Second crane accident in Sliema in two weeks

Mike Ponsonby BA

Jun 8th 2011, 18:11

Good Afternoon Friends in Malta,

Tony, Joe, Peter, Antoine, Duncan, Aimee, Effie and John, you are all correct. For having visited the Famous and Great Island of Malta on three separate occasions. I can honestly say I have seen some of the worst and most dangerous Crane Rigging, Erecting and Operating Practices anywhere in the World, in Malta.

So my suggestion is to Appoint a Crane Safety Inspector ASAP and give him Statutory Powers to Stop, Improve or Modify the practices involved in Crane Erection or Operation : Moreover Do not wait for the first fatality, because by them it will be too late for the Victim... and remember it could be you or yours ?

The Crane Safety Inspector should be Independent of the Construction Industry, be totally impartial and should follow the copious 'Safe Systems of Work' as recommended by the Crane Mfrs.

The Start Point is to enrol Legislation requiring Official Permission to erect a Crane, after first submitting a Suitable and Sufficient Risk Assessment for the activity, together with a Method Statement detailing how the work will be undertaken in complete safety.

To ignore this potentially fatal Crane Safety situation is to run the risk of fatalities, which is already a major problem worldwide, killing many people on the ground including my own Father in Law David Stanford of Dublin on Friday 15th january 1988.

Happy to help in this regard, but dont wait for the first Fatality as by then its too late.

Kindest Regards
Mike Ponsonby BA

Tony Zammit Cutajar

Jun 8th 2009, 14:25

What a shame! My sister lives close by and got the shock of her life. Who takes reposibility for this? As another reader pointed out, it seems that action is only taken if there is loss of life.

joe scerri

Jun 6th 2009, 09:51

Welcome to Banana Republic. What a farce. Perhaps when lives are lost our totally useless Mepa and minister will take some action. Considering that people have died in the past and no action was ever taken I doubt it. My children attend Sacred Heart. They witnessed the first accident, had the crane toppled on the oher side it would have crashed into their class.
5 years into the EU . LOL

Antoine Grima

Jun 6th 2009, 06:01

Just to point out that many cars / pedestrians pass underneath these cranes while they are being used. How safe are we?

Peter Gatt

Jun 6th 2009, 00:53

Are tower cranes ever checked? Are they serviced and maintained on a regular basis as per manufacturer's advice? I think that most of them are cheaply purchased from other countries without considering the implications of having old equipment doing this work . I feel very uncomfortable passing from near one of these cranes, especially the concrete counterweights. In addition to Min. Pullicino's article of last week re protecting third party, I am of the opinion that there should be an authority for regulating and licensing such equipment.

Duncan Sant

Jun 6th 2009, 00:36

we never learn....

P Agius

Jun 6th 2009, 00:20

What are the engineers of this contractor doing? - action should be taken immediately before any fatality happens

Aimee Fenech

Jun 5th 2009, 23:45

Are we waiting for someone to die to starting doing things properly?

effie carbonaro

Jun 5th 2009, 23:31

why is that 0fficials of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority always go after an accident happens.why arnt they called when contracters start assembling these tower cranes?

John Azzopardi

Jun 5th 2009, 22:50

This contractor is either accident-prone or incompetent. Maybe he should try a different line of work.