The fall of the crane near the Branko Bridge, in which one worker died, once again drew attention to the working conditions at large construction sites in Serbia. Will the investigation determine who is to blame, and will anyone be held accountable for this tragedy
Crane collapse at construction site of the new bridge on the Sava, in the immediate vicinity Branko's Bridge, on Tuesday, April 7 around noon, took one life and opened for the umpteenth time, a series of questions about security on large infrastructure projects in Serbia.
According to the information so far, the accident occurred when the crane, which was carrying a large metal structure at the time, collapsed.
A crane fell near the Branko bridge: one person died, three were injured
As confirmed by the Ministry of Construction, one worker, a Chinese citizen, died in the accident, while three others were transported to the Emergency Center.
The circumstances under which the crane fell have not yet been clarified. According to unconfirmed reports, the crane was lifting an extremely heavy load, allegedly weighing hundreds of tons, but it has not been confirmed whether it was the load that caused the accident. Unofficially, the crane was carrying 30 tons more material than allowed, but the investigation will determine the exact reason for this tragedy.
The police and emergency services immediately arrived at the scene, and an investigation was launched to determine whether it was a technical failure, human error or a possible failure to implement safety measures at work.
The competent prosecutor's office and the labor inspectorate should determine all the circumstances of the accident, including whether safety protocols were followed, what the working conditions were, and who bears responsibility.
Let us remind you that the works are being carried out on the site of the former Old Sava Bridge, which the authorities removed in order to build a new one on that location because the old one, as they claimed, was not safe.
By the way, two Chinese companies were engaged in the construction of the new bridge, through a direct contract without tendering, based on the interstate agreement between Serbia and China.
Key data on contracts, contractor selection procedure and project conditions are not publicly available.
Radio Free Europe announced that the parts for the new bridge are being made in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, at the plant of the Chinese state-owned company "China State Construction Engineering".
The contractor for this project is another state-owned Chinese company, PowerChina.
In Serbia, she is involved in a number of infrastructure projects, among others, the construction of an exhibition space for the international specialized exhibition EXPO.
The Third Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade ordered to investigate all the circumstances related to the accident that happened on April 7 at the construction site near the Old Sava bridge, when one worker lost his life and three workers were injured.
The prosecutor went to the scene and conducted an investigation, and according to the facts established so far, the accident in which the worker ZX (born in 1988) - a Chinese citizen was killed, and three people were injured, was caused by the horizontal movement of the load on the crane, as a result of which the load hit the telehandler, after which the deceased worker fell out of the basket, the prosecutor's office announced.
It was ordered to take statements from all employees who were at the construction site at the time of the accident, as well as statements from responsible persons in the legal entity where the deceased was employed.
In addition, it was ordered that the Labor Inspectorate and the Construction Inspectorate come to the scene, which will review the business documentation, with the aim of determining whether the workers were provided with safe working conditions and whether they were provided with the safety equipment that they are required to wear when operating machines and performing construction work at height, and whether the death occurred as a result of the actions of a person or solely due to the actions of the deceased.
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