Call for national safety inspection of tower cranes

Perth’s second-tallest building, C2, was recently evacuated following the discovery of a potentially fatal flaw in a crane that was operating 52 floors above the ground at the construction site, where over 540 workers are currently working.

CFMEU Construction Assistant National Secretary Lindsay Fraser said the incident was a serious breach of safety and called for a national visual safety inspection of all tower cranes: “This is a potentially dangerous situation and we want action taken to ensure that workers on other sites across Australia are not similarly affected.”

The jib of the MR615 - a 32-tonne luffing Potain crane - was dangerously peeling away from the base and an initial inspection revealed that a welded section at the base of the jib had cracked approximately 15 cm and torn away.

The investigation has yet to reveal why or how this happened, but the crane has now been made safe and decommissioned and will be pulled down.