Multiple fatality crane crash 'a mystery

pdf version (what's that?)

A two and a half year Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation, followed by an inquest, have failed to find any clear reason for the Canary Wharf crane crash which killed three construction workers on 21 May 2001.

Michael Whittard, 36, from Leeds, Martin Burgess, 31, from Castleford, West Yorkshire, and Peter Clark, 33, from Southwark, south London, died when the upper section of the crane they were working on crashed nearly 500 feet to the ground. It was being used to construct one of the two adjacent HSBC skyscrapers in London's Canary Wharf when the top snapped off. Two other workers survived the crash by clinging onto the remains of the mast and then climbing onto the building.

The men were employed by Hewden Tower Cranes, a sub-contractor to Cleveland Kvaerner Bridge. The workers were extending the height of the crane by adding new sections when the upper part of the crane began twisting.

Crash survivor Eamonn Glover told the inquest he shut his eyes as 'the whole thing shook. I actually thought I was going down with the crane. When everything stopped I looked up and there was no crane there.'

Ian McDeson of the Construction Safety Campaign (CSC) attended the inquest and said: 'Evidence came out during the inquest of long working hours, lack of training and questionable working practices. Witnesses said they worked ten to twelve hours a day, seven days a week, sometimes having just travelled very long distances to get to the site. One witness said there was little formal training for the riggers, they just learned from their peers while on site. While there was no evidence of real wrong-doing there was some evidence of temporary bodges being done while erecting the crane and one witness said the jerking of the lifting frame as it was being moved was the worst he had ever experienced.'

The inquest also heard that a special safety plug was missing and there was no anemometer in the crane cab to measure wind speed, though the weather was not thought to have played a part.

The inquest jury, at St Pancras Coroner's Court in central London, returned an open verdict.

'I cannot understand how three people get killed and no one is to blame,' commented CSC national secretary Tony O'Brien. 'It happened on a Sunday. If it had happened on a weekday it could have been worse: I don't want to think about the number of people that could have been walking around there.'

top of page

Resources page