“Lax enforcement of safety regulations leads to spate of tower crane accidents”, 2 June 2020

China has seen a spate of tower crane accidents at construction sites… as work on building and infrastructure projects resumes after the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown.

China Labour Bulletin’s Work Accident Map recorded at least eight accidents in the 11 days between 14 May and 24 May… It appears that there were several fatalities as a result of these accidents, but the exact injury and death toll is unclear…

Tower crane accidents in China are routinely blamed on operator error or cranes lifting building materials in excess of the crane’s load capacity. However, there is a more fundamental, systemic problem in the construction industry that has undeniably contributed to the recent flood of accidents.

In the 2000s, crane operators were generally skilled workers attached to state-owned construction companies who worked in regular shifts. During the infrastructure boom that followed the 2008 global economic crisis, however, there was an explosion in the number of private crane leasing companies that often hired rural migrant workers without proper training as crane operators…

Problems have been compounded by the retirement of older, experienced crane operators and an influx of younger, inexperienced operators who only receive a minimal salary and therefore have to work excessively long hours just to earn a decent wage. It is quite common for a crane to be operated by a single worker all day—rather than by several workers taking short shifts—leading to a higher risk of accidents through fatigue.

The low pay and hazardous working conditions were highlighted two years ago by the dozens of strikes and protests organized by tower crane operators around Labour Day 2018…

There are very clear and detailed government regulations related to the safe operation of tower cranes and all operators are supposed to hold a government-issued special operation certificate before they can be employed.

In reality, enforcement of these standards has been very lax and little has been done to safeguard the interests of crane operators. In fact, increased competition among crane leasing companies has led to further cost cutting and a lack of essential maintenance, resulting in structural cracks in the cranes, loose bolts and joint failures…