28.04.2008

UK to trial alert for tower crane near misses

The third meeting of the UK’s Strategic Forum for Construction’s Tower Crane group, took place last week, to review and discuss progress on achieving the group’s action plan to improve health and safety practices within the tower crane sector:

The following progress point updates have been released.

1. The Site Induction Working Group – has agreed a more challenging brief, to consider not only site inductions, but also the planning, checks and liaison process required before erection, climbing or dismantling cranes. It will create a final guidance document that includes management processes with clearer lines of accountability by the end of June 2008.

2. The Competency Working Group – has created a matrix of current competency training schemes. It will now clarify expected levels of competency for individuals such as supervisors. A final document will be published by the end of June 2008.

3. The Maintenance & Thorough Examination Working Group - has now completed its Maintenance and Thorough Examination guidance, which will be launched on the 13th of May at SED in Corby and 25th June at Vertikal Days, Haydock. The group will now focus on communicating these guidelines to industry.

4. The Operator Working Conditions Working Group – is in the process of drafting a Code of Practice providing best practice guidance for the industry on operator working conditions. Areas of focus include hours of work; fitness for work and environmental factors. Guidance will be published free of charge by the end of August 2008.

5. Sharing Information on Near Hits – an email address has been created for Forum members to communicate incidents and near misses during the month of May as a trial to provide a snapshot of industry issues. Any trends or lessons learnt will be communicated to the industry as a whole. The initiative will then be rolled out to the wider industry and members of the public in the coming months.

6. Communication to the Public – a proposal has been produced to establish a mechanism for enabling members of the pubic to access information on Tower Crane activity locally and quickly. The firming up of this proposal will continue over the next couple of months.

The group agreed that significant progress has already been made, with anticipated conclusions in many areas over the next couple of months. The next meeting will take place on the 9th of July 2008.

The Group chairman, John Spanswick, said: “I am very encouraged by the progress made so far by the group, I look forward to seeing tangible actions being completed in the coming months for the benefit of industry.”