A court hearing in the UK into a construction accident has resulted in the judge calling for the construction industry to develop guidelines for safe wind speed levels when setting loads.
UK steelwork designer Conder Structures Ltd was fined £100,000 ($180,000) plus costs following the death of a 16-year-old ground worker, killed by two structural steel columns that were blown down by the wind. The 17m-high columns, weighing 2t each, had been bolted down at their bases but were otherwise freestanding.
The accident happened on 28 November 2000 during the erection of a steel-framed building designed by Conder Structures and erected by a subcontractor at Magna Park, Lutterworth, Leicestershire.
Sentencing the design company on 6 January, Judge Christopher Metcalf urged the construction industry to agree on safe levels of wind speed for putting up steel frames. He said: ‘I find it extraordinary that we came to court in the first place with no clear guidelines for the industry.’
The prosecution was brought by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). HSE inspector Mark Hatfield said: ‘This tragic accident occurred because a subcontractor had not been informed by the designer of the maximum wind speed in which the columns could be safely erected free standing; the number and arrangement of the wedges required; or the importance of the base wedging. As a consequence, the steel erectors failed to appreciate the consequences of leaving these particular structural steel columns unwedged and freestanding in wind conditions that were quite normal for the time of year. The failure to adequately supervise the subcontract steel erectors compounded the problem.’
