A crane has tipped over in an accident at Southampton Docks, in the third accident of its kind at the docks in the last two years.

BBC News reports that the incident occurred at 10am on Sunday (07/03/10), but no one was reported as injured, although two men were examined at the scene but did not require hospital treatment.

Similar incidents in which cranes tipped over occurred at Southampton Docks in 2008 and 2009. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is currently investigating the incidents.

In July 2009, crane driver Jay Squibb was seriously injured when he sustained crush injuries to his legs as the crane toppled over.

Mr Squibb lay trapped for two hours and was eventually airlifted by coastguard helicopter and taken to Southampton General Hospital, where he was treated for multiple fractures to his legs. Mr Squibb has returned to work, but has said he will probably not return to his former job as a crane operative.

At the time of this accident, the Unite union's regional industrial organiser, Matt Tipper – representing Mr Squibb’s own union – said that health and safety implications for workers at the docks were of ‘paramount importance’.

No one was injured in the other incident which occurred in January 2008, when a crane toppled over at the docks.

Sunday’s incident involved a crane estimated to be around 200ft (60m) high, which was on a tug. An unnamed worker at Southampton Docks, who was working near the crane at the time of the accident, said that he did not know if the crane was lifting anything at the time of the accident.

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