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Canary Wharf crane collapse is still a mystery
26th Feb, 2006 to 26th Jun, 2006
The HSE has recently completed its exhaustive investigation into the collapse of a Wolff 320 BF tower crane at Canada Square, London, in 2000, in which three workers were killed. A public report explains that despite a very technical and complex investigation involving HSE inspectors, the Metropolitan Police, the Health and Safety Laboratory, lifting specialists and external experts, there is no conclusive explanation for the incident.
The three men killed were part of a team who were in the process of using a large ‘climbing frame’ incorporating a hydraulic lifting device to raise the height of the tower crane when the incident occurred. They fell more than 120m when the top of the crane and the climbing frame overturned as they were approaching the end of a weekend of climbing operations on this and a sister crane on the site. Two other members of the crew escaped into the tower of the crane and survived.
The HSE understands that this incident was only the second collapse of a tower crane during climbing. The first occurred in San Francisco in 1989.