Do you need a Notice of Project to erect a tower crane in BC?

Yes — erecting a tower crane is one of the triggers for filing a Notice of Project with WorkSafeBC, and it is filed before the work begins, not on the day.

What is the wind limit for erecting a tower crane?

The wind limit for erecting, climbing and dismantling is lower than the limit the crane works to in service. The exact figure comes from the manual for that model and must be checked against the forecast before the lift.

Does a tower crane foundation need an engineer?

Yes. The foundation assembly must be inspected before the concrete pour by a professional engineer, or by a qualified person the engineer designates, and the inspection must be documented in writing.

Home › Guides › Notice of Project

Notice of Project for a tower crane in BC

Putting a tower crane up is not a job you start and sort the paperwork out afterwards. Here is what has to exist before the first section leaves the yard.

The Notice of Project

A Notice of Project is submitted to WorkSafeBC before certain work begins. Erecting a tower crane is one of the triggers, and it is filed in advance rather than on the day. Keep the NOP number — a general contractor or an officer will ask for it, and "we filed one" is not an answer.

What sits alongside it

The engineered foundation certificate. The foundation has to be inspected before the pour by a professional engineer or their designate, and that inspection has to be in writing. This one holds jobs up more than any other.
A signed erection plan for that crane on that site, not a generic one.
The pre-job meeting, held with everybody who will be on site for the lift, and minuted with who attended.
The trucking and delivery plan, and the exclusion zone around the lift.
The mobile crane doing the erecting, with its own paperwork current.
Power lines — checked, with the clearances confirmed before anything is lifted.
The forecast. The wind limit for erecting is far lower than the wind limit for working, and it is the number people get wrong. Our machines lift at a lower limit when being erected, climbed or dismantled than when they are in service.

Subcontracting the lift does not move any of this. If you hire a crew to erect your crane, their method and their people are theirs — but the condition of the machine, its records, and the two checks that fall due after they drive away remain yours.

What a general contractor will ask you for

In roughly this order: the crane's current annual inspection, the operational test, the foundation certificate, the NOP number, the erection plan, and proof of insurance. If you can send those from a phone the same day, you look like a different company from the one who says they will dig it out.

Related guides

Tower crane wind limits — working, erecting and out of service are three different numbers.
Tower crane records you have to keep — what to hold per machine, and what a contractor asks for first.
All of our tower crane guides — inspection, maintenance and paperwork in British Columbia.

We run 265 of these requirements on our own cranes

Every machine comes with its inspection and service record kept against it, and we send the certificates the day you ask. If you need a crane, or a hand with the paperwork on one you already have, get in touch.

Talk to us