up the process, Cooper Steel pre-fabricated large pieces of steel off site. In addition, the dome — consisting of 400 individual pieces with an accuracy tolerance of ½ in. — required specific angles, sizing, and erection sequences.
Michel Riverin
Guay Inc., Chair
Trevor Eckert
Sterling Crane, Vice-Chair
Shannon Moir-Riendeau
Moir Crane Service Ltd., Secretary-Treasurer
Gijs (Gus) Verdeijen
Mammoet Canada, Past Chair (Ex-Officio)
Justin Andrews
Tadano America Corp
Pat Ash
ROC Corporation
Jeremy Asher
Mammoet Canada
Martin Boucher
Altec Industries
Mark Danderfer
Radius Crane & Rigging Inc.
Don Hnatuk
Prairie Crane Inc.
Ryan Long
Irving Equipment Ltd.
Heather MacCallum
NCSG Crane & Heavy Haul Services Ltd.
Tony Niese
Nelson Manufacturing Company
Steve Anema
TNT Crane & Rigging Canada Inc.
Crosby Group offers specialized solutions for wind energy sector
To meet the needs of the wind energy, The Crosby Group manufactures vertical and horizontal lifting clamps and pipe hooks, including minimal-marring camsegments and pivots. The vertical lifting clamps and hook pipes feature a welded steel body to minimize size and simultaneously increase strength and avoid contamination.
“By reducing the height of the teeth in the camsegment and pivot, the pitch between the teeth can be decreased and more teeth can be in contact with the material surface, reducing the depth of the indentations,” explained Kees Gillesse, product marketing manager at The Crosby Group.
Specializing in custom designs for the wind sector, The Crosby Group have delivered a number of special clamps to meet particular needs, with a recent example being the 22.5t capacity special universal vertical clamp.
The clamp, which was designed for a German wind energy manufacturer, included an extra-wide camsegment and three pivots for less surface pressure, to further reduce indentations. A deep jaw, meanwhile, allowed for lifting beveled plates and constructions. Lifting brackets made positioning easy when the lifting clamp was in the horizontal position. Additionally, the universal lifting eye permits lifting from every direction.
All clamps are manufactured at an ISO 9001-certified facility, and all sizes are RFID-equipped.
www.thecrosbygroup.com
Jekko adds to its minipicker range
Jekko’s new MPK06 minipicker is fully electric with a maximum payload of 600 kg. and the option of working either with a glass manipulator or with a hook. The company says the MPK06 is versatile and effective on
projects from glass panes and frames installation or marble handling to the use in pick and carry mode in workshops and industrial maintenance.
“The MPK06 drew the attention of both established and new customers right after the official launch, but we weren’t expecting such a big success in recent months,” said Alberto Franceschini, Jekko sales director.
“The budget for 2021 was set at 160 units and around 80 machines have already been delivered; 20 units both in France and in Germany, and the remaining ones in the other reference markets, like Central and Northern Europe, Northern and Latin America, Middle East.”
www.jekko-cranes.com
• New operator aids with kick-out
• Free swing modes
• Simple interface with large touchscreen
• Wi-Fi enabled to update and service remotely
• Calculate outrigger positioning
• Real-time 360°charts
• Live preview mode
• Incorporated swing arrest
• Anti-skid paint on allowable walking surfaces
• No trip points
• Large walking area
• Guided, sequential, fail-safe fly erection
• Control fly assist and boom hoist cylinder from the ground
• One person operation
• Minimal ladder climbs
• Swing around at 0°
• Pivot-point & boom head speed screws
• Heated back-up, winch and right-side cameras with night vision
• LED working lights
• Outrigger lights
• 20 degree tilting cab
• No helper crane needed to install counterweight
• Transport weight of 95,000 lbs
• 6 Points of Access
• Large grab handles
• Deep, sturdy steps and ladders
• Working platform with guardrails
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