Union turns a worried eye on construction cranes - By Alexandra Berzon, Las Vegas Sun
A group that represents contractors insists crane laws in Nevada are stringent enough and says it’s likely to oppose new ones.
Cranes were involved in three of the 12 construction fatalities on the Strip over just less than 19 months. But none of the accidents rivaled the dramatic crane failures recently in New York City and Miami, or the crane collapse that killed three people in 1994 in Laughlin.
In February 2007, two carpenters were crushed to death at CityCenter by a large aluminum mold for concrete when it was mistakenly unhooked from a crane. Last month, a crane oiler at CityCenter was crushed between the counterweight and the track of a crane.
In addition, two years ago the crane system at the Hoover Dam bridge project collapsed under heavy winds. Two weeks ago, a crane at CityCenter malfunctioned and began swaying, briefly shutting down traffic on the Strip. Nobody was hurt in either instance.