Safety bosses are days away from taking steps to boost crane safety. Samantha Parker and Ben Schofield report

A CRANE driver was left fighting for his life in Merseyside’s latest crane accident – just a week before government officials will launch a bid to tackle building site safety.

The driver was thrown from the 200ft machine as it smashed into a city centre apartment block. Its five-tonne counterweight careered through six occupied floors and into the building’s sub-basement.

Last night, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) confirmed it was days away from launching a campaign to force all tower crane operators to join a safety register.

Since April, it has carried out “targeted inspections” of cranes and was asked by ministers to start the register sooner in a bid to curb the number of devastating construction site accidents.

There have been at least 11 other high-profile crane smashes in Merseyside since 2006.

Emergency crews descended on yesterday’s crash scene after the alarm was raised at Chandlers Wharf, in Tabley Street, shortly after 12pm.

Rescuers and sniffer dogs were last night completing a floor-by-floor search of the building.

The huge concrete counter-weight destroyed the internal staircase as it plummeted through the building, leaving four people trapped inside. Firefighters on an aerial ladder plucked them from the building because there was no route down to ground level.

The driver of the crane was thrown from his cab and landed on the roof. He suffered head, chest and leg injuries and was treated by paramedics before being rushed to the Royal Liverpool Hospital, which was put on high alert.