Two people are dead and two more injured after a tower crane overturned on a construction site in Nanjing. The accident was the result of standard safety procedures being compromised; those responsible are facing the stiffest possible penalties.

Yesterday, 23 August, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Housing and Urban Rural Development announced the cause of the accident which had occurred 3 days earlier, on 20 August.

According to a preliminary analysis, the accident stemmed from the crane’s installation. It has transpired that workers responsible did not install the tower crane’s fixed pin shaft according to standard procedures.

As a result, the crane toppled during its latter stages of erection, reports China Court.

The Department has stipulated that one Jiangsu Pangyuan Machinery Co., Ltd. may not continue to rent and use the equipment. The responsible enterprise and relevant personnel face serious charges, while the safety production license of the responsible enterprise has been temporarily withheld.

Tower crane accidents in China have been on the up over the past decade. In May of 2020 alone, China Labour Bulletin’s Work Accident Map noted at least eight accidents over just 10 days.

Responsible would appear to be the 2008 financial crisis. Or rather, the infrastructure spending spree which China went on in its aftermath.

This led to an exponential growth in the number of private crane leasing companies. Many brought in rural migrant workers without proper training to fill a gap in the talent pool for crane operators.

The sector’s difficulties have also been made worse by the simultaneous retirement of older, more experienced crane operators. They’ve been replaced by the young and inexperienced, who only qualify for the minimum wage. In order to make ends meet, they may take on extra hours and operate a tower crane all day long.

That’s in stark contrast to the previous years, when crane operators were highly skilled, worked for state-owned construction companies and had their hours strictly regulated.

Despite the worries over the construction industry’s private sector as illustrated by Saturday’s accident, in place are clear and detailed government regulations as regards tower crane operation and safety procedures. Crane operators, for example, are required to a hold a government-issued certificate before they can be formally taken on.

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