28.07.2006

Operator was not trained to dismantle tower cranes

An inquest jury has delivered verdicts of accidental death for two men who fell to their deaths after an inexperienced workman loosened the bolts to a 30 metre tower crane.

Stephen Boatman, 45, from Reading, and Gary Miles, 37, from Crowthorne, near Bracknell, died after the tower crane that had been used on construction at the Highdown School, Durrington, collapsed on February, 11, 2005. Both men died instantly from head and chest injuries.

The jury heard that David Smith, 55, of Weybridge, loosened 16 heavy duty bolts that held the crane together. Smith was left dangling halfway up the machine unconscious but later recovered in a Worthing Hospital.

The court was told that neither Smith, Boatman nor Miles possessed any formal qualifications for dismantling tower cranes and “that no formal training programme existed”. Smith, an experienced crane operator, described how he had climbed the crane loosening bolts on the day of the accident, as part of preparation for it to be fully dismantled the following day.

The court heard such loosening was "routine procedure" but that a certain degree of "torque" was to be left to ensure the safety of the structure. Experts later said that the bolts were not tight enough to maintain the load of the turning crane, causing it to topple over.

The men worker for rental company W D Bennett’s Plant & Services, based in Gloucestershire, which supplied the two cranes and was responsible for dismantling them.
See two die in Sussex crane collapse