Southampton crane accident investigation ongoing

Southampton crane accident investigation ongoing    Britain’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it “has been working as quickly as possible to establish the cause or causes' of a crane collapse at DP World’s terminal in Southampton.
   The operator of the Morris ship to shore container crane at the terminal was severely injured Monday when it collapsed onto a containership it was working.
   “We have identified some significant lines of enquiry and we have issued some precautionary advice to the ports industry as a result,” said Trevor Sexty, a spokesman for the agency. “We now know that there are no cranes of an identical design anywhere else in the U.K. All cranes at Southampton Container Terminal of a similar design and age to the model that collapsed on Monday have been taken out of use while the initial investigation continues, and until HSE is satisfied that they do not present a similar risk.”
   DP World has suspended the use of three additional container cranes at its terminal in Southampton, England, following the accident in which the crane, a twin-boom rig with the cab suspended on rails, failed at both uprights and collapsed onto the containership NYK Themis. The crane was working the ship at the time of the accident and the accident happened in good weather.
   The U.K. magazine Maritime Journal said that following the incident, the HSE is seeking information about the existence and whereabouts of any types of Morris cranes so that additional information can be made available to users on possible safety issues.
   Sexty said a team of HSE staff, including inspectors, a specialist mechanical engineer and a metallurgist, continue to work on the investigation, which he said is likely to take some time to reach a conclusion.