26 Sep 2016

Sydney crane collapse leaves workers hanging inside boom

8:17 am on 26 September 2016

Three workers left dangling by their safety harnesses inside the boom of a crane that collapsed atop an Australian building site have been rescued.

Fire and Rescue New South Wales Inspector Ron James said emergency services were called to the crane collapse at Arthur Street, North Sydney about 11:30am yesterday, with reports that three people were trapped.

"On arrival, we found the boom of the crane was hanging over the side of the building with three people [hanging] inside the boom," Inspector James said.

"With the help of Ambulance Special Operation and Police Rescue, Fire and Rescue NSW removed those persons from the crane, using a rescue bucket.

"I believe one had serious injuries."

Inspector James said the other two men had superficial injuries.

NSW Police said the three men, aged 24, 27 and 38, had been "attached by lanyard and trapped for a short time".

He said that it was believed the workers were in the process of dismantling the crane when the accident occurred.

"I couldn't tell if they were inside the boom, or on [top of] the boom, but they were [somewhere] on the swinging boom of the crane when it collapsed into the building ... which is the arm of the crane, the bit that hangs out of the crane, with the wire hanging off the end.

"They were 20 levels up, so it was quite high and they were hanging on the crane because it was in a vertical position, the boom ... at least ... 60 metres above the ground."

'Thank heavens' for safety harnesses

Inspector James said the men were "very lucky" to be alive - "thank heavens they had their harnesses on".

He said the boom of the crane was quite mangled and would now have to removed.

A police statement said all three were taken to Royal North Shore Hospital with various injuries, which are not considered to be life-threatening.

They are all in a stable condition.

"The 24-year-old man managed to release himself and climbed to safety on the roof of the building.

"Other workers lowered a metal box using a second crane to assist the other men.

"The pair were released and lowered to the ground."

Engineers will attend and assess the site and SafeWork NSW will investigate the incident.

SafeWork NSW Executive Director Peter Dunphy said there would be a thorough investigation.

"There's a few facts that we're looking at at the moment, firstly we'll be looking at the controls that were in place by the principal contractor, which is Meriton," Mr Dunphy said.

"We'd also be looking at the procedures that were in place for the crane operator which was Titan Cranes and Rigging and we'd be looking through their safe systems of work."

'The noise was really loud'

Witness Trent, who lives nearby, said he was at home when he heard a loud noise, and that he knew it must have been a heavy piece of construction hardware collapsing.

"I heard a real distinctive noise like the crashing and everything, and figured it must have been scaffolding or a crane that came down," he said.

"I've witnessed scaffolding falling before ... I've been on construction sites, but I've witnessed a grandstand come down before."

He said he raced around to the construction site to see what had happened and saw paramedics working on the men.

Another witness, Melinda said she did not hear the crane coming down, but heard all of the emergency services.

"When I heard the helicopters I got a bit worried, then we went and looked.

"The crane had come down and it was on its side, so it's detached from the main bit.

"But the noise was really loud."

- ABC