BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23364, 2 December 1937, Page 19

BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

ERECTION OF SCAFFOLDING RAILWAYS DEPARTMENT'S METHODS CLOSE INQUIRY AT INQUEST <Pek United Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, Dec. 1. A close inquiry into the methods of the Railways Department in constructing and in supervising the erection of scaffolding was made during an inquest to-day into the death at Kowhai bridge on September 9 of a Railways Department employee. John Owen Macer, through the collapse of , i scaffolding which was being used in bridge construction. Macer, with three other employees of the department. who were all injured, fell 39 feet on to the shingle of a river bed. “ The only comment I would make ; s the one I made in a quarry case. That is that it might be as well it the Crown were made subject to the provisions of the Scaffolding Act just as k any other employer of labour in New Zealand.” said the coroner, Mr E. C. Levvey. His -7 erdict was that Macer, had died from internal haemorrhage following severe bodily injuries suffered in falling 39 feet from a scaffolding at the Kowhai River bridge Sub-inspector D. A. Maclean conducted the case for the police, Mr A. W Brown appeared for the Railways 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 bridge strengthening work at the Kowhai River, Henry John Douglas Barnard, a leading carpenter (Railways 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 and hung on. One man clutched a ladder, but the others fell to the shingle river bed some 39 feet below Some planks and tools fell with ■ them. To Mr Archer Barnard said he had had no special training in the construction of scaffolds. He had picked up his knowledge as he went along. Mr Archer: It would appear that that is the practice of the department—not to give special instruction? Mr Brown objected to the question, Mr Archer (to Barnard): Have you any knowledge of the load-carrying capacity of the scaffolding?

Mr 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? Witness: 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, a labourer, said he was about to step from a ladder to the scaffolding when he heard the 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 at times as many as nine men working on the scaffolding at one time. Eric Rowland Austin,' boilermakerwelder, said he had suggested to Barnard that the steadying struts should be removed to allow new braces to be placed. The 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 a beam before the accident.

“A competent scaff older could and should have discovered that the timber was cross-grained,” said Noel Harry Graham, inspector of scaffolding, when referring to the timbers of the scaffolding. When questioned, Graham added to his statement, “if the sunshakes (flaws) were! visible.” Graham said he had seen the timber a few days after the accident, and the 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. George Archibald Simmers, who was assistant district engineer to the department in Christchurch at the time of the accident, said he had tested the timbers of the scaffolding for strain and stresk 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, ana tools) before breaking. The timber, Oregon pine, was ideal for the purpose. The weak bearer or beam, however, had been cross-grained, which was most unusual. This would have caused the accident. 1 ~ , 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 flaws, had been removed by planing. . . . Mr Archer: Surely cross-graining would have been visible and_ would have been noticed if an inspection had been made? , ~ . A ... Witness: I suggest that the fact that experienced men, both in Christchurch and at the bridge (where timbers were handled often) did not detect it is proof that the cross-grainin: 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, “ that there was a rather 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 the 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.