Untold numbers of workers and passers-by might have been seriously injured in central Sydney on Monday November 9, were it not for the quick thinking of a crane operator and his dogger.

The incident occurred around 8.00am on the Parkview Pty Ltd site at 710 George Street – just as the Haymarket area of the city was starting to buzz with workers and commuters.

The Favco tower crane operator was unloading a 6 tonne site shed on to the back of a semi-trailer, parked in the loading area at the front of the site.

With the shed safely on the truck, the dogger had turned to get a ladder to unhook the hoist chains, when the truck driver suddenly took off.  The shed was still attached to chains, as the truck started to travel south down George Street.

Fortunately, the crane driver saw what had happened and slewed left and hooked down fast. The dogger ran after the truck, shouting at the driver to stop. The crane crew estimate he’d travelled about 15 metres before halting.

But for their quick thinking, the incident might have led to the collapse of the tower crane and death or severe injury to untold workers on the job and in the street below.

The truck was stopped and the load unhooked. The truck driver then disappeared and WorkCover NSW is endeavouring to track him down. It is not known why he drove away before the crane hook had been released.

A Prohibition order was placed on the crane by WorkCover until a certified engineer’s inspection and report had been produced.  Following an on-site inspection, the engineer concluded that ‘no sign of structural distress’ was observed on the crane’s grillage and ‘no bent members were observed’ on the boom. ‘As the crane was approximately at 35m radius when the truck came to a stop, the crane was still within its SWL capacity.’ It had been working at 32.5m radius before the incident and has an SWL capacity of about 9 tonnes. Further non-destructive tests of the boom pivot pin and boom cleat plate welds to the machinery deck were being undertaken this week as a quality control measure.

The crane was certified for work with no restrictions on to its SWL capacity and began lifting again on Tuesday November 10.

Actions to avoid similar incidents

• All transport companies delivering or receiving loads to be unloaded or loaded by crane must complete and sign off driver safety inductions and draw up safe work method statements for the tasks before arriving on site.  
• Parkview Pty Ltd has also implemented a number of other safety measures following toolbox discussions with the workforce and the union.
• Safe work methods for unloading/loading materials from trucks with the crane include traffic controllers placing a large chock under the kerb-side front wheel of truck and a sign on the front windscreen of the truck with procedures to be followed. The truck cannot move until the sign is removed - the last action by traffic controllers, before giving the driver the all-clear to depart.

Three traffic controllers have been engaged to provide adequate coverage for the Parkview site in what is regarded as one of the busiest stretches of road in the city.

More information Rick Rech NSW Branch Safety Officer 02. 9749 0400.