| Ucatt condemns London crane collapse |
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| Wednesday, 12 December 2007 | |
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Ucatt is calling for an urgent inquiry after a crane collapse in Lewisham yesterday.
The accident occurred today in Bird in Hand Passage, Forest Hill, London at approximately 10 o'clock yesterday morning. The union said jib of the crane, which was in operation at the time, collapsed and knocked over several concrete pillars. It is understood that no workers or members of the public were injured in the accident. Since 2000, there have been eight deaths, 24 serious injuries and a large number of near misses as a result of accidents involving cranes. Jerry Swain, Ucatt regional secretary for London and the South East, said: "Through sheer luck we are not talking about another fatality. The level of accidents involving cranes is so high that workers fear that there must be some kind of fundamental flaw in their operation or installation. "We must have a swift inquiry in order to establish whether the necessary inspections had been conducted on the crane and what went wrong." |
