Gordons construction health & safety update - New Tower Crane Regulations
The Notification of Conventional Tower Crane Regulations 2010 (the “Regulations”) came into force on 6 April 2010. The Regulations introduce a tower crane register, on which all conventional tower cranes used on construction sites must be listed. This has been created in response to concerns over crane safety in Britain; in the past 10 years tower crane collapses have killed eight people and injured many more.
Under the Regulations any employer (including self-employed persons) that has primary responsibility for a crane's safety and for ensuring that the crane is thoroughly examined under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (“LOLER”) is required to make the notification within 14 days of any thorough examination of the crane under LOLER. This will usually be either the principal contractor or the contractor appointed by the principal contractor to provide all on-site crane services.
The information to be notified to the HSE includes:
- the name and address of company providing the crane for use on the site
- the address of the construction site
- information sufficient to identify the crane
- the date of the thorough examination
- the name and address of the business for whom the examination was made
- any defects revealed by the examination that involve imminent risk of serious personal injury
In the case of a conventional tower crane already installed on a construction site and thoroughly examined before 6 April 2010, the information listed above needs to be notified to the HSE by 3 May 2010.
The Regulations do not apply to other types of tower cranes such as self-erecting tower cranes or any other type of crane, for example mobile cranes.
Failure to comply with the Regulations is a criminal offence and could result in an Improvement Notice requiring the employer to redress the failure within a time limit set out in the notice. Any such notice is listed in a public record and accordingly may have a commercial impact in terms of its reputation, as well as insurance premiums. Persistent failures or a failure to comply with an Improvement Notice may result in prosecution and substantial fines.
If you would like to speak to anyone about the issues raised in this article please contact Lyndsay Bailey.
Published: 17th June 2010
Lyndsay Bailey
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