Last year, a UK coroner found that a fatal tower crane accident in Liverpool was caused by a freak set of circumstances that no-one could have reasonably foreseen. Construction workers’ union rep George Guy responded by asking, “How can construction workers have any confidence in health and safety provisions on sites if the powers that be can’t find anyone to prosecute in such a high profile incident?”

Guy said, “Tower cranes do not fall apart of their own accord.” That’s true, but doesn’t mean that every accident can be blamed on a single individual’s negligence, or that authorities should always launch a merciless hunt for someone to prosecute.

In New York, master rigger William Rapetti is facing homicide charges over an accident last March that killed seven people. The local district attorney has presented his case to the press, claiming that Rapetti used a sling that had substantial pre-existing damage, including severe discolouration, that should have been spotted in a proper inspection. Rapetti’s lawyer has questioned whether slings found by investigators were in fact used on the fatal climbing operation.

In a letter to Cranes Today, one of the ironworkers who responded to the accident has questioned how the crane was anchored, and why this has not been raised by prosecutors or the press. He says, the crane ‘was not bolted down nor was the grillage iron that it stood on’. The anchoring of the crane would have been certified by a professional engineer, and signed off by New York’s department of buildings. It’s hard not to be reminded of OSHA’s investigation into an accident in Seattle in 2006, which identified an unanchored base as the root cause. The photos on p9 of this issue may help you make your own mind up about both these possible causes.

When questions like this remain about an accident, can it be right to bring the whole weight of the law down on a single man? In an industry where there should always be organisational processes to prevent accidents, can any accident, however terrible, be laid at the feet of a single individual?