A number of RTL readers had told us that an accident had taken place at the construction site of ArcelorMittal's new headquarters in Kirchberg. A balance beam had reportedly gone out of control and fallen from a crane onto the EU Council building below. On the spot, on Rue Galileo Galilei, it can indeed be seen that the European Convention Centre opposite the construction site has been damaged.
On Monday, the police finally confirmed to RTL that there had been an incident at the location, which had already been reported to officers on 12 August. According to their information, three steel beams fell that day from a height of 60 metres, having not been properly secured to the crane. The beams fell first onto the construction site below and then onto the EU Council building diagonally opposite.
As a result of the workplace accident, those who were inside the European Convention Centre at the time were evacuated as a precaution. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident, whether on the construction site, on the road or inside the EU Council building. The damage was therefore limited to the material.
Alongside the police, the Inspectorate of Labour and Mines (ITM) was also present at the scene of the accident.
The ITM is not allowed to release information on specific cases, though its spokeswoman was able to answer a number of general questions.
Whenever the ITM is called to the scene, she explained, the situation is first assessed on the spot. Inspectors also look into how the accident occurred, checking, for example, whether the working methods and safety measures were as they should have been. At the same time, they assess whether there is still any danger to workers or to other people in the vicinity.
A temporary suspension of works or a specific safety measure can be ordered if this is needed to remove a danger, the ITM's spokeswoman told RTL when asked. Even so, it is not the case that a construction site is automatically shut down completely after every such incident.
Where works are halted, the site may only resume operations once the identified dangers have been ruled out and any measures required by the ITM have been implemented. Here too, however, everything depends on the nature of the danger and the specifics of the site.
The ITM could not tell RTL whether works had been interrupted in the Kirchberg case, since it does not comment on individual files.
