Men Make Miraculous Escape as Crane Flips

The dramatic topple of a 35 – tonne truck – mounted telescopic crane in which three construction workers miraculously escaped injury has lead to the prosecution of two firms for serious safety breaches.

Warrington Magistrates’ Court heard that the crane overturned in catastrophic fashion while trying to lift a 5.7 tonne steel beam into place on the site of a new fire control centre at Lingley Mere in Warrington, in February 2007.

One of the outriggers had been set up on muddy ground and as downforce was transferred to it, it began to sink, overbalancing the whole vehicle. The crane driver was forced to leap to safety from his cab, while the beam narrowly missed two waiting steel workers as it fell.

The court heard that the site method statement for lifting beams into place only took account of those cranes situated within the footprint of the building. The statement was not amended as it should have been when it became clear that some lifting would have to be done from a different spot, and no one noticed that the crane would struggle without a hard surface underneath its outriggers.

Investigating HSE inspector Nic Rigby said that “it was sheer luck that no one was killed in the accident and that the planning and supervision of the lifting operation was ‘deficient’. ”

AMEC Group Ltd, the main contractor, and Leach Structural Steelwork Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 3(1) and 2(1) of the HSWA 1974 respectively. Each firm was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9,143.

In mitigation, both companies apologised for the accident.

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