Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations scrapped

As a result of the Löfstedt review of health and safety legislation, the Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations (SI 2010/333) have been scrapped by the Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Repeals, Revocations and Amendments) Regulations 2013, which came into force on 6 April 2013. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says that the regulations remove legislation that has been overtaken by more up to date law, is redundant or does not deliver the intended benefits. The legislation was introduced following several incidents in which tower cranes collapsed or suffered major structural failure and subsequent campaigning by family members of those killed as a result.

General union GMB national health and safety officer John McClean pointed out that in the ten years before the tregulations were introduced nine people were killed, and there were 25 serious injuries in more than 60 accidents involving cranes in the UK. There are around 1,500 tower cranes in the UK and around 1,000 in use at any one time.