It is a clearly marked CEO Jan Jahren of the contractor company Hent who meets TV 2 just hours after a female shop employee in her 50s died as a result of the crane overturning on their construction site in Melhus.
The woman was a resident of Trondheim municipality, according to the report NRK.
The company is responsible for the construction of the project called new Melhustorget, where a new shopping center and several hundred new apartments will be built. They were working on the second and final stage of construction, before the planned opening in the autumn.
– When you see the crane lying over here, what thoughts do you have?
– It is extremely heavy. Things have happened that shouldn’t happen, says Jahren.
OVERturned: This is what it looked like at the Melhustorget shopping center on Friday after the crane tipped over and fell over the building. Photo: Heidi Venæs / TV 2
Two other people were also injured. One is said to have suffered crushing injuries, while the other is said to have fallen as a result of the rollover. According to the police, both have minor injuries.
– I have the deepest sympathy for all relatives, everyone else who has been involved in the accident, employees at the shopping center, customers, our partners and my own employees on the project, says Jahren.
Unknown cause
It was shortly after 09:00 on Friday morning that the police received a report about a crane that had toppled over the shopping center in Melhus, around half an hour south of Trondheim.
– It is completely tragic, and it is difficult to understand that this has happened, says Jahren.
According to the director, the cause of the overturning of the crane, which must be at least 50 meters high, is not known. He states that the company is now doing what it can to contribute to the investigation. In addition, they start internal investigations.
Anne Berit was at work when the crane overturned:
Nor the police have established a reason why the crane overturned, but they have said that there was strong wind at the site when the accident occurred – something project manager John Olaf Solstad in the contractor also stated to TV 2 on Friday morning.
– Is it possible that you have done a poor job of securing the crane in the strong wind?
– We do not want to speculate about the reasons now. We have done what is normally always done on cranes that are used on more or less all Norwegian construction sites, says Jahren and emphasizes that they have followed what he calls completely normal procedures, says managing director Jahren.
Set crisis team
He says that all employees in the company are now looked after by their crisis team, and that in this way they have access to professional support staff. After the accident, they set up both an administrative crisis team in the office and one on the construction site.
On Friday, the wind was so strong that the driver of the overturned crane was never inside the crane.
– Due to the wind conditions today, we have restrictions on when we can and cannot carry out crane work. And because of the weather situation, there have been no people in the crane today, says Jahren.
– Never experienced anything like it
Another construction crane towers over the construction site again. The overturned crane was located close to this.
When asked whether it is prudent to leave the last crane standing, Jahren replies that as part of extra measures, they have implemented “necessary documentation that it has been done as it should be done”.
This is done together with the owner of the crane.
– And everything must be in order with that crane.
See more photos of the accident scene in the gallery below:
MAJOR DAMAGE: Parts of the roof destroyed after the construction crane overturned the Melhustorget shopping center in Melhus on Friday. Photo: Heidi Venæs / TV 2
NOT HOLD: This is what it looks like at the solders that are supposed to hold the faucet in place. Photo: Frank Lervik / TV 2
MAJOR DAMAGE: Parts of the roof destroyed after the construction crane overturned the Melhustorget shopping center in Melhus on Friday. Photo: Heidi Venæs / TV 2
MAJOR DAMAGE: Parts of the roof destroyed after the construction crane overturned the Melhustorget shopping center in Melhus on Friday. Here the center is depicted from the back. Photo: Heidi Venæs / TV 2
The company manager says he has been in the construction industry for 36 years.
– I have never experienced anything like this.
–It was difficult to understand that it had happened when you got the message?
Yes, we were in a state of shock. And we acted in the way we are supposed to act – we sent personnel out here to support the project and everyone who was on the construction site as well as everyone else affected, at the same time we also set up a crisis team in the office, so that we had control over the measures we were going to implement .
