Engineers' president calls for safety process on crane use

A procedure should be set up for the assembly and use of cranes, to avoid loss of life, Chamber of Engineers president Alexander Tranter said when contacted yesterday.

There were two accidents involving tower cranes last week, one of which resulted in the death of a father of two.

In the first incident at Tigné Point last week, the frame of a tower crane collapsed and came to rest on part of a building that is still under construction.

In the second incident, on Friday in Bugibba, a tower crane crashed, killing a workman at a construction site.

Mr Tranter feels strongly that there should be a procedure to be followed whenever a tower crane is put up, very similar to the case when a lift is installed. The crane should be certified before it is used and re-certified again at regular intervals, he said.

All the organisations involved in the building industry and in the health and safety sector should contribute, to come up with a process that ensures that such incidents are eliminated as far as possible, and no more human lives are lost as a result of such mishaps.

The process would include the need to inform the authorities when and where a tower crane is going to be put up and when it is to be removed. Each of these operations would have to be checked by specialised staff.

The process would be repeated every time the crane is moved from one location to another.

Enforcement was also of the utmost importance as would be the penalty for not sticking to regulations.

A crane should be inspected by a warranted engineer who would have to ensure that any additions or changes to the crane's structure would be in line with established international practice. A certificate would be issued, noting whether or not the crane was safe to use.

"It is completely unacceptable to lose human life - making it seem that such lives are expendable. Let us get to grips with this problem before more lives are lost under such tragic circumstances," Mr Tranter stressed.