Tower crane section falls during assembly

lgalea

Jun 7th 2009, 09:30

Everybody has a right to prevent the crane from passing over his property.
The owners of nearby properties should get together and file a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the crane operator / owner and the builders/owners of the property.

Andrew Cumbo

Jun 6th 2009, 20:04

Can Health authorities realise that these two accidents happened nearby the Convent of the Sacred Heart School. The first accident happened; my daughter explained that they heard a big noise while in class and soon after there was no electricity and all pupils were terrified.
Are we waiting for the third and fatal accident to react!!! Some building structures must not be in the schools vicinities. Even more that Health and Safety precautions are inexistent in this country.

D Psaila

Jun 6th 2009, 14:33

This crane is a replacement for the crane which collapsed on 20 May and is even bigger than the original one. Has a full investigation taken place as to why the original crane collapsed and will the conclusions be made public? Was the crane faulty or have the safety regulations been ignored? Why are the authorities even allowing the contractor to erect another crane before these questions have been answered? The damage the original collapse caused has not yet even been repaired. Are the nearby residents and the pupils at the nearby school going to be safe? Who cares?

J Martinelli

Jun 6th 2009, 13:58

A wire cable snapped?

There can only be two reasons for this near tragic incident: 1 Poor maintenance or 2 Wrong gauge of cable.

In either case it shows an apparent incompetency by the contractor, or worse, complete disregard to safety laws.

Government inspectors cannot be everywhere all the time, therefore the responsibility should first and foremost rest on the shoulders of the contractors. That is one reason why they dictate their price for any particular project.

The licence for these errant contractors should be reviewed and revoked when necessary.

john fenech

Jun 6th 2009, 13:20

‘Safe Use of Tower Cranes-Code of Practice’: recommendations
All lifting appliances and gear should be accompanied by instructions for use and should be certified annually by a mechanical engineer having a warrant to practice his profession. Moreover, they also have to examined by a competent person (a) before being taken into use for the first time; (b) one week, after erection on site; (c) after any substantial alteration or repair; and (d) monthly.

The planning authority has received 3,944 complaints but only 120 fines for the breaches were issued. The discrepancy between fines and the complaints is attributed to the fact that citations only started to be issued in July 2008. Another reason is that the regulations only apply to nine localities (Gzira, Marsalforn, Marsascala, Mellieha, Sliema, St Julian’s, St Paul’s Bay, Swieqi and Valletta).

The above is read that the contractors in all the other areas are free to pollute and create general mayhem since the authority is barely able to manage; in fact it discarded most of the complaints under the guise that the regulations apply only to nine localities!

On the other hand the ‘Environmental Management Site Regulations’ are again on the agenda since conception in 2007!

Franco Farrugia

Jun 6th 2009, 11:22

Are we going to continue having these accidents happen till some fatality occurs or are the authorities hesitating from bringing the developers to book? We need strong regulations and we need people to go on site and check for themselves the level of security and safety - for workers and for all concerned.