The Crane and Mobile Equipment team was established in 2008 with a primary focus on safe tower crane assembly and disassembly, operation, inspection, maintenance, and use. The team’s secondary focus includes detailed inspections of the following construction equipment:

• Mobile cranes
• Boom trucks
• Concrete pump trucks
• Foundation and pile driving equipment
• Elevating work platforms
• Rigging and below the hook lifting devices
  
   

Our goals

• Identify and eliminate unsafe work practices and equipment hazards that have the potential to cause death, serious injury and/or catastrophic equipment failure
• Collaborate with industry stakeholders to enhance the understanding of identified risks, and assist them in the development and distribution of tools and resources that support employers in addressing specific hazards related to cranes and mobile equipment at their worksites

Our focus

2024 inspectional approach

Prevention officers will conduct timely, risk-based inspections to ensure workers, supervisors, and employers are effectively managing risks across all stages of crane and mobile equipment use. The inspections will focus on:

• Machine assembly, disassembly, repositioning, and climbing
• Operator qualification, competency, and familiarity with the machine's operating instructions
• Machine inspection, maintenance, and modification(s)
• Contacts with electrical equipment, structures, or other cranes

Inspections will include a review of the employer’s safety management system to ensure all potential crane or mobile equipment hazards have been identified, evaluated, and mitigated, and following an acceptable hierarchy of controls (elimination, substitution, engineering, administrative, and personal protective equipment).

Officers will engage with workers, supervisors, and employers to confirm potential risks and appropriate hazard controls are effectively communicated and implemented at new and young worker orientations, task specific training, pre-job meetings, joint health and safety committee meetings, and workplace inspections.

What you can do

Our cranes and mobile equipment pages provide resources and information on how to understand and address some of the health and safety issues to focus on in your industry.