The business of crane safety: From skyscrapers to zoos to toilet paper

When the Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted in 1971, Charlie ‘Doc’ Collier was working as a safety engineer and bridge builder. As time went on he noticed people in the industry were having a hard time interpreting and applying the new regulations, his son Bo recalls. 

So Doc went the entrepreneurial route: he founded a company, Crane Tech, that helps tower crane operators, mobile crane operators, forklift drivers, bucket truck drivers and many others understand workforce safety. The company’s website touts, “Doc was a people person and a driven man who believed in his vision; that all men and women can put in a good day's work and return safely to their family at the end of each day.” He ran the company until he passed away in 1990, when Bo, who joined the crew in 1978, took over day to day operations of the Brandon-based firm as president.