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42 BCBUSINESS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 level and, potentially, increasing the likeli- hood of an accident. But that, too, seems about to change. The City of Vancouver is working with the IUOE and BC Crane Safety on a pilot project that will give crane companies more time and space—and a greater opportunity to work with municipal officials to make sure everything is well planned. "I have to com- mend the City," Carr says. The project has already increased Vancouver's adminis- trative workload "dramatically." But even before the Kelowna event, Carr adds, City officials were working hard on the changes. They've also indicated a willingness to share any lessons from the pilot project with other jurisdictions through the Union of BC Municipalities. A S T E E P C A B R I D E Back in the mast, Coupal and I start climbing again. This particular crane has seven mast sections that are a little over six metres tall and eight sections that are about 5.6 metres, but while the ladders in the longer sections are canted at a comfort- able angle, in the shorter sections, they are straight up and down. It's hard keeping the clown boots from costing me a step. When we reach the "ring gear," the turntable on which the crane pivots, we call to the operator to hold still while we climb through—the better not to get crushed, Coupal says. Then we're out onto the deck of the counter-jib, the back section of the boom that holds the winch engines and the huge concrete counterweights that keep the crane stable when it's hoisting heavy loads. The great thing about the counter-jib is the solid, brushed steel decking and the nice high railings. If you don't look straight over the side—and really, why would you?— it's just like standing on the big balcony at your friend's 20th-floor condo, although this one keeps whirling about like a carni- val ride with a greater sense of purpose. Coupal distracts me with a couple of other crane stories and then leads us over to stand by the operator's cab, where the decking is a see-through steel mesh. Less reassuring. But peering into the cab itself is even more vertiginous: there is nowhere to look but down. On the fun side, the cab is set up like the best-ever video game, with two joy- very differently 80 metres below. If you move too quickly, the load will swing past its intended destination—and then swing back the other way, endangering people and material. And did I mention: 80 metres is a long way down. Looking from the top of the cab, you get the same view as the operator, who stares between his own feet through the glass floor at a worksite in miniature. On the ground, and in his ear, is the "rigger," the other half of the crane team, hooking loads, hustling to their destination, and then guiding and unhooking before ready- ing the next movement. It's a complicated and precise dance— often requiring two riggers when the project area is too large to move around, or when the operator is moving building materials up a tower and needs one per- son on the street and another in the build- ing itself. And even with the best rigger(s), you need great depth perception. Look- ing straight down from that distance, it's incredibly difficult to tell how close a load is to the ground—and easy to imagine how stuff could get broken. Of course, in addition to modern com- munications equipment, new cranes are full of protective sensors and electronics that do things like lock out loads that are too heavy. The Coupal cranes were also the first in Canada to use the latest collision avoidance system, which prevents crane jibs or hook lines from bumping when mul- tiple cranes are working in close proximity. (Coupal had 12 on the Olympic Village site at the time.) Then again, the Coupals have always been innovators. For example, Val was the first person in town to have a phone in his cab—not a cell, but a landline that he wired himself because the technicians from what was then BC Tel wouldn't climb the mast. As the boss of a growing company, he used it to make deals when the work was slow. After we climb, carefully, back down the mast and shed the layers of personal protective equipment, Remi picks up a phone call. It's Val, long retired but going strong. Turns out that he's just bought a big new fridge that doesn't fit through the door of his kitchen. Of course, it'll fit fine through the slider on the back deck; Val just needs a crane to get it there…sending Remi off to his next job—one more Coupal innovation. n C R A N E D A M A G E Year-to-date as of July, WorkSafeBC had done CRANE INSPECTIONS 519 and issued STOP-USE/STOP- WORK ORDERS 230 for health and safety violations, along with 25 The Crown corporation tallied 769 crane inspections in 2020 111 Fatalities in the worst-ever crane accident, a collapse in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in 2015 SOURCES: WORKSAFEBC, CBC NEWS, U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 42 Average annual crane- related deaths in the U.S. from 2011 to 2017 43% Share of those 297 fatalities that were in private construction sticks and foot pedals: to swing the crane on its axis, to move the trolley in and out on the jib, and to raise or lower the hook. You need soft hands for this work—as measured by sensitivity, not calluses. Whether you're moving a load sideways by rotating the jib, or moving it in and out on the trolley, the force applied at the top exhibits itself