WorkCover New South Wales has announced its tower cranes inspection program has begun across the state.

The program, which was announced following last year’s spectacular crane blaze and subsequent collapse in central Sydney, fulfuls an agreement reached in December by the Crane Safety Roundtable.

During the December meeting, it was agreed that WorkCover would bring forward, and expand on, its planned tower crane verification and inspection program.

The program will involve carrying out specialised inspections program, which will involve carrying out specialised inspections into tower cranes, starting with the type involved in the collapse.

These inspections will review existing risk controls such as crane pre-assembly and pre-use inspection systems, as well as physically inspecting the cranes.

WorkCover General Manager John Watson said on advice from the IPCC, WorkCover released a new safety alert in late December for use by all stakeholders in the industry. The alert can be found on WorkCover’s website.

“This is a good example of Industry working together and taking ownership of safety issues in the crane industry,” Mr Watson said.
“The Industry Plant Consultative Committee is a collaborative approach looking at ways to help prevent incidents like this collapse from happening again.