letter to Jane Ellison MP Battersea, Balham & Wandsworth
“Dear Jane,
London Hazards Centre has worked with the Battersea Crane Disaster Action Group, BCDAG, since it was set up in 2006 following the deaths of Michael Alexa and Jonathan Cloke after the Falcon Crane collapsed and killed them in Thessaly Road. Our research found London has had the most tower crane crash incidents in the world & the most fatalities from crane incidents in the UK.
The recent inquest into the Battersea deaths showed the company responsible Falcon Cranes had an appalling safety set up and the jury’s narrative verdict reflects this. The jury said:
“… there was no adequate formalised process and procedure to allow for faults to be managed, escalated or investigated. In addition there was a vacuum of structured management in the company’s service department.”
Falcon Cranes were also responsible for another death when a crane crashed in Liverpool only a few months after the Battersea incident.
Campaigning by the BCDAG, lead by Michael Alexa’s family, did result in the introduction of the Tower Crane Register in 2010, which your government is intending to repeal.
We urge you to sign Early Day Motion 259, which has been signed by Conservative MP Peter Bottomley, and to use your influence to encourage your government to keep the Notification of Conventional Tower Crane Regulations 2010, which your constituents fought for, and to resist deregulation of health and safety. We believe:
- the true costs of lack of regulation on crane safety are enormous and not the £51,000 it costs to run the crane register.
- the public are reassured by a register because it allows HSE inspectors to better police crane safety.
We look forward to your reply.”
