Bovis to fit all towers with SMIE anti-collision system

BOVIS LEND Lease, one of the biggest contractors in the world, is fitting SMIE AC 30 anti-collision equipment to all tower cranes used on its construction sites.

Safety director Peter Hobson said that the system had worked 'wonderfully well'.

He added: 'In fact there has not been a single fault or failure which could be linked to the SMIE AC 30 equipment. Some people might consider it an expensive way of guaranteeing safety but we believe it offers real value for money and, if you consider the cost in relation to total development budget, it really is a very small price to pay for peace of mind.'

Hobson said that project teams could no longer afford to rely solely on the traditional role of the banksman, and human error remained the biggest single cause of accidents in the construction industry.

'On the Scottish parliament building, where we have had five cranes on site for most of the past 18 months and as many as three encroaching on each other's area of operation, we have not had a single instance of any incident - not even near misses. The SMIE system really is remarkably effective and virtually foolproof,' Hobson said.

'This really is a most serious issue. In these days of inner city sites, with a lot of cranes working close together on a site where boundaries are crowded by other buildings and public roads, the event of two cranes touching really is potentially catastrophic. An anti-collision system becomes immensely important.'

Bovis Lend Lease is also developing a winch gantry to fit on the back of tower cranes so that in the event of an emergency, the operator can be lowered to the ground on a Robinson stretcher.