Inquiry will follow crane collapse

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33276, 13 July 1973, Page 1

Inquiry will follow crane collapse

OVew Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, July 12. A full public inquiry into the safety of cranes would be sought, said the chairman of the combined Auckland Building Trades Safety Committee (Mr P. Purdue) this afternoon after visiting the Civic Centre underground car-park site in Queen Street which was the scene of a spectacular crane accident earlier in the day.

The boom and control tower of a 140 ft high Liebherr crane crashed to the ground two hours after the supporting tower bent in the middle while a heavy weight was being lifted.

Mr Purdue said that in the past the committee had expressed its concern to the Government and various departments about the safety of cranes on building sites. He said that a number of cranes had collapsed recently. At present the responsibility for crane safety rested with a number of different authorities, including the Labour and Marine departments. There was confusion over who was responsible for what, said Mr Purdue. He

would recommend that the safety of cranes used on building sites come under the control of one authority. The Downer and Company supervisor at the underground car park site, Mr H. B. Adcock, said that the Marine Department inspected his company’s cranes. The accident today was the result of a structural failure, he said. The upper part of the tower bent to an angle of about 30deg. The operator escaped without injury and the site was cleared. Later, while the dam-

aged structure was being inspected, the wind blew and the boom weather-vaned. This altered the loading on the tower and the head fell to the ground. Asked about a report that an overload indicator in the control cabin had failed to work, Mr Adcock said that cranes were fitted with failsafe devices — but declined to comment further. He said the collapsed crane, which was worth about $BO,OOO, would take two or three days to dismantle. Meanwhile, work at the site would continue. The picture shows Mr I. D. Rae, a construction engineer for Downer and Company, inspecting the collapsed crane.