SCHUMER CRITICIZES FED ON CRANE SAFETY

sen. charles schumer has asked the federal occupational safety and health administration to hold off on moving forward with a proposal that would give the agency, rather than municipalities, the power to approve stop-work orders for unsafe cranes. for new york city, that means taking that power away from the department of buildings, whose rules are often stricter than other government regulation. schumer, in a statement, said the proposal crafted originally by the bush administration, would "effectively gut the stringent local oversight and regulation." in the past year, the city suffered two fatal crane accidents that took the lives of nine people. "we look forward to working with the new administration to revise these rules to ensure we don't turn back the clock on crane and construction safety in new york city," schumer said.