The contractor was attempting to carry out the lift in winds of more than 72km/h.
Guilherme de Oliveira, 44, from Portugal, sustained fatal crush injuries in the incident during construction at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford back in 10 November 2008.
Bouygues UK Ltd, the principal contractor for an extension project at the hospital, was sentenced yesterday (26 February) after an investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) identified serious safety breaches in its lifting operations.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard that Mr de Oliveira was working for Bouygues through an agency as a banksman. He was fixing beams across supporting towers to form part of the concrete structure for a new building. The beams were lifted from ground level to the work area by a tower crane.
Mr de Oliveira and another banksman climbed the support towers to unhook the lifting chains from the concrete beam, which was seven metres long and was to be placed almost three metres off the ground.
As the beam was lifted into position, the weather took a turn for the worse. Before Mr de Oliviera was able to disconnect the chains on the beam at his side, the wind gusted at such a speed that it exceeded the safe working parameters of the tower crane.
As a result, the slew brakes slipped and the crane rotated with the wind. The beam on the hook below swung into Mr de Oliveira and crushed him against an adjacent tower.
The HSE investigation found that four tower cranes were in operation at the site, each one fitted with an anemometer measuring wind speed and providing warnings at pre-set values: an amber warning at 50km/h or more and a red warning at 72km/h. The sensors were linked to a computer in the site office to allow managers to monitor data and supervise lifting operations. However, at the time of the incident it was not being monitored and on-site arrangements allowed crane operators to check their own wind speed displays. So they would only have stopped lifting if they considered it necessary, and not necessarily when the maximum wind speed limit was exceeded.
HSE concluded that there was inadequate planning and supervision of the work. Had a suitable management procedure been in place and followed there would have been the opportunity to properly consider the deteriorating weather conditions and then take the tower cranes out of operation.
Bouygues UK Ltd, of York Road, London, SE1 was fined £175,000 and ordered to pay £80,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 8 of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations.
HSE inspector Dominic Elliss said after the hearing: “Although the judge was not satisfied that the company’s failings was a direct cause for Mr de Oliveira’s death, he said there was a systemic failure where a risk of serious injury was foreseeable.
“Lifting operations can be highly hazardous and the appropriate standards are clearly set out in both the regulations and industry guidance. There is no excuse to ignore them and I would urge all those undertaking such work to review the effectiveness of their own controls to ensure safety on construction sites.”
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