News Cranes Safety & Risk Management
New tower crane regulations take effect in B.C.

VICTORIA – New regulations within British Columbia’s Occupational Health and Safety Regulation will now require employers to submit a Notice of Project (NOP) for tower crane erection, climbing, repositioning and dismantling as of October 1.

While WorkSafeBC already requires NOPs for a variety of applications, this regulation is new for tower crane activities. These new regulations will require that every employer responsible for any on-site tower crane activities to acquire a written NOP at least two weeks in advance of any crane usage.

These changes follow meetings from March and July of this year that gathered 130 stakeholders from across B.C.’s heavy lifting sector to address provincewide gaps in safety in response to several recent crane-related incidents in the Lower Mainland. These meetings featured labour representatives, tower crane operators, employers, prime contractors, rental companies and members of the B.C. Association for Crane Safety.

In addition to the NOP requirements, these meetings also helped inform a new crane and rigging risk reduction strategy for the province from WorkSafeBC.