UNEXPLAINED BREAK

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 70, 24 March 1931, Page 10

UNEXPLAINED BREAK

EIGGER'S DEATH

NEW POST OFFICE

ACCIDENT

The fatal accident which occurred on the new Courtenay place Post Office' building on 19th February, when a rigger, John William Comptoh, received injuries -which resulted in his death, was the subject of an inquest, held by Mr. I. Salckj. J.P., Coroner, to-day. -■■', ■.Comptoh was being'carried to the top of' .the building' on a concrete hoist when one of tho.-'stecl wires broke, the platform tipped, and Compton was thrown" out, and :fell, from aVconsiderable height to tho ground. Hq received injuries from which ho "died in the Wellington : Hospital. ■"'".• ' '■■' Giving evidence, to-day James.Alexander Suitor, senior inspector of scaffolding employed by .the Labour Department,. saicl that on 19th , February ho was called,to the new Post 'Office contract in Cambridge tcrraco, where Compton. had been, injured some .time previously. "All'-the working parts On the hoist were in. good condition and working order," said the witness. "The platform was down in the1 bottom of the pit at tho time. I oxammed the wire and found that, it was practically a' clean "break. There, was-no. evidence of, the rope haying stranded at".all." The hois t,\was. a , .steel, concrete. hoist, composed of sections of twenty feet, and as the building proceeded it was lengthened by these- sections. The mast at the time of the accident was 140 feot high. The • top portion had just been sent up and Compton's. job was to fix the fishplates to it. He ( was going up to do this after lunch when the accident happened. \ ''■~. ! Sub-Inspector Logdell: "Was the lift rendered less secure ; by the , fact that these fishplates were not fastened?'*' Witness: '--'No,. Sir." .".; /., . ;, ' ; Witness said he had found: nothing about the rope or the, platform to1 suggest the cause of the rope breaking. Tests.had shown that the actual breaking strength of the rope was over six tons, and the actual weight on the- rope at the time of the accident was 17071b5. A certificate ■< issued -by his Department, authorised the use of weights up to two tons on the hoist. The job was inspected regularly twice and sometimes three-times a. week. In witness's opinion the use of the hoist and 'platform was ,the safest way for the deceased to do his work. ■ " The; Coroner: "In your experience have you ever known of a .similar break?'.'' . , : ' . \ ; .Witness: ."No, Sir, they generally strand and carry away. I have never known anything like it before." Even now he was unable to givel any cause for the break. . , : -.-,'... After hearing tho evidence of a mi/n----ber of other witnesses the Coroner, returned a formal verdict that the ; deceased died from- injuries as a result of the fall.'-"" "If; is impossible to say what was the cause of the breaking.of the':rope. It .was just one1 of: those accidents which occur and for which it is .impossible to give the. reason," ho said. ;■ ~- ■;.--,• ,\ : ■■-■Hr. ■ :'' i; '■:::•.■::■■'-'■ . Sub-Inspector Lop dell conductedthe inquest. : Mr.- J. ,D. Willis appeared for tho widow of the deceased, and Mr. J. Prendeville for the Public Works Department., .. - ..- ~.- ~-?.: i