Uni to students:
Stop climbing cranes!
Canterbury University is using razor wire to stop students climbing construction cranes on campus.
Security was tightened after three incidents involving unauthorised access to cranes and construction sites on the Christchurch campus.
A university spokesman said the first incident involved the discovery of a beer bottle found in a crane cabin.
In another incident, a small group were caught on camera in a construction site, but moved on before they could be apprehended.
In the final incident, a ‘‘student couple’’ were arrested within a construction site.
‘‘Security around tower cranes was tightened after the first incident,’’ the spokesman said.
‘‘We have been aware for some time that our students are fans of our campus cranes.’’
Cranes have become such a craze on the campus that The UC Crane, listed as a public figure on Facebook, has more than 4200 followers, and it was jokingly nominated as president of the students’ association in August.
The spokesman said the hoardings at the base of each crane, inside of the main site surrounds, was raised and topped with razor wire.
‘‘Obviously, only authorised, health and safety inducted personnel should be on construction sites. Signage on the outside of each construction site and at the base of each crane makes this very clear.’’
The security measures were intended to make unauthorised access as difficult as possible and to ‘‘send a clear message that even attempting to climb a crane is extremely dangerous’’.
The university would take disciplinary action against any student found to be unlawfully in a construction site, he said.
University of Canterbury Students Association (UCSA) president Sarah Platt was aware of concerns about students getting into construction areas.
After a few drinks, students could want to test the boundaries without thinking through the repercussions, she said.