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Key Takeaways
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By: Romy Ellenbogen
Source: Tampa Bay Times (TNS)
TALLAHASSEE—After Hurricane Milton’s winds brought part of a crane crashing into an office building in downtown St. Petersburg, new regulations could soon be required for construction managers during storms.
Lawmakers near-unanimously passed a bill last week that requires all hoisting equipment for a construction project be secured no later than 24 hours before a hurricane’s impacts.
Read today’s top news.
The move comes after a Tampa Bay Times investigation last year revealed significant gaps in oversight for heavy equipment like cranes. Florida lawmakers more than a decade ago passed a law that prevented local governments from writing regulations for cranes, including measures regarding “hurricane preparedness or public safety.”
When it came to hurricane crane safety, there were “really no requirements for crane operators to have a plan in place or anything to do with hurricane preparedness,” said Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach.
He and Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, championed SB 180, which also deals more broadly with hurricane relief and emergency preparedness. The bill passed on the final day of the regular legislative session.
The legislation would leave in place the law that stops local governments from setting their own crane regulations. It instead creates new statewide requirements for crane safety.
That includes ensuring that booms on hydraulic cranes are retracted, tower cranes are set in a weathervane position and all power at the base of cranes is disconnected ahead of a storm.
Anyone who intentionally violates the law could be subject to administrative discipline, including having their business license suspended.
Worksites also must have a hurricane preparedness plan for their crane available for inspection.
The bill also requires the Florida Building Commission to put together a report on the best practices for using cranes during hurricane season by the end of 2026.
The section of tower crane that toppled from The Residences at 400 Central in October pulverized a building on First Avenue South that housed the Tampa Bay Times, a law office and other businesses. The building still has a gaping hole.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to sign the bill. Shortly after the crane in St. Petersburg toppled, DeSantis held a news conference near the wreckage where he dismissed the need for additional oversight, saying, “Do we have to regulate everything?”
DiCeglie said it was important to strike a balance with the crane language because some regulation is the responsibility of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
In 2008, a group of contractors sued to challenge a local ordinance in Miami-Dade that regulated cranes, including regulations for hurricane preparedness.
A federal judge sided with the contractors, who argued the ordinance was inappropriate because regulation belonged in OSHA’s hands.
But the court made clear that OSHA doesn’t regulate storm requirements, said Carol Bowen, the chief lobbyist for the Associated Builders and Contractors of Florida, who was involved in the lawsuit.
A few years after that decision, though, state lawmakers passed a bill banning local governments from creating their own safety rules for cranes, including for hurricanes.
Two St. Petersburg Democrats this year tried to remove that preemption language, but their idea got little traction.
Rep. Lindsay Cross, D-St. Petersburg, said she knew removing the local preemption wouldn’t be popular with the construction industry. But she said, “Sometimes you put something out there and use it to start the conversation.”
Cross said she worked with McFarland’s staff on the final bill and said the language was “getting closer to where we need to be.”
The Associated Builders and Contractors of Florida opposed removing the preemption because they want a uniform crane standard throughout the state, Bowen said.
But she said the organization “signed off 100%” on the final crane requirements. She said she thinks it’s a great addition to the law.
David Thompson, St. Petersburg’s director of government affairs, on Friday told city council members that the bill’s language was “a vital first step in making our community safer” and said the city would keep trying to get “stronger language” in the law.
Tampa Bay Times reporter Colleen Wright contributed to this report.
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