Prohibition notice for crane firm involved in Croydon collapse

The company whose crane collapsed in Croydon last week has been ordered to stop using “inadequately trained staff” by the Health and Safety Executive.

The HSE announced today it had served Select Plant Hire a prohibition notice ordering it to cease all lowering or raising of tower cranes by use of climbing frame systems unless the work is conducted by people with adequate training.

The initial HSE investigation has established that the top section of the crane had not been connected to the climbing frame.

The HSE said: “The Notice covers all of Select’s tower cranes and stops them from climbing tower cranes using inadequately trained staff. The notice will not stop Select from operating their fleet of tower cranes or from carrying out climbing operations. However they can only use fully trained and experienced teams to do this.”

Prohibition Notices are served when HSE inspectors find a breach of the law where they consider there is a risk of serious personal injury. Companies are ordered to comply with the orders of the Notice or face prosecution.

Building has also found out that Select was served with an Improvement Notice from the HSE on 2 February. It was reported to be in breach of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations Act, and the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was given until 26 February to improve its set-up, which the HSE later found it had done.