The Council of Engineers wants it made mandatory for permission to be sought before erecting a crane at construction sites.
The call comes in the wake of a construction site accident on Rama III Road in Bangkok in which five workers were killed last Wednesday.
At present, there is not even a requirement for an engineer to be permanently present on a building site, which opens the door to negligence suits, secretary-general Amorn Pimanmas said on Tuesday.
Cranes are a common sight at high-rise building sites in Bangkok and elsewhere. Over the years there have been many crane collapses that have caused extensive damage, injuries and loss of life.
The council investigates crane collapses, determines the causes and works out ways to prevent a recurrence.
Last year, five cranes collapsed nationwide.
Two have already occurred this year, one in Nakhon Ratchasima and the latest incident on Rama III Road.
Investigators say 80-90% of the time collapses are caused by faulty installation or misuse of equipment, Mr Amorn said. Usually there are no engineers supervising their installation, he added.
In many cases, collapses were also caused by overloading and use of substandard slings, he said.
There is no law dealing with the installation of cranes, he said, which means no officials are ever sent to inspect cranes on construction sites.
The council wants regulations incorporated into the 1992 Building Control Act that requires contractors and subcontractors to seek official permission from authorities before erecting a crane on a site.
The council will forward the proposal to the Public Works and Town & Country Planning Department of the Interior Ministry, and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the secretary-general said.
