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January 11, 2012

Crane fault caused load to fall on worker

The injuries an HGV driver sustained when he was hit by a falling load of metal tubes have left him paraplegic.

David Collins, 31, suffered severe injuries to his head, back and leg in an incident at Festival Park, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, during the renovation of retail premises.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that, on 7 November 2008, Mr Collins was unloading 21ft-long scaffolding tubes from the back of a truck using a vehicle-mounted crane.

He was standing under the load operating the crane controls, when one of the lifting slings broke free from the crane hook, causing the metal tubes, which weighed almost one and a half tonnes, to fall on him.

The HSE’s investigation into the incident revealed that Mr Collins’s employer, Spectra Scaffolding, had failed to give him proper training to carry out the task. The company further failed to supervise him and plan the work adequately.

The court also heard that a safety catch on the crane hook was faulty, which caused the scaffolding tubes to fall. Although the company had known about the defect for some time prior to the incident, it had failed to replace the catch, while Mr Collins’ lack of training meant that he did not realise its importance.

Commenting on the case, HSE inspector Lindsay Hope said: “Companies that operate lorry-mounted cranes must ensure their operators undertake appropriate, recognised training in all aspects. Operators of lorry-mounted cranes must be competent to use the equipment properly and plan safe lifting in variable site conditions.

“In this instance, the lift wasn’t properly planned, or supervised and Mr Collins hadn’t been sufficiently trained in how to use the crane and slings properly. Furthermore, the equipment had not been properly maintained and should never have been used.”

Appearing in court on 9 January, Spectra Scaffolding, based in Bury, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 8(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, for failing to ensure that the lifting operation was properly planned, supervised and carried out safely.

It also admitted a contravention of regulation 5(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, for failing to ensure that the crane was maintained in an efficient condition. It was fined a total of £40,000 and ordered to pay £45,000 costs.

Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders

In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.

Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.

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Alexhoward_121
Alexhoward_121
13 years ago

Hmm, “standing under the load ” One of the first things that anyone gets told NOT to do in training?? We’re not talking about a three week resedential course to gain the basics here! Basic slinger/signaller (not a rigger!!) courses usually only take a day and familiarisation (not a crane driver) courses for Hi-ab, etc is only about 2-3 days – the costs won’t break the bank either – even for owner drivers!
£85 grand could have paid for all his drivers to become AP’s and still have change!

Bob
Bob
13 years ago

Why a PUWER conviction and not LOLER?

This was a lifting operation?

The HIAB Crane is the clue.

Who is this companies AP? No effort at any sort of safe lifting practice, yet they are nicked under PUWER? Defies belief really.

Bob
Bob
13 years ago

Must be blind? there was a LOLER Conviction for Reg 8(1).

No mention of Reg`s 9(3) and 9(4) though?

D
D
13 years ago

Another serious incident because of a lack of training and once again the person who ordered the employee to operate the plant without giving him training gets off scott free. I wonder if this is one of the “stangleholds of red tape” Cameron wants to free business of!!