A construction incident has occurred in London which is yet another in a series of crane accidents. Cranes have become a cause for concern on construction sites across the world because of the large number of accidents that have occurred recently and the number of people that have been injured.
But this is not just a foreign problem, Oz has had its share of crane incidents recently as well, with the one in Sydney’s CBD a few months ago gaining international exposure for its severity and the fact that miraculously nobody was injured.
The recent accident in East London occurred when the job of a tower crane collapsed onto a partially built residential project. The crane incident was very costly because the expensive residential scheme suffered damage which would set the builders work back quite a bit. Thankfully there were no injuries because it could have easily resulted in a fatality.
Read what happened below from a post on www.craneaccidents.com:
The load that was being carried by the crane at the time of the incident fell, still attached to the crane, into the canal adjacent to the site.
An eyewitness told Building that he heard a loud bang, followed by workers leaving the site. “They [the workers] said the crane had fallen down so it is very lucky no one was injured,” he added.
The Health and Safety Executive said it was aware of the incident and was making inquiries.
The Paul Davis and Partners-designed scheme at 21 Wapping Lane comprises five buildings, including an 18 storey tower, with 385 residential units, together with retail, leisure and community uses.
According to construction information provider Barbour ABI the project is worth £173m.
http://www.craneaccidents.com/2013/03/report/tower-crane-jib-collapses/
It is important that when conducting crane operations certain considerations are taken into account.
- Sufficient clearance and safe distances between the crane and scaffolding or overhead electric wires
- it is important to ensure that the raise speed is sufficiently moderate so that contact with structures can be avoided and the dogger has a clear view of both the load and the hook when lifting or lowering the crane hook or load
- Directions to a crane operator should only ever be given by a licensed dogger, and the assessment should consider the need for a crane coordinator.
- A system of reliable communication is required between the crane operator and the doggers who are essentially the eyes and ears of the crane operator
Another issue that should never be neglected is that of training. Workers need to undergo white card training as well as site specific training in addition to the specialised training required for dangerous tasks such as crane operation.