Preston crane firm fined £10,000 following Warrington accident

3:35pm Wednesday 10th September 2008

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A Preston crane firm has been fined £10,000 following an incident in Warrington which endangered the lives of three workers.

Crane operators Leach Structural Steelwork Ltd (Leach) of Brockholes Way, Garstang Road, north of Preston, will also have to pay £9,143 following the accident in the town last year.

The firm was one of two construction companies prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a 35 tonne truck mounted telescopic crane overturned when one of the outrigger supports sank into the ground.

The crane driver was forced to leap to safety and the 5.7 tonne beam that was being lifted into place narrowly missed two employees as it fell.

The incident happened on February 27 at Lingley Mere, Great Sankey, Warrington, where a new fire control centre was under construction.

It has lead to a warning from the HSE to the construction industry of the need to ensure that mobile crane operations are properly planned and supervised.

HSE Inspector Nic Rigby who investigated the case said: "This prosecution should act a warning to all those involved in crane operations. It was down to chance alone that this incident did not result in multiple fatalities.

“This would have been avoided had the planning and supervision of the lifting operation not been so deficient.

"The crane overturned because it was being operated, with the knowledge of both companies, in a part of the site that had not been prepared for such activities. The roadway was not wide enough to accommodate the outrigger spread of the crane.

"This failing should have been obvious to all those involved in the planning for, and the operation of, the cranes on that site.

“Clear warnings were ignored in the run-up to this incident about the ground bearing capacity for the use of cranes on the site.

“The risk assessments which had been produced were inadequate as they only considered use at a completely different part of the site".

The main contractor, the AMEC Group Ltd (Amec) of Northwich, pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and Leach pleaded guilty to breaching section 2 (1) of the same act.

Both companies received the same financial penalties.