08.08.2003

Hewden clobbered in court battle

Hewden Stuart faces estimated damages of up to £16.6 million following the collapse of a tower crane at Canary Wharf in May 2000 which killed three workers.

At the time of the accident the tower crane was on hire to steel firm Yarm Road from Hewden Tower Cranes, the tower crane division of Hewden Stuart, and under the Construction Plant-hire Association’s (CPA) hire contract conditions. Hewden Tower Cranes has since been sold to concrete contractor PC Harrington and now operates as HTC Plant. The accident occurred when a specialist team from Hewden was increasing the height of the MAN Wolffkran Hydro 32BF tower crane through the process of “climbing” in order to continue work on the upper sections of the building. Following the accident, however, discrepancies arose when trying to establish which company was legally in control of the crane when the accident happened, and therefore responsible for the damages incurred.
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Hewden's Wolff 32BF tower crane lies in a mangled heap following the May 2000 tragedy.

A first instance decision given by Judge Richard Seymour QC at a November 4, 2002 hearing at the Technology and Construction Court placed the exclusive control of the crane during the “climbing process” with Hewden. The decision took into account clause 13 (c)(ii) of the CPA hire contract conditions, which states: “the Hirer shall not be responsible for damage, loss or injury due to or arising: during the erection and/or dismantling of any plant where such plant requires to be completely erected/dismantled on site, always provided that such erection/dismantling is under the exclusive control of the Owner or his Agent”.

Hewden subsequently argued against the decision in a Court of Appeal questioning whether the “climbing” process actually fell within the boundaries of the erection and dismantling of a crane as described in the CPA conditions. This raised the issue of whether or not the company was in “exclusive control” of the crane during the climbing operation when the accident took place. Acting on behalf of Yarm Road, Adrian Williamson QC rejected that clause 13 (c)(ii) applied only when plant was being erected at the beginning of the hire period, implying that any intermediate heightening of the crane should fall under the term “erection” used in the clause and therefore suggesting that Hewden was in control of the crane at the time of the collapse.

Lord Justice Pill concluded that the “climbing” operation should indeed be considered as part of the erection process and that it cannot be said that the erection operation is completed during erection at the beginning of the hire period when up to 27 metres of additional crane sections are to be added to the height of the crane by subsequent “climbing” at a later date. In a July 2003 hearing, three court appeal judges agreed with Judge Seymour’s original decision and Hewden’s appeal was dismissed. Full responsibility for the collapse was placed upon the firm’s shoulders. When Vertikal.net asked Hewden if it would be again appealing against the decision, the company declined to comment.

Walker Morris solicitors who represented Yarm Road said that Hewden is now obliged to give a full indemnity in respect of all losses incurred by Yarm Road and assignee of certain rights of Yarm Cleveland Bridge UK. The original claim against Hewden was initially pleaded at just under £8 million, but has since been estimated at double this sum.

Speaking to Vertikal.net, Colin Wood, chief executive of the Construction Plant-hire Association commented: “Subject to the final outcome, depending on whether Hewden appeal to the latest decision, the CPA would review the conditions to see whether any modifications need be made.”

The Health and Safety Executive HSE launched an enquiry immediately after the accident and is, as yet, to reach any conclusion as to what caused the tower crane to collapse. The investigation into the accident also prompted the HSE to release a ‘Discussion Paper on the safe design, manufacture, assembly, use and maintenance of climbing frames on tower cranes’ in February this year.