08.10.2013

Crazy steelwork

A reader in the UK has sent us photos of what he describes as the most dangerous work practices he has ever seen.

It certainly looks like a site where work should be stopped before a fatality occurs, on top of that one part of the steelwork - held together with straps and with no foundations - is parallel to the main A-611 road and could so easily drop onto innocent motorists passing by. All we can do is pass on the message here and hope that someone local gets some sense into whomever the contractor is.

In our reader's own words:

“Good evening, attached are pictures taken at the Hucknall Road car boot sale site near Nottingham, the pictures show a steel frame being erected which left me speechless.”
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Note the straps holding the structure

“The frame was being erected without the use of powered access –(or with any access equipment), the vertical columns were resting on wooden blocks rather than having a foundation, and all the other pieces of steel were braced together using straps. There was an unmarked crane on site which was used to lift the steels into place, but also to lift work personnel on the steel beams to install the steelwork. I estimate the height to be approximately 10 to 12 metres.”

“I have been in the powered access industry for many years and I have never seen anything as dangerous as this.”
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Another view

We agree that the photos and the description suggest an inexplicably dangerous method of steel erection, which is hard to imagine occurring in western Europe today.

In fact it is so bad that we find ourselves wondering if there is another explanation? We have since heard from our reader again who says that the site was so dangerous that he was not prepared to enter, on that basis, not to mention the threat of a hostile reception.

If anyone else has seen this site perhaps they might contact us and warn the contractor or site owner. Our correspondent said he tried to contact the Health & Safety Executive to report it, but found how challenging this can be - the local office number is a fax only and other lines are simply full of recorded messages.

Perhaps those Health & Safety inspectors reading this article will do something about this before it is too late?

In the meantime definitely one for our Death Wish series