During the first 13 days of the month of August, three people have died on construction sites in Britain. One man fell to his death on a construction site in London. A 63-year-old worker plunged to his death from scaffolding on a building site and another worker was crushed to death when a crane toppled over.In the last year 84 people have been killed in construction sites accidents. Some 40 percent of all workplace deaths involve falling from higher ground.
Last year a was changing a wheel on his car outside his home in South London when a 165 foot crane snapped in two, landing on landing on the man and decapitating him. The crane's driver was also killed.
Initial reports suggested that the 30 year old tower crane had a string of faults including missing, bent, and worn bolts. The crane company owns 20 percent of Britain's tower cranes to the tune of almost £20 million.
In January 2007, another crane belonging to the same company collapsed in Liverpool. It killed a worker.
Around 180 cranes were being checked in-house, without what the legislation describes as the required degree of independence. The government inspectors found that around one in ten of these cranes had serious faults.
In March, the crane owning company was issued with an improvement notice which required it to change its maintenance regime from a reactive to a proactive one.
One step to the halting the deaths on construction sites would be to stop reducing the number of governmental inspectors. Since 2002, over 1,000 jobs have been removed as a result of government spending cuts, meaning that over 350 major injuries were not investigated last year due to the lack of trained inspectors.
Whether you're across the pond or down the street in Philadelphia, PA, if you have been injury by a crane or lost a loved one in a crane accident or any construction site accident - contact Anapol Schwartz for a free evaluation so we can determine what your legal options are.
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=12799
