HSE reports on Liverpool tower crane collapse

The UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reported on the 2007 Liverpool tower crane accident and written to crane rental and supply companies in Great Britain about it.

HSE asked them to take forward certain actions that arose from the HSE investigation into the collapse of a luffing jib tower crane in Liverpool. On 16 July HSE issued a report on the January 2007 tower crane collapse that killed one person and injured another. Report on technical aspects of HSE's investigation into the collapse of a luffing tower crane at a Liverpool construction site on 15^th January 2007 sets out what HSE said was the most likely explanation for the collapse.

The report goes on to outline what action is required. The first of nine action items was that, "From our investigation, it would appear that better protective devices to prevent luffing ropes from coming off their pulleys would significantly reduce the potential for further events, particularly where wind and operating conditions provide potential for slack rope conditions to arise. And alternative or additional precautions may also be required."

An inquest on 8 July 2008 into the worker's death returned a verdict of accidental death. At the time of writing in mid-August the HSE investigation was continuing into the collapse of the tower crane on a construction site at Colquitt Street in Liverpool city centre.

The full report can be downloaded from http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/pdf/craneaug08.pdf