I, too have some experience with heavy construction in NYC. My experience is in geotechnical construction, not building high rise structure, but we still used heavy lift equipment regularly.
I’m no fan of unions, or working in NYC by any means, but NYC does have the best union trained operators of any I have worked with, and the inspection of cranes is also unparalleled.
There is some other factor, I do not know what is it, but operator training and inspection are not, IMO, the cause. Operator error, failure of operator or supervisors to follow procedures, unexpected wind loading, load charts that are not conservative enough, improper anchorage, etc. are all possible contributors.
It’s a bad scene, they have had far too many accidents, and high profile ones at that, and something has to change, but pinpointing that factor or combination of factors is obviously very difficult, or we would have the problem solved.
I’ve seen a trend in the last 8 years.
More and more outsourcing.
Less and less regard for safety at the tradesman level.
More and more on the job training of personnel without any industry knowledge by apprentice to journeyman level skill level ‘experts’, then changing jobs, believing they can do everything and anything.
No respect for the professions or experience.
Liars get ahead and are given more authority.
More and more accidents without consequence or reporting.
I’m now observing superintendents and foremen balk at safety training because their personnel don’t want to take it.
I’m now witnessing middle level management watching a lonesome high voltage linemen enter substations and switch circuits without any other personnel within 10 minutes of the site, without communications, safety gear, arc flash training, at night, without accurate single line drawings of the system. (NUTS!)
Nobody is holding them accountable because nobody has the skill sets or have built the systems from the bottom up, recognizing the actual risks.
When nobody gets killed, it’s now used as informal justification for the untried procedures to become SOP.
IMHO, budget pressure is the primary cause.
I can hear supervisors saying things like, “It’s not that bad, we’re within limits most of the time. If we don’t do the lift today, it’s going to cost $xxx.”
I’ll never forget when the crane collapsed at Miller Park in Milwaukee. The day was unbelievably windy but they did the lift anyway. I had stopped at a farmers market at lunch and the vendors tents were being dragged off in the wind. I couldn’t imagine they would do a 450 ton lift in those conditions, but they did. ...and three people paid with their lives.
I don’t know why they were moving a crane like that on a week day. Typically things like that are done on a Saturday or Sunday when there isn’t so much vehicle and pedestrian traffic.