The dad-of-two, from Glasgow, took his employer to a tribunal after he was unfairly dismissed following the incident in Leith Walk, Edinburgh, in November 2023.
12:03, 07 May 2025Updated 12:17, 07 May 2025
The scene at Steads Place, Leith, Edinburgh(Image: Lauren Gilmour/PA Wire)
A crane operator who was sacked following a horror collapse on a block of flats has won a £30,000 pay-out over the incident.
The dad-of-two, from Glasgow, took employer Falcon Tower Crane Services to an employment tribunal after he was accused of causing prior damage to the machinery and unfairly dismissed following the accident at a building site in Leith Walk, Edinburgh, in November 2023.
The worker said he had been left suffering from post traumatic distress, “flashbacks and nightmares” and had developed a fear of heights over the terrifying incident – which left onlookers horrified at the time.
The crane operator, named as G Shields in the judgement, won a basic award of £18,550 and compensation of £10,665.
Employment judge Amanda Jones said the firm’s health and safety manager did not have “reasonable grounds” to accuse Mr Shields, an experienced employee of almost a decade, of misconduct and had not carried out a reasonable investigation before sacking him.
The scene of the horror crane collapse in Leith Walk, Edinburgh(Image: Lauren Gilmour/PA Wire)
The Record reported at the time how emergency services rushed to the scene at a block of flats which were under construction at around 9.30am and two people were taken to hospital.
Eyewitnesses described how they thought there had “been an earthquake” after the machinery snapped and crashed down on to the roof of a building.
The tribunal heard Mr Shields, who had been providing holiday cover at the site, suffered an injured shoulder in the impact and was signed off sick prior to his dismissal.
Damage was found to have been caused to the arm of the crane, known as the jib, the day prior to the accident but Mr Shields, who carried out inspections before starting work on November 28 denied any knowledge of it.
His employer created a video from stills from time lapse footage it had obtained and presented it to the crane operator.
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The judgement said: “The respondent had formed the view that the claimant had caused the damage to the jib.
“The claimant, as an experienced crane operator, knew that he should report any damage to a crane to the respondent. He also knew that operating a damaged crane could risk his life and that of all other individuals on the site.
Emergency services at the incident(Image: Peter Hill )
“If the claimant reported any damage to a crane, he would continue to be paid while any damage was repaired. The claimant has two children and would not have risked his life and that of others by knowingly operating a damaged crane.”
Following Mr Shields’ dismissal, the Health and Safety Executive issued a report to the company stating that “the most likely cause of the failure appears to have been the damage to the jib due to operator error.”
The judgement said: “The Tribunal came to the conclusion that (the company’s managing director, Andrew Brown) as the most senior employee and a shareholder in the respondent company had formed a view early on in the process that the
claimant was responsible for the damage which resulted in the crane collapse and this view was then adopted by others in the organisation.”
In November last year, Falcon Tower Crane Services, based in Norfolk, were acquitted on health and safety charges after a crane collapse led to the death of three men at a construction site.
The firm faced a prosecution from the Health and Safety Executive following the collapse in Crewe in June 2017.