Halifax construction crane deemed unsafe, dismantled

A Halifax construction crane that prompted evacuations this month is being dismantled.

A construction crane which caused the shut down of a Halifax street and some evacuations earlier this month is being dismantled.

The tower crane located at 3640 Dutch Village Road was in the midst of constructing a mixed-use development called ‘The Port West’, a housing project by Halifax based real estate and construction company United Gulf.

Although the crane was stabilized and residents were allowed to return home earlier this month, the province’s department of labour decided the crane needed to be taken down for a full safety inspection.

It took crews a day and a half to remove the crane, which forced vehicle and pedestrian traffic to be re-routed around Dutch Village Road, between Joseph Howe Drive and Alma Crescent.

Nova Scotia’s Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration has been closely monitoring tower crane operations through a series of focused inspections across the province.

“I can assure you that my team has been out inspecting, you know, crane sites very frequently. In fact, we’ve inspected 240 cranes over the last couple of years and 160 tower cranes,” said Scott Nauss, the province’s senior executive director of labour safety.

“Compliance is actually quite high,” said Nauss. “But in instances where we do find noncompliance, we address it immediately.”

Investigators continue to gather evidence to figure out exactly what happened.

Given the high level of construction and number of tower cranes in-use at the time, the province says they will continue this level of oversight moving forward.

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