Upcoming Events :
Housing Seminar: Partnerships with the Public Sector – Avoiding the pitfalls
Thu 31 May 2012
Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London, SE1 9BB
HSE welcomes tighter controls on tower cranes
Mon 22 Feb 2010
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has welcomed new legislation which has been designed to reduce the number of accidents on construction sites.
As of April 6th 2010, building companies will be required to comply with new guidelines regarding the operation of tower cranes.
This will include signing up to a register of all tower cranes erected in the UK, as well as adhering to new competency requirements for crane erectors and dismantlers.
HSE chairwoman Judith Hackitt said the new register would help regulators, the government and the construction industry to deliver improved safety performance.
She stated that the repercussions of accidents involving falling tower cranes can be "catastrophic" for the workers involved, as well as their employers and clients.
Official figures show that since 2000, eight people have died in incidents involving tower cranes, while many more people have been injured.
HSE statistics also reveal that in the last 25 years, more than 2,800 employees in the construction sector have died from injuries they received at work.
