News & Resources: Selected Article

This section of our website focuses on the activities of the Forum and also highlights other news that relates to the construction industry.
Your selected article is below.

Crane Collapses Damage Confidence

Date of article:  21/06/2007

 Print Article

Crane safety took another battering this week as a collapse in Croydon joined the recent roll of disasters.

Confidence in tower cranes is at an all-time low and the most potent symbol of construction work i snow widely perceived as a public danger.

Action needs to be taken now to restore faith in the safety of site machinery

But the fact is that the Health and Safety Executive does not have the resources to carry out the extra checks needed on the nation's fleet.

The HSE has been under-resourced for years and is now facing further cuts in its field operations team. Its task now is to secure extra funding or concentrate resources into high profile areas such as crane safety.

The Croydon collapse happened during the erection phase of the machine and it was a miracle none of the workers were killed.

The industry needs to know what went wrong and the HSE must order extra supervision of crane installation work until the causes are known.

Simply stating that an investigation has begun is not enough. The industry needs quick answers, while the general public needs reassuring that tower cranes are not putting them in danger.

< Return to Current News