 A series of accidents during the tower 's construction resulted in the deaths of six workmen and serious injury to another . Two of the men , Jonathan Richardson and Alexander Stewart , were killed when a crane hook snapped and a girder fell and hit the scaffold platform on which they were standing , causing them to fall to the ground . A third man , John Daly , suffered serious injuries . The other four were killed in separate incidents by falling off the tower structure . A fire on the tower at 172 feet ( 52 m ) in 1898 resulted in the death of a fire @-@ fighter from the New Brighton Fire Brigade . He fell 90 feet ( 27 m ) while walking along a beam 6 @-@ inch ( 150 mm ) wide to try and extinguish the flames . 
