Laing O'Rourke's Select plant arm: crane training under scrutiny

Poor training was almost certainly to blame for the Croydon crane collapse, according to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), which served a prohibition order on Laing O’Rourke’s Select plant arm last week.

As exclusively predicted in CJ last week, an HSE investigation found the company’s Terex Comedil CTT 181 tower crane in Croydon collapsed because “the top section of the crane had not been connected to the climbing frame”.

The prohibition prevents Select from climbing (raising or lowering) its UK fleet of more than 200 tower cranes unless the work is undertaken by people trained on the specific type of frame to be used.

Asked if the inference of the prohibition was that the rigging crew involved in the Croydon incident lacked training and experience of the frame used to climb the crane, an HSE spokesman said: “That is a reasonable conclusion to draw.”

Laing O’Rourke has remained tight-lipped since the collapse. Although it maintained its crews were “adequately trained” and gained “extensive onsite experience before taking part in climbing operations”, it refused to give CJ details about the training and experience of the Croydon crew.

Meanwhile, Terex Comedil said it had trained staff from Select, which is its UK agent, on climbing operations, but didn’t say which individuals were involved.

Haydn Steele of the Construction Plant-hire Association’s Tower Crane Interest Group and CPCS board member said basic training was not always enough. He said: “The CSCS tower crane installation course covers basic principles, but the individuals also need instruction on the specific climbing frame they are working with.”

Consultant Tim Watson pointed out there were differences between the various manufacturers’ designs of climbing frames and even between the frames on different sizes of tower from the same manufacturer.

Other experts CJ spoke to echoed this view, but none could think of an instance without a bolted connection between the crane top and the tower.

The Select statement added: “We take this extremely seriously. Safety is absolutely critical and we are determined to understand all the causes of this accident to ensure that we can prevent anything like this happening again.”