Volume 9 Issue 3
MAY/JUNE 2018 $5.00
INFRASTRUCTURE
EVENT REPORT
It takes a Beast to build a bridge in Victoria
Tower Crane Industry Safety Conference comes to Richmond
WorkSafeBC hosts over 150 crane professionals
$105-million bridge replacement project requires serious lifting power B Y S AU L C H E R N O S
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hen the crane used to erect the new Johnson Street Bridge in Victoria crossed the Strait of Georgia from its home base in Vancouver, it didn’t take the ferry. “It could lift the ferry,” Jonathan Huggett, project director with the City of Victoria, said with a laugh when Crane & Hoist Canada asked, tongue-in-cheek, if the Dynamic Beast, a leviathan in the world of barge-mounted cranes, hitched a ride. All kidding aside, the $105-million project is serious business. The original bridge, which dates back to 1924, was rusting badly and didn’t meet modern earthquake standards spelled out in recent revisions to Canada’s National Building Code. “Victoria is now seen as having a higher risk than Vancouver because the San Juan Fault is right off the coast,” Huggett explained. “A lot of people in the community said the existing bridge should have been rehabilitated, but it would not have been seismically stable.” continued on page 8
The conference marked the first of its kind by WorkSafeBC in 12 years. Photos by Andrew Snook
BY ANDREW SNOOK
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The original bridge, which dates back to 1924, was rusting badly and didn’t meet modern earthquake standards. Photo courtesy of City of Victoria
CRAC NEWS
CRAC celebrating milestone in Winnipeg T
BY ANDREW SNOOK
Association turns 20 this year
At the 2017 CRAC conference, former chair Sheldon Baker tries out ITI’s virtual reality simulator. Photo by Matt Jones
he Crane Rental Association of Canada is celebrating its 20th anniversary at The Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg from June 6 to 9, 2018. The milestone conference and annual general meeting will feature the first-ever CRAC Safety Awards; the Boom Dolly Research Committee Report; a presentation on the future of EN13000; a review of the latest update of the CSA Z150; and the latest developments at Manitex. There will also be several keynote speakers including bestselling author, insurance expert and financial adviser Jane Blaufus; and, Dr. Grant Cool, chief operating officer of Hybrid Enterprises, who will present on the Lockheed Martin Hybrid Airship. The conference will also feature a tour and presentations on the construction of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights; the CRAC’s annual golf tournament; and a guided tour of the City of Winnipeg.
continued on page 10
or the first time in more than a decade, tower crane professionals across British Columbia came together for the Tower Crane Industry Safety Conference, hosted by WorkSafeBC at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel in Richmond, B.C. this past March. Jaret Swanson, manager of WorkSafeBC, kicked off the conference by welcoming more than 150 crane professionals that travelled to Richmond to attend a variety of sessions related to tower crane safety. Dan Strand, director at WorkSafeBC, then offered his welcome remarks and discussed the importance of industry coming together for events like this one. “It’s been 12 years since we’ve held a conference like this,” he said, adding that much has changed in the tower crane industry since the last conference. “But what hasn’t changed is a need to keep people safe.” Strand told the crowd that everyone involved in the industry need to work together to address tower crane safety issues to find solutions that ensure that everyone goes home safely. He added that, on average, every month in B.C. there’s a near miss reported or an actual incident. “We’ve had 12 serious incidents in the past 12 months,” he told the crowd. “Behind these statistics are people, people that are at risk.”
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