Battersea crane collapse: HSE final report expected in September

A final Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report on the causes behind the Battersea crane collapse is expected in September - almost exactly two years after it happened.

The accident claimed the lives of two people - crane driver Jonathan Cloke and local resident Michael Alexa - when a Falcon Cranes machine collapsed at Barratt Homes' Viridian site in South West London on 26 September 2006.

Families of the two victims were presented with a copy of the Health and Safety Laboratory Report into the incident last month, following months of investigation at the HSE's specialist facility at Buxton in Derbyshire.

The Metropolitan Police will now examine the report to decide if it will go ahead with any possible prosecutions.

A spokeswoman told CJ that the HSE is currently seeking legal advice on whether it can release the technical reports into the public domain.

An inquest into a second fatal crane collapse involving a Falcon Crane Hire crane - this time in Liverpool in January 2007 - is expected to go ahead this week.