23.08.2004

Wembley escapes tower crane tragedy

Further tragedy almost struck at the Wembley stadium (see Vertikal.net archive, January 15th 2004 and February 23rd 2004) on Friday the 13th August, when the hoist brake on a Wolff tower crane, on hire from HTC, failed, causing it to lose control of a 25-tonne steel beam that it was lifting.

The steel beam gradually descended onto the roof of the stadium below while still attached to the crane’s hook, eventually coming to rest on supporting scaffolding. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

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A further 11 Wolff tower cranes at the site were immediately pulled out of action by the project's main contractor Multiplex. Only when the cranes had unergone independent inspection from the HSE, Wolff engineers and HTC, was work allowed to continue.

In January this year, stadium worker, Patrick O’Sullivan, was killed and another worker injured when a raised platform collapsed without warning, falling approx 31 metres.

The Wembley rebuilding project is a high one of two high profile construction sites in London that the HSE are keen to be seen as models of safe working practices. A further incident such as this will receive close scrutiny and investigation.