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Ms O’Donoghue with Shannon, pictured after the accident |
‘I just want to know what happened the day Craig was killed by a crane’
Partner of carpenter who died tragically on building site says she wants answers from inquest
THE fiancée of a carpenter killed on a Hampstead building site when he was crushed by a crane has told the New Journal she does not want to hear “sob stories” at a coroner’s inquest.
Michelle O’Donoghue said she just wants to find out the exact circumstances of Craig Page’s tragic death when a hearing begins next month.
She said: “I just want to know why and how it happened. Craig’s not the first for this to happen and he won’t be the last.”
Mr Page, 26, the father of their one-year-old daughter Shannon, died in March when he was hit by a boom arm of a crane while working on a site in Denning Road.
The Health and Safety Executive, the government-appointed safety watchdog, is investigating the circumstances and the Crown Prosecution Service are checking the details to see if any charges should be brought.
Site managers said they were “mystified” at how it could have happened.
A coroner’s inquest has been scheduled for the middle of next month.
Mr Page’s employers and a series of construction site safety experts are due to give evidence.
Ms O’Donoghue said: “I don’t want sob stories, I just want to know how someone let it happen to someone so young and so happy.
“I’ve got Shannon but nothing anyone can give me will ever compensate not having Craig.”
In a letter to Ms O’Donoghue dated March 16, ten days after her fiancée’s death, site directors Colin Calnan and Neil Harris wrote to express their “deep shock and devastation” at the “tragic accident” that led to Mr Page’s death.
They called Mr Page a “top guy” and “one of the team”.
“We are, as we are sure you are, mystified as to how such a tragic accident could happen with a modern crane with all the latest stability warning devices and limiters, which should prevent such an event, driven by a very competent and conscientious fully qualified driver,” they added. “We all hope that the investigation being carried out by the Health and Safety Executive will give us all some answers.”
A post mortem found that Mr Page’s chest had been crushed. He was hit by the crane while trying to retrieve a plank of wood from part of the site.
“I say if Craig hadn’t gone to get the plank he would still be here,” said Ms O’Donoghue, who lives in Islington.
In statements likely to be used at the inquest at St Pancras Coroner’s Court, paramedic Franco Alonso described being first on the scene,
within three minutes of receiving an emergency call.
He said: “As we arrived a male ran to us in a very panicky state, asking us to come quickly and ‘Hurry up’.
“I now know this man to be the operator of the crane that day…
“As we arrived at the site entrance I saw the crane had overturned, its arm was extended and was lying across an elevated wooden platform above a deep excavation site.
“On seeing this I told my crewmate we should not enter the site.”
He described the crane driver as in “emotional shock”.
An air ambulance arrived minutes later but Mr Page – known as “Craigy” – was declared dead at 12.52pm, around half an hour after the incident. |
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