10.07.2023

Family takes legal action over crane collapse

A family involved in a fatal tower crane incident in London, UK, in 2020 is suing the companies that it believes are responsible.

Jacqueline and Sam Atkinson lived in the house in Bow, which was demolished by a falling tower crane in July 2020, killing their aunt - June Harvey, 85. The two - a mother and son - have taken the action in the absence of any answers or resolution three years after the incident occurred. See:Tower crane over in London - UPDATED.

The pair blame Swan Housing Association and its subsidiary, Swan Commercial Services, along with consulting engineer PGCS Partnership which filed for voluntary liquidation last year. The crane was owned and - we assume - erected by HTC which, according to the plaintiff, has been found not to be at fault.

In brief, the complaint says the free standing tower crane, with a counterweighted base, had a tower height of 26.5 metres and a 35 metre jib. Swan originally proposed to erect the crane on compressed fill with large outrigger mats. HTC rejected that concept and insisted on an engineered concrete base. The engineers PGCS - in which the construction company Squibb is one of three shareholders - designed four, two metre square reinforced concrete pads, one under each levelling jack. The concrete bases were manufactured to the engineer’s design, however, a new design was then supplied requiring an additional layer of steel reinforcement. As the bases had already been made, the decision was taken to retrofit them with the additional rebars. Holes were drilled from each side and 700mm steel bars inserted, leaving a 600mm gap in the centre of the pads.

Towards the end of the tower crane installation process, one of the pads “failed”, causing the crane to overturn rearwards and land on the homes opposite. June Harvey was upstairs in her home at the time and suffered a direct hit.

The crane was not removed until December of that year. According to the Atkinsons, the companies directly involved did not ensure that they were properly rehoused or offered treatment for the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from which they were both suffering.

The Atkinson’s landlord, Gateway Housing, provided them with a hotel room until January 2021, when they faced eviction after refusing to accept what they saw as an “uninhabitable property without a kitchen” from Tower Hamlets Council.

An Inquest has yet to take place. The Police still have primacy in this case and have still not completed their investigations. No report has been published by the Health & Safety Executive.

Sam Atkinson said: “I feel very disappointed and let down by the authorities who are supposed to be there to protect us, and it feels like they have completely disregarded us and our mental health. Not only is the lack of answers frustrating, but also the serious lack of communication between the police/HSE and ourselves. The wait for the conclusion to the investigation has been agonising and I really hope we know more about the cause of the accident, which led to my aunt’s death, very soon.”

The local Member of Parliament Apsana Begum added: “I am deeply concerned that three years on, the investigation into the Bow Crane collapse that killed my constituent June Harvey and led to other fatalities, is yet to be concluded. June’s family and more than 90 others, remain deeply impacted by this incident, with some still living in temporary accommodation. The ongoing impact on their health and wellbeing cannot be overstated.”

“I support the construction safety campaign, largely led by bereaved relatives and trade unions, continuing to call for answers and raising concerns about the under-regulation of health and safety in the construction industry. I will continue to call on the Government to ensure that legislation and guidance regulating cranes are robust and that regulators such as the Health and Safety Executive bodies are given the resources for rigorous enforcement and investigatory bodies such as the police are given the resources to conclude their investigations in a swift manner.”

Helen Clifford, the lawyer representing the family said: “The companies responsible for the collapse have sheltered behind these delays to avoid accepting responsibility for their negligence, to avoid making any payments to my clients or to fund any rehabilitation for them. It is simply unacceptable that three years on we are still in this position. We have issued proceedings in order to compel these companies to accept responsibility and to pay my clients the compensation they are entitled to.”

“Previous prosecutions by the CPS and HSE have taken a very long time. It’s so callous that bereaved families not only suffer the unnecessary and negligent death of a loved one, but then have years of legal nightmares. Despite attempts by me and the family’s MPs this has been allowed to happen in the case of the Bow crane disaster.”

We contacted the others involved for a comment. HSE inspector Gordon Nixon said: “This has been a challenging and thorough investigation while good progress has been made, enquiries are ongoing. We understand this is still a difficult time for June’s family and as we approach the anniversary, we remain committed to bringing this investigation to a conclusion as soon as possible.”

A spokesperson for Swan Housing Association added: “We remain fully committed to supporting the authorities’ investigation into this tragic incident. However, as the process is ongoing, we would not make any further comment at this stage.”

Vertikal Comment

Based on the details of the lawsuit and press release, this whole affair appears to be a disgrace on several levels. It is hard to believe or understand why the Atkinsons were not rehoused properly by those involved. It is also hard to understand why the police investigation was not completed within a few weeks or, at the very least, by the time the crane was finally removed. The key facts of the incident would have been known within the first few hours, with the more complex aspects of the case, such as responsibility, known within a matter of weeks?

As for the HSE, the organisation has a history of taking years to conclude a case or even publish a report. The HSE took nine years to conclude its investigation and a publish a final report into the fatal Kimberly boom lift incident on the M25 motorway in 2013. In the USA OSHA tends to take six months to conclude or at least issue a report into such investigations, for example a similar tower crane incident occurred in November 2006 in Seattle –-a detailed report was published in February 2007. In Australia the authorities are also fast, but are also more open with interim reports and produce highly detailed and illustrated final reports which are released publicly.

It beggars belief that industries like ours cannot adopt the same principles that the aviation industry has been using for air accident/incident investigations for the past 100 years. It’s simply not good enough.