Many crane operators know that working in an urban environment brings its own set of challenges and hazards. One of those challenges is working the crane over an occupied building. 

The key risk in any job is whether there is an element of serious harm of death to persons and if there is, then the Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 need to be followed.

Under the Regulations, a PCBU has a duty to identify hazards that could give rise to reasonably foreseeable risks to health and safety.  

If a PCBU cannot eliminate risks to health and safety in accordance with section 30(1)(a) of the HSWA, then Regulation 6, the Hierarchy of Control Measures, must apply.

This means that one or more of the following actions that is most appropriate and effective taking into account the nature of the risk must be taken:

•  Substituting (wholly or partly) the hazard giving rise to the risk with something that gives rise to a lesser risk;
• isolating the hazard giving rise to the risk to prevent any person coming into contact with it; or
• implementing engineering controls.

The Crane Safety Manual (Section 2 pg 12) states " Keep out of the danger zone which includes the:

•  path of the crane components,
• path of the load
• area beneath the suspended load".

It also states "Never stand under the suspended load".
A crane operating over an occupied building that is a workplace must consider the above as well as abide by the HSWA Regulations.

​Does a crane operating over an occupied building give rise to reasonably foreseeable risk to health and safety?

I would argue that it does based on the following potential scenarios:

• Load separates from rigging,
• Crane boom drops uncontrolled, or
• Crane collapses on building.

These are foreseeable events and although unlikely to happen must be taken into account in the risk assessment.
The questions then are:

• Can you substitute the risk? Answer would probably be no.
• Can you isolate the risk? Answer would be yes. Empty the building or sections of the building to isolate the risk,  or work when there is no-one around (after hours).
• Can you implement engineering controls ?  Answer would probably be no as there would still be a risk if people are occupying the building under the load.

It is the duty of the PCBU to ensure that the risk and hazards are identified and the appropriate steps are taken. 

​If you have any comments on this It would be great to get some feedback
  

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