19.01.2007

HSE suspends Falcon Cranes

The UK Health and Safety Executive has served a prohibition notice on Falcon Cranes, the Norfolk base tower crane rental company.

The notice, served on Wedenesday requires Falcon to take all cranes out of service that have not been subjected to a thorough examination by an independent competent person.

Falcon has a fleet of 252 cranes, 230 of which are top slewers, of these some are not currently in service and some will have already been inspected by a third party. The HSE estimates that up to 180 cranes could be affected.

The Ban comes after this week’s accident in Liverpool that killed a worker on the ground and the accident in Battersea at the end of September in which two men died, including the operator, a Falcon employee.
See crane collapse in Liverpool
See Battersea update
Falcon is in the process of notifiing all affected sites that the cranes must be taken out of serivce while it organises independent inspections. Once inspected the cranes will be allowed to go back into service.

Cranes which have already been examined by an independent competent person are not affected by the notice and can continue in service.


The HSE said:
“Both incidents are the subject of on-going investigations and it is therefore too early for us to be able to identify the exact causes of either failure. Nevertheless, the HSE has decided to adopt a precautionary approach and require the company to demonstrate those cranes which have been thoroughly examined by competent persons employed by them, are safe to continue in operation".

Any lessons learnt from the investigations will be shared with the industry as soon as possible.”

The HSE also emphasised that Falcon Crane Hire Ltd has cooperated with them fully and has agreed the steps they will take to comply with the Notice.

The HSE will be working closely with the company to ensure that the remediation process is carried out as quickly as possible so that the cranes can return to use.