SC&RA publishes Guide to Tower Crane Procedures

Back during SC&RA’s 2023 Annual Conference in Carlsbad, California, the Association’s Tower Crane Committee polled its audience in real time on a number of topics it was thinking to tackle – in order to gauge both member interest and value.

When the results of the poll were tallied, the audience had chosen Assembly/Disassembly & Climbing Procedures as the topic it most wanted to see addressed by the Committee.

SC&RA’s recently published “Guide to Tower Crane Procedures” provides best practices to successfully plan, communicate, mitigate risk and identify roles and responsibilities that align with the manufacturer’s recommendations for tower crane assembly, reconfiguration, climbing, tiebacks, foundation design and disassembly procedures.

The Committee discussed the results, and from there, a task force was formed, including 15 members from all areas of tower cranes – manufacturers, end-users, general contractors and engineers. The task force was eventually broken into three workgroups – Pre-Planning, Climbing and Assembly/Disassembly/Reconfiguration – in order to produce the broadest range of perspective, insight and expertise.

JR Moran, of Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC, chaired the task force, which ultimately produced SC&RA’s recently published “Guide to Tower Crane Procedures” – a document expressly intended to provide best practices to successfully plan, communicate, mitigate risk and identify roles and responsibilities that align with the manufacturer’s recommendations for tower crane assembly, reconfiguration, climbing, tiebacks, foundation design and disassembly procedures.

“To dial in the details, we met in person as a task force at SC&RA headquarters in June (2023) and mapped out what the document and outline would include,” he explained. “We then divided the group into subcommittees within the task force and tackled each module from a smaller group perspective. Ultimately, we pieced it all back together as a group, and this document was born.”

Moran refers to the Guide as all-inclusive, “… from pre-construction planning to job completion,” he added. “As for how you communicate the ins and outs of a project, and the things that you could encounter in a project, this guide covers everything from a bullet-point perspective that an end-user, a crane provider, a crane manufacturer needs to cover – in terms of what we suggest.”

JR Moran, Brasfield & Gorrie

Moran also recognized that the task force closely examined what those communication steps should be, based on a collective agreement that most of the universal challenges within the crane industry could be greatly diminished through proper communication, planning and defining of roles. “We’ve even included guidance on what to consider from a local authority/jurisdiction standpoint, connected to, say, lane closures, for example, or permitting, in the broader perspective. It’s a full-service document in that regard.”

Filling the gaps

“The Committee felt there was a vast gap in many of the critical areas in the tower crane process,” said Tower Crane Committee Chair Peter Juhren, with Morrow Equipment Company. “But we also felt it would be of ultimate benefit to the industry, and many of the tower crane rental companies and contractors who own their cranes, to have a best-practices guide – something that could effectively fill those gaps.”

Splitting the task force into three distinct groups ensured the attention to each section would meet the needs of the intended users of the guide, acknowledged Juhren. “It also made sure the guide was not written in one dimension, and focused each chapter in a simple, easy-to-understand way.”

Peter Juhren, Morrow Equipment Company

Heading up the Pre-Planning workgroup was Dan Durrett, with Maxim Crane Works. Part of his focus was to make sure the Guide provided a complete outline for new and/or periodic users of tower cranes. “We tried to walk through a timeline of a tower crane project from initial conception through assembly of the crane onsite, while also considering what-ifs along the way,” he pointed out. “We were also determined to make sure it aligned with other industry standards such as the ASME B30.3 and OSHA regulations. It became apparent early on that each member of the task force was passionate about providing input for how to make the tower crane industry safer and the planning and installation process more complete.”

Now that the Guide is out in the world, noted Durrett, his first hope is that infrequent tower crane users get as much as they can out of it. “Using equipment you are unfamiliar with can lead to missed steps along the way,” he emphasized. “Providing this guide is hopefully a significant improvement to the planning and use of tower cranes for those infrequent users. But even for users of all sizes and capabilities, the benefits of this guide will be felt across the industry, and used as both a reference and a training guide for companies as well as their customers.”

Dan Durrett, Maxim Crane Works

Mike Heacock, with Morrow Equipment Company, agreed. He led the Assembly/Disassembly/Reconfiguration workgroup, and understood early on that the value of the Guide was two-fold. “First, the tower crane community and knowledge base in North America is quite small,” he said. “As the popularity of tower cranes grows, new companies are entering the industry – and while they may have vast knowledge of mobile cranes and rigging, they may not be familiar with the nuances of the tower crane industry.”

Heacock is confident that the Guide provides these new players with the best practices and necessary steps they need to follow when erecting, dismantling and climbing tower cranes. “Additionally,” he said, “many of the users of tower cranes are construction companies. While they are extremely proficient at building structures, they are generally not tower crane experts. This document will help them plan their projects and work, along with guiding them to understand what (and why) their rental suppliers are doing – or should be doing.”

Within his workgroup, Heacock recognized a need to make the document as user-friendly as possible. “The procedures that many of the task force members already have in place for their own products can be highly developed and detailed,” he indicated. “So, much of our work was sifting through these procedures and rewriting them to make them non-specific to any brand. We also added additional best practices that were not included, and tried to eliminate a lot of industry jargon to make the final document very easy to understand for individuals who are not overly experienced with tower cranes.”

Collective knowledge

David Brown, Co-Director of Journeyperson and Apprenticeship Training for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14-14B in New York City, headed up the Climbing workgroup, and understands why the task force was able to distill a wealth of complicated knowledge into relatable information.

David Brown, Co-Director of Journeyperson and Apprenticeship Training for the IUOE, Local 14-14B in New York City

“Through bi-monthly Zoom meetings, we fostered an environment conducive to sharing experiences and delving into crucial aspects of the climbing process,” he confirmed. “Discussions spanned logistics, mechanical considerations, weather constraints and, above all, safety procedures. Collaborating with fellow professionals from the tower crane industry was immensely gratifying, as we endeavored to infuse the guide with real-world insights and practices honed over our respective careers.”

Overall, he stressed, the pedigree of the group is what ultimately legitimizes the Guide. “This group, made up of engineers, manufacturers, rental companies, contractors and me, as the representative for crane operators, recognized that while existing OSHA standards, ASME standards and manufacturer procedures provided valuable guidelines, there was a need for a single, comprehensive resource encompassing all facets of tower crane operations, including erection, climbing and dismantling. Therefore, we decided to create one. And at the end of the day, I believe this document does exactly that.” — SC&RA’s “Guide to Tower Crane Procedures” is available to members through the Members-Only Resources section at www.scranet.org.