Strategic Forum launches crane safety guidance

The Strategic Forum has urged contractors to improve safety on sites with tower cranes by making it easier for the public to contact the site manager with safety concerns.

In guidance issued today, the forum asks contractors to attach posters to site hoardings containing the phone number of the site manager, the Strategic Forum’s website address and a guide to crane safety.

The proposal is one of a series of measures contained in the guidance documents, which comes after a spate of tower crane accidents that have led to eight deaths since May 2000.

The move follows Building’s Safer Skyline campaign, which highlighted the need to reassure the public over safety. The Strategic Forum’s tower crane group was set up to consider ways to improve safety, including Building’s proposals.

The move has received support from James Purnell, the work and pensions secretary. He said: “I’m pleased to see the way the industry has worked together to produce this important guidance; let’s make sure it gets put into action.”

The document includes advice on the erection, climbing, dismantling and maintenance of cranes, and the minimum qualifications held by those using them.

The forum has also published a pocket-sized information booklet for crane operators. About 3,000 will be produced and distributed to everyone involved in the manufacture and use of cranes, from suppliers to site managers.

Shelley Atkinson-Frost, secretary of the health and safety group at the Strategic Forum, said: ”We want to establish how we expect tower crane operators to work, in terms of their responsibilities and rights.”

More information at www.strategicforum.org.uk