Did One of the Crane Companies in the 2019 Accident Get a Law in Their Favor?

I’ve been vocal about how Washington State is quietly corrupt. I ran across an example yesterday that just seems overt. One of the companies in the 2019 tower crane accident is a distributor for a manufacturer. This is a rare thing. Let’s say there are 10 tower crane manufacturers in the world. I don’t know of any suppliers that are the “manufacturer representatives” in the US besides one. One that was at least present, and arguably participatory in the lead up to the collapse. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know the extent of their responsibility or participation. The public records show fines, and I’m sure the settlements were notable.

One of the new rules is:

(c) Requirements that the prime contractor of the construction project ensure that a qualified technical representative of the distributor or manufacturer who is knowledgeable of assembly, disassembly, and reconfiguration procedures will be present during assembly, disassembly, and reconfiguration of a tower crane to assure that such procedures are performed in accordance with manufacturer operation instructions and guidelines;

RCW 49.17.440

What this means is one company in Washington State can meet this standard without hiring someone new every time a crane goes up, is dismantled, or climbed up or down. Everyone else would have to fly someone in to meet this standard. It’s a competitive edge for the one company versus all others.

After the accident and investigation, Washington’s lead investigator went to work for one of the companies involved in the accident too. And now they have a law that favors them over anyone else. I thought that the public should be aware of how that all played out. This has been consistently my experience of Washington State.