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New Fears on Crane Safety After Lewisham Accident
Construction union UCATT are calling for an urgent inquiry following the latest accident involving a crane on a construction site.
The accident occurred today (Tuesday 11 December) in Bird in Hand Passage, Forest Hill London SE23 at around 10 o’clock this morning. The jib of the crane which was in operation at the time collapsed, knocking over several concrete pillars.
It is understood that no workers or members of the public were injured in the accident.
Jerry Swain UCATT regional secretary for London and the South East, said: “Through sheer luck we are not talking about another fatality. The level of accidents involving cranes is so high that workers fear that there must be some kind of fundamental flaw in their operation or installation.”
Since 2000 there have been 8 deaths, 24 serious injuries and a large number of near misses, as a result of accidents involving cranes.
Mr Swain, added: “We must have a swift inquiry in order to establish whether the necessary inspections had been conducted on the crane and what went wrong.”
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Garvey Bros Pay Price
UCATT have managed win compensation for a member after being made redundant by Garvey Bros. After being told of his redundancy, the member turned to UCATT for assistance and on the London region’s advice wrote to the company to seek holiday pay, redundancy pay and claiming unfair dismissal. Like so many construction firms, Garvey Bros believed they could ignore one of their workers. However with determination and the backing of UCATT, legal proceedings were commenced. After several approaches our members was paid £15,000 to settle the case proving that UCATT member’s can not simply be ignored.
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UCATT Members Share £30,000
UCATT have won a group of member’s working on Terminal 5 a share of £30,000 after they had been threatened with redundancy. The members’ company had refused to consult with UCATT over the redundancy despite being a recognised union on the site. After UCATT commenced legal action, the settlement was negotiated by UCATT officials in an out of court agreement to the delight of our concerned members who had feared for their jobs. To top off the compensation they received, the members were offered a transfer so can look forward to the Christmas period without fear of redundancy.
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Tragedy of Construction Deaths Continue
Five construction workers have tragically been killed at work in the last three weeks. There have been four deaths in London where workers were killed in Elephant and Castle, Kingsway and Upper Thames Street, where UCATT member Stephen Griffiths fell whilst erecting scaffolding. A road gang worker was killed on the A2. In Shropshire, a builder was also crushed to death under 20 tonnes of rubble.
Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, said: "This latest tragedy underlines the unacceptably high level of deaths in construction. Many companies remain blasé about health and safety. The whole industry must make the safety of workers a key issue. If we don't then workers will continue to be killed at this alarming rate."
There have been 29 deaths so far this year. If trends continue then deaths could increase above the 77 workers killed last year.
Alan Ritchie, added: "It is shocking that 29 construction workers have already been killed at work this year. If this was any other profession it would be front page news. This is a national scandal. Action must be taken now to stop killer bosses. The number of workers killed must not be allowed to rise even higher than last year's astronomical level."
Peter Hain who has responsibility for the HSE has called a safety forum for September 17 to try to reduce the number of construction deaths which rose by over 31 per cent last year.