The Strategic Forum for Construction’s (SFfC) Tower Crane Working Group met last week to review safety practices within the tower crane sector.

SFfC director of health and safety Shelley Atkinson-Frost told B&E the public have a greater role to play in the future of tower crane safety.

She said: “There is significant under reporting of not just accidents but near hits in the industry. The HSE believe it only receives 20% of all reportable dangerous occurrences. What we’re trying to do is fill in some of that gap and more importantly learn from some of those issues.”

It is hoped the email, which will be trialed internally by SFfC’s members in May, which include representatives from Sir Robert McAlpine and the Major Contractors Group, will identify trends and lessons learnt.

It will be rolled out to the wider industry and members of the public in the coming months.

Atkinson-Frost added: “The detail will come out when we actually launch it. There are some criteria you will need to meet before you report this information but essentially it will be a public access route.”

The email follows an SFfC proposal to establish a mechanism for enabling the public to quickly access information on tower crane activity locally.

Elsewhere the group’s Maintenance and Thorough Examination guidance has been drawn up and will be launched on 13 May at SED.

The group also expects to publish its Code of Practice guidance for the industry on operator working conditions by the end of August. Areas of focus include hours of work, fitness for work and environmental factors.

B&E April: Balfour Beatty on delivering Liverpool’s Paradise Project.

---