§ 28. Mr. Thorneasked the Home Secretary whether he can give any information in connection with the walls of a burned-out building in the city, which collapsed, trapping two demolition workers, of whom one was killed and the other seriously injured; and what precautions were taken to prevent the fall of big blocks of masonry?
§ Mr. H. MorrisonOn the information given by my hon. Friend, I have had some difficulty in identifying the incident. I presume however he is referring to an incident where I regret a worker was killed and another injured by the collapse of a wall some distance from the site on which they were working. The wall collapsed suddenly, presumably as a result of cooling, fell on to a neighbouring building which itself collapsed and so caused the accident. All possible precautions are taken to avoid accidents of this kind but my hon. Friend will appreciate that in this type of work it is impossible to eliminate all risks.
§ Mr. ThorneDo I understand that it was impossible to timber the building up?
§ Mr. MorrisonI understand that the building in which the men were was not in trouble. The Building that fell was one that had fallen as a consequence of the raid. It may satisfy my hon. Friend if I tell him that there was a subsequent inquest, when it was established that there was no question of negligence on the part of those in charge of the operations.