Pictures from Croydon crane collapse

The collapse in pictures:

Damage to the stairwell and tower trapped some of the rigging crew

Firemen inspecting damage

Stranded crew above the damaged stairwell look down on the wreckage

Telescopic crane used to attempt a rescue of the rigging crew

The cab and jib hang periously over the edge of the hotel

Top of tower with climbing frame

Unsuccessful attempted rescue of three stranded rigging crew

Further images of the site, including the actual collapse, are available from Croydon Advertiser's site, linked here.

The safety of tower cranes is in the spotlight again after a collapse last Saturday afternoon (2 June) in Croydon, south London, left an operator with broken ribs, collar-bone and shoulder, and a rigging team stranded halfway up the tower.

In what appears to be a repeat of the Canary Wharf accident in 2000 - in which three Hewden staff were killed and two others injured during a climbing operation [to extend the crane] - the complete top of a modern Terex Comedil crane, belonging to Laing O'Rourke's plant arm Select Plant, fell onto the neighbouring Croydon Park Hotel.

The crane, one of two based on the site of main contractor Haymills' £31.8m Altitude 25 project, had been situated for eight months and was having six sections inserted into the mast when the accident happened.

Following the Canary Wharf incident, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) expressed concern about the method of climbing cranes and asked for more technical aids to ensure this could be carried out safely.

However, it is not initially drawing parallels between Canary Wharf and the latest incident.

"We investigate the causes of each incident individually before we look at any common causes," it added.

At the scene, Fire Brigade liaison officer Paul Jenkins told CJ: "The crane driver survived, but was trapped and the crane itself was in a very unstable position."

Having secured the jib, the operator was winched to safety using the second tower crane. "If the crane hadn't hit the hotel, there's nothing below it but concrete with rebars sticking up," said Jenkins.

Three of the crane's rigging team were also left stranded after the jib damaged part of the tower, including the stairway, as it fell. It took seven hours to rescue them.

Haymills' technical director Dean Murphy denied reports that the crane was lifting a steel beam when it collapsed.

"The only thing it would have been lifting that day would have been the tower sections," he said, adding that all the parties involved were co-operating fully with the HSE enquiry.

Select Plant would only confirm that one of its cranes had been involved in the accident when approached by CJ.

Terry Duxbury, founder of the United Crane Operators' Association, said: "We just can't believe this is happening. Something radical has to happen with the training and we have to learn from incidents at home and abroad.

"You can't blame people for asking questions, wanting tests and demanding certificates of inspections. The industry and the HSE have to get a grip of this - and quickly," he said.

A new CSCS course for tower crane erectors was introduced a few months ago and the first candidates are going through the training.

Tower crane collapse: a timeline

21 May 2000: A huge 140m-high crane topples at London's Canary Wharf during the construction of the HSBC skyscraper, killing three construction workers.

11 February 2005: A tower crane collapses at Durrington High School in West Sussex, hitting another crane as it falls. Two men working for Willmott Dixon are killed.

26 September 2006: A 50m-high tower crane belonging to Falcon Crane Hire collapses onto a block of residential flats in Battersea, London. The crane driver and a man washing his car below are killed.

19 October 2006: A tower crane in the City of London partially collapses, forcing the evacuation of the building site below. No one is injured.

16 January 2007: A crane belonging to Falcon Crane Hire collapses on a David McLean site in central Liverpool, killing one site worker and trapping the operator in the cab.