Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Construction
At around 17:50 on Tuesday 26 September 2006 on a Barratts Home construction site at Thessaly Road, Battersea, London SW8, there was a tower crane collapse. The site is very close to a residential area and part of the crane struck a nearby block of flats.
Two people were killed as a result of the incident. One of the deceased was the driver of the crane that collapsed, and the other was a member of the public. Residents of the block of flats were evacuated following the incident.
The crane involved is owned and was provided by Falcon Crane Hire Ltd and is a BPR saddle jib tower, Model 222. The crane and its associated parts have been removed from the site and taken to Health and Safety Laboratories, Buxton, where it will undergo testing and forensic examinations.
The Metropolitan Police are leading a joint investigation with the Health and Safety Executive in accordance with the ‘work related deaths protocol’ and the investigation team have worked with the London Borough of Wandsworth emergency response team. The investigation of the incident was hampered in its early stages whilst the site was made safe, and due to the complexities involved in removing the collapsed crane from the site. The investigation is ongoing and is expected to take some time to complete.
Principal contractors and crane operators should ensure that cranes are erected, operated, maintained and dismantled in accordance with the advice in the HSE safety alert [PDF 625kb] issued on 17 October 2006.