Toronto L-Tower | 204.82m | 58s | Cityzen | Daniel Libeskind

greenleaf said:
It appears expressing safety concerns have cost skyjacked some work too: https://twitter.com/1236/status/663582374375137280

That crane has been there so long I'm now imagining it as being part of the architecture, something permanent. hah.
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I think it did cost skyjacked his job. It sounded like he had no choice....either keep quiet and someone possibly get injured or speak up. He ever so briefly posted pics on his twitter page of the crane assembly and from what I saw it looked like a pretty lame retrofit. It is unfortunate he paid the price for this, however in the end the existing crane is being replaced with an appropriate one.
 
Beautiful sky last night.

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I wish the rest of the tapered crown of the TD Canada Trust Tower would be lit. The new lighting at the very top looks awkward and incomplete. Why not highlight all the interesting geometry below it as well? Take the Chrysler Building's lighting for example. A similarly extensive lighting scheme would look so much better and give the building a much greater presence and majestic sense of strength.

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Up&Away said:
I think it did cost skyjacked his job. It sounded like he had no choice....either keep quiet and someone possibly get injured or speak up. He ever so briefly posted pics on his twitter page of the crane assembly and from what I saw it looked like a pretty lame retrofit. It is unfortunate he paid the price for this, however in the end the existing crane is being replaced with an appropriate one.
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My brother-in-law is a crane operator and he says safety issues plague the industry. Things tend to be better with the larger builders but the smaller guys are terrible at enforcing safety measures. He's pretty sure someone will get killed on a site he's working on at some point in the future. No amount of complaining seems to change things, because the pressure is on to finish every job as quickly as possible. It doesn't help that apparently some of the younger guys on site are constantly stoned. He also mentioned that the rumour is that the L-tower crane is still there because they are replacing faulty glass. Can't say if this is true or not.
 
Who do you think?

It's a messed up situation. At the same time, there's not enough info to conclude who's at fault or putting lives at risk. The crane operator identified a problem and reported it.He felt his concerns were being brushed aside. However, from there it's unclear whether his concerns were actually ignored or he acted impatiently as the situation was investigated. One thing for sure, the derrick wasn't used.
 
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From the Star article:

“Throughout construction, we have worked closely with the Ministry of Labour at our L Tower site and have complied with all orders in an expeditious and proactive manner,” the statement reads. “We will continue to cooperate with the Ministry and comply with all safety requirements.

“The temporary derrick currently at the L Tower site has never been mobilized and is not, and never has been, in operation.”
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That's laughable - as if anyone would put the derrick up without the intent of using it. The latter quote is almost Rob Fordian. In any case, I wonder how much this whole episode is costing everyone involved - and whether anyone can walk away with a profit at the end of this.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
From the Star article:



That's laughable - as if anyone would put the derrick up without the intent of using it. The latter quote is almost Rob Fordian. In any case, I wonder how much this whole episode is costing everyone involved - and whether anyone can walk away with a profit at the end of this.

AoD
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Point well taken, but to be fair I don't think the excerpt says that the derrick wasn't intended to be used. Just that it in fact wasn't used. So I don't think it's as Fordian as you're suggesting.

Either way, they're far from off the hook. I think the damning contradiction can be found in the following two excerpts:

“Throughout construction, we have worked closely with the Ministry of Labour at our L Tower site and have complied with all orders in an expeditious and proactive manner,” the statement reads.
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The deadline for the engineering reports [requested by the Ministry of Labour] was the end of July. They were never provided. Instead, the ministry said it was informed that alternative methods and equipment were going to be explored.
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Here's my conjecture: they were playing fast-and-loose with safety regulations when erecting the derrick. The crane operator voiced his concerns and requested the engineering documents to ascertain whether the derrick was safe, they rebuffed him, and were then reported on it and shut down. Once the Ministry requested those same documents, the company had to change course because they knew the documents would prove that the derrick is in fact unsafe.

They then propose an alternate way of proceeding that satisfies the Ministry without compromising themselves, and call this 'being proactive'.

That's probably too sophisticated to be Fordian, but it's definitely quasi-Orwellian.
 
That's pretty disgusting - I hope the home owners don't somehow get burdened with the extra costs (aside from extra the rent they will have to pay) of this whole derrick fiasco. It's a shame that such a nice building has been so poorly overseen.
 
Reading some of the comments in that article...place sounds like a mess to live in. Pre-con truly is a nightmare more times than not.
 
They're not lifting a relatively light HVAC unit up to the roof. They're lifting extremely heavy equipment that has to be able to hold the Building Maintenance stage up and over every side of the building, and then retract inside of its resting space. A helicopter has already been ruled out.

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