黑洞社区

Bovis Lend Lease is to fit its cranes with black box data recorders as part of a pioneering safety crackdown.

The recording devices, commonly used on aircraft to store data and investigate flight accidents, are being introduced by the contractor as part of a safety system that also aims to improve communication between tower crane operatives.

Geoff Sinnerton, chief executive of Aspect International, the firm that developed the software, said: 鈥淏lack boxes don鈥檛 stop plane crashes, but they help us learn why they happened and how we can prevent them happening again.鈥�

The system, called the crane integrated safety system (CISS), will be introduced on Bovis鈥� 拢413m redevelopment of BBC Broadcasting House, and will be employed on all of its major projects by mid-2009.

Trials of the system, which uses Bluetooth technology, began early last year on a site in Cambridge and other contractors have since made enquiries about using it.

Nick Pollard, chief executive of Bovis Lend Lease UK, said he hoped the initiative would become an 鈥渋ndustry standard鈥�.

Without doubt, it will save lives and prevent serious injury

Nick Pollard, Bovis Lend Lease

He said: 鈥淲ithout a shadow of a doubt, it will save lives and prevent serious injury.鈥�

Sinnerton said 鈥渟ignificant enquiries鈥� into adopting the system had already been made by 鈥渢wo major crane companies and other key contractors鈥�. He added he was confident that by the middle of next year, at least 鈥渟ix of the major players will have adopted the initiative鈥�.

Each CISS package costs 拢12,000, and includes a hands-free communication system, camera, TV monitor, black box, recording software, radio belts and handsets. At a time when the industry is under financial pressure, it will be an expensive cost for many firms.

But Liliana Alexa, whose son Michael was killed in the Battersea crane disaster two years ago, and who now runs the Battersea Crane Disaster Action Group, said: 鈥淚f firms can鈥檛 afford to take on safety measures like this, they shouldn鈥檛 be building in the first place.鈥�

The move follows 黑洞社区鈥檚 Safer Skyline campaign, which highlighted the need to reassure the public over safety. Since 2000, eight people have been killed in crane accidents in the UK.