BRIDGE ACCIDENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 133, 2 December 1937, Page 28

BRIDGE ACCIDENT

' RAILWAY EMPLOYEE KILLED

CORONER'S COMMENT

COLLAPSE OF SCAFFOLDING

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, December 1. A close inquiry into the methods of the Railway Department in constructing and in supervising the erection of scaffolding was made during an inquest today into the death at Kowhai Bridge on September 9 of a Railway Department employee, John Owen Macer, through the collapse of a scaffolding being used in bridge construction. Macer, with three other employees of the Department wno were all injured, fell 39 feet on to the shingle o^ the riverbed. ''The only comment I would make is the one I made in a quarry case—that is, that it might be as well if the Crown were made subject to the provisions of the Scaffolding Act just as any other employer of labour in New Zealand," said the Coroner, Mr. E. C. Lewey. His verdict was that Macer had died from internal hemorrhage following severe bodily injuries Buffered in falling 39 feet from scaffolding at the Kowhai River Bridge. Sub-Inspector D. A. Maclean conducted the case for the police, Mr. A. W. Brown appeared for the Railway Department, Mr. K. G. Archer for the relatives and for the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, and Mr. N. H. Graham, inspector of scaffolding, for the Department of Labour. The man in charge of the bridgestrengthening work at the Kowhai River, Henry John Douglas Barnard, a leading carpenter (Railway Department), said in evidence that he had been with several other men on the top staging of a bridge-tower when he heard a crack and felt his feet slipping. He hooked an arm over a tierod arid hung on. One man clutched a ladder, but the others fell to the shingle of the riverbed some 39 feet below. Some planks and tools fell with them. ! To Mr. Archer, Barnard said he had no special training in the construction of scaffolds. He had picked up his knowledge as he went. Mr. Archer: It would appear, then, that this is the practice of the Department, not to give special instruction. Mr. Brown objected to the question. FLAWS IN TIMBER. Mr. Archer (to Barnard): Have you any knowledge of the load-carrying capacity of the scaffolding? Barnard: No. Did you make any tests?— No. Did you make examinations from day to day?— Yes, from time to time. Barnard said he did not know till after the accident that the timber of the bearer had flaws in it. Mr. Archer: Was it not a subject of comment amounting to a complaint that the top bearers were bowed and that they appeared dangerous? Barnard: Yes, that's right. To Mr. Brown, Barnard said he thought the accident had been caused solely by the breaking of one bearer or beam. It was very rare to get a short break in that type of timber. Francis Lester Reem Frew, labourer, said he was about to step from a ladder to the scaffolding when he heard timber crack and felt the staging go beneath the foot he had placed on it. He clung to the ladder. During the time he had been working at the Kowhai Bridge there were often .as many as nine men working on-the scaffolding at one time. Eric Rowland Austin, boilermakerwelder, said he had suggested to Barnard that steadying struts be removed to allow new braces to be placed. Struts had been removed shortly before the accident. He thought their removal had a bearing on the cause of the accident. William Lawrence' Stoddard, one of the men who fell from the scaffolding, said he had seen sun-shakes (flaws) in the beam before the accident. "A competent scaffolder could, and should, have discovered that the timber was cross-grained," said Noel Harry Graham, Inspector of Scaffolding, in referring to the timbers of the scaffolding. Questioned, Graham added to his statement "if sun-shakes (flaws) were visible." Graham said he had seen the timber a few days after the accident and flaws were then visible, but he could not possibly say how long they had been showing. As he saw the scaffolding he would not have passed it. The timber was not suitable. STRONGER THAN THE AVERAGE. George Archibald Simmers, who was Assistant District Engineer to the Department at Christchurch at the time of the accident, said he had tested the timbers of the scaffolding for strain and stress. From comparisons with American official figures he would say that the scaffolding had been stronger than the average. It had a safety factor of 3.9, which meant that it would carry almost four times the tested weight (five men, plant, and tools) before breaking. The timber, Oregon pine, was ideal for the purpose. The weak bearer, or beam, however, had been crossgrained, which was most unusual. This would have caused the accident. To Mr. Archer, Simmers said the Department had since used still stronger materials to restore the men's confidence. The saw-cuts which would 'hide the flaws had been removed, by planing. Mr. Archer: Surely oross-graining would have been visible and would have been noticed 'if an inspection had been made? ' ' Witness: I suggest that the fact that experienced men both at Christchurch and at the bridge (where timbers were handled often) did not detect it, is proof that cross-graining was not discernible. .■■'■-■ Mr. Archer: Would not lack of inspection be a sign of carelessness on the part of those in • charge? Witness: No. "The Amalgamated Society thinks that the facts suggest that' this is one of the most difficult and dangerous jobs," Mr. Archer told the Coroner, "and that there was rather an unreasonable proportion of unskilled men and rather a lack of supervision." The Department was naturally upset, said Mr. Brown. There was no dispute, however, that undetected cross-graining in one of the beams had caused the collapse of the scaffolding. Macer and other experienced men, however, had handled the actual beam, and Stoddard, who had seen the flaws, had yet climbed up on to the scaffolding.