Turkish crane overturn

Safety Man
Thank you Mike.
I think this whole thread accurately sums up what is written in the Defence Safety White Paper:
"Safety is an emotive and subjective topic: many
people want all risks eliminated from anything that might affect them personally. Safety management is concerned with having a consistent approach to potential causes of harm and targeting effort where it will have the most benefit".
It would appear that only a few accidents are attributed to the design or manufacture of these systems and the majority are attributed to Safety Management also known as "Human Factors" in their operation.
This is the same in the aircraft industry where "Pilot Error" was often quoted as the cause of the accident when there were many other Human Factors that were contributory.
If people haven't read it another good HSE Document used is "Reducing Risks Protecting People" (R2P2)which will also help to educate and focus the minds of those involved in carrying out and managing Hazardous tasks.

cfk88
Finally mike a comment of a decent standard. More of this please.

Good Afternoon Mr Wood,

Thank you for your kind words, the content of which is Noted.

Safety is like Apple Pie, everyone likes it and I also have yet to meet a single person worldwide who does not want to achieve Safety 24/7. So why does the record show that the Frequency and Severity of Crane and/or Lifting Incidents Worldwide is getting worse (not better) with 286 Men, Women and Children now Killed by Cranes and/or Lifting Ops since 010114. What is going wrong ?

Crane Operators are uniquely skilled as they know that Lifting Operations are inherently Dangerous, because we are always attempting to defeat Gravity. With Gravity always having the last word in the event of an unsafe act or ommission, from which there is rarely a second chance to recover. So Crane Operators are highly skilled Men and Women who must take into account a myriad of factors like Wind Speeds, the Sail Area of Loads and the Mat sizes required to reduce the Tm2 Loading thru the Outriggers. Are these the only Factors, No there are hundreds of other factors to be considered, not least being the quality of the Banksmans Signals and the Rigging itself, which means that the Crane Operator is now dependant on two others persons for Safety.

So is it right that the Crane Operator gets the Blame, NO the Crane Operator is simply one person in the Chain of Causation, starting with the CEO because if he or she is Not committed to a Culture of Safety, then no-one else will be. So what can be done to stop this ongoing Death Toll of 286 Killed since 010114.

The HSE Hierarchy of Controls is an excellent start point, with ERIC being the acronym suggested by HSE meaning Eliminate, Reduce, Isolate and Control all Hazards to ALARP. So as there are many Legal, Moral and Practical objectives to be achieved, lets examine what these are. HSE say that Risk Assessment (In line with section 3(1) of The Management Regulations 1999) is the start point to identify all Obvious and Foreseeable Hazards, with the Method Statement putting in place the Control Measures needed to minimise all Hazards to ALARP. Not the Tick Box exercise that I see all too frequently, but a suitable and sufficient RAMS and Lift Plan in Narrative form that takes Account of all foreseeable hazards including the Worse Case Scenario (otherwise we are only kidding ourselves) based upon The LOLER Regs 1999 and British Standard 7121.

So if thats the Correct procedure, what then is the alternative. The alternative is that we do nothing with the Possibility of Killing yet another 286 Men, Women and Children worldwide between now and 1st October 2018. So as you have asserted that Construction Safety is being managed correctly, lets take a real Dead example: - David S. Ford went to work on Friday 15th January and was Knee Deep in Wet Concrete when a Loaded Two Cubic Metre Concrete Skip was Dropped on him. David S. Ford was DOA at the Local Hospital and left a Wife and Four Daughters (4) who overnight were plunged into Poverty and Depression which lasted for 10 yrs.
( The Insurance company took 10 yrs to pay out £32000 for this Fatal Incident)

So as you have the Brass Neck, the Brass Neck to assert that Safety is being managed correctly, may I suggest that that you re-examine the Facts. Because if your dont, then the Courts now have the Authority within The Sentencing Guidelines 2009 to Impose Multi-Million pound fines and even Custodial Sentences, as some Construction Industry Players have found to their cost recently : Moreover your False Indignation contributes Nothing to Safety ?

Preston Crown Court should have the last word on this matter, where on Tuesday 22nd December 2015, the Honourable Judge said to the Defendants “ In Offences of Corporate Manslaughter where the Offence has been shown to cause Death, the Appropriate Fine will seldom be less than £500,000 and may be considerably More” :

The Court then imposed a Fine of £700,000 plus additional costs orders for £33156 to CPS and £66844 to HSE, making a total of £900,000.

Worker Safety is very important.

Kind Regards
Mike Ponsonby

Crane expert
FINALLY!!!!! people have seen this guy for what he is, hopefully Mike Idontknowwhatimtalkingabout ponsonbury will get the message and leave the safety to the people who know what they are talking about.

Safety Man
Mike
I too appreciate what you are trying to do and to help you I would like to provide you with definitions that are accepted in the Safety Industry as they are defined in approved Standards.
For example:
Accident – An event, or sequence of events, that causes UNINTENDED harm.– e.g. death, injury, property damage, consequential costs, environmental and legal damages. Source - Def Stan 00-56 Issue 5
ISO 12100 - An incident that has occurred and resulted in harm can be referred to as an “accident”, whereas an incident
that has occurred and that did not result in harm can be referred to as a “near miss” or “dangerous occurrence”.
BS18001 - Incident - Event that gave rise to an accident or had the potential to lead to an accident.

It is generally accepted in the safety industry that an incident is a near miss where no harm occurred and an accident results in harm. Using incorrect terminology confuses, detracts from your argument and causes obvious friction with readers.
I appreciate your statistics and find them useful to refer to in our risk assessments where we try to quantify the probability of an event occurring to bolster our argument for increased safety.
Hope that helps.

Tmayes
float your load you have hit the nail on the head, I find Mike very patronising in the way he thinks none of us take safety seriously and that he's the only person who cares about safety, the fact is he is the one that nobody takes seriously because of his cut and paste replies. The fact being he can't relate to us because he has no experience in this industry and then tries to preach to us.
I'm fully aware that deep down he has very good intentions at heart but he is going about it the wrong way and by doing that he will never make a change, you need to stop the cut and paste crap Mike and start relating to us in the industry more.

Mike,

Good as ever to hear the same commented repeated from you - I almost know this word for word now.
Its no bad thing that we have someone who is as dedicated as you clearly are to safety, but to be honest I don't know anyone who hand on heart isn't. Its also good to remind us of the fact that people get killed and injured too frequently in this industry. Is it not possible for you to make your points in such a 'cut and paste' way each time that you decide to comment - as soon as I saw Mike Posnonby at the top of the article it was an immediate turn off as I knew it would almost certainly be word for word the same as your last comment, and the one before that, and the one before that.... There's no doubt that you know your facts and figures and keep a very close eye on this industry, with just a little bit more effort to re-word your regular comments on the 'incidents' ( not accidents ) that occur, more people would probably read, inwardly digest and learn from your shared knowledge ands then you would REALLY be making people take notice and increase people's knowledge on safety incidents and how to avoid repeats - keep up the great work, but change the format and you'll be on a winner !

Good Afternoon Mr Editor,

April 2016 is now closed, with yet another 17 Crane and/or Lifting Incidents reported Worldwide, resulting in 21 Fatal Incidents.

Readers may know that I have spent 8 years researching Crane Incidents Worldwide, not ‘Accidents’ as many were entirely foreseeable for anyone who cared to look and my spreadsheet now confirms a very long list of 283 Men, Women and Children Killed by Cranes and/or Lifting Operations Worldwide since 1st Jan 2014. Details of which are recorded as follows….

a) Seventeen (17) Crane or Lifting Incidents Reported Worldwide in the Month of April 2016.

b) Twenty One (21) Men and Women Killed as a Result of these 17 Crane and/or Lifting Incidents.

c) Machines Involved were 1 Gantry Crane, 2 Tower Cranes, 5 Mobiles, 7 AWP’s, Booms & Telehandlers plus 2 Dropped Loads. ( One thru the Roof of a Nursery)

Crane and/or Lifting Incidents recorded Worldwide from Alphen to Zeebrugge over the past 28 months since 010114. This ongoing Death Toll is appalling and does not include the recent Humanitarian Disaster at Didcot Power Station. So if no-one else will speak up for the Dead, I will.

To put this in context, this means that One Crane and /or Lifting Operation Fatality has occured every 72 Hours somewhere in the World over the past 28 months since 010114.

Therefore given the importance of Worker Safety, what can be done to stop this ongoing Death Toll ?

Kind Regards
Mike Ponsonby

Sherm
I am praying for the operator and his teammates. that even had to be a frightful one.