UK tower crane rental house, Falcon Crane Hire admitted two health and safety breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday 29 February, in relation to a Battersea, south London, crane crash in September 2006.
Crane operator Jonathan Cloke, 37, and local resident Michael Alexa, 23, died in the accident when the tower crane collapsed on a Barratt Homes property development site. Cloke fell to his death from inside the cab and a section of the tower crane struck and killed Alexa as he cleaned his car in a neighbouring street.
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| The demised tower crane was a BPR 222 that was manufactured in late 1970s. Your Local Guardian |
The inquest heard that a mistake – loading the crane structure with 12 ton of counterweights instead of eight – was made by Falcon Crane Hire Limited because it had used the wrong instruction manual during erection of the tower crane.
Judge Alistair McCreath adjourned sentencing until 15 March and agreed for the prosecution to offer no evidence against Douglas Genge, Falcon managing director.
References
- Falcon pleads guilty on Battersea crane collapse, KHL, 3 March 2016.
