Witnesses who heard a crane fall on a work site and into Sydney Harbour say it is lucky no-one was killed in the incident.
The crane collapsed on a barge near the Harbour Bridge and Luna Park off Milsons Point after 1pm on Tuesday with its arm dipping into the water.
A spokesman for SafeWork NSW told AAP police had alerted them to the incident and inspectors were on their way to the site.
The barge was being used to construct the Milsons Point Ferry Wharf, according to Daniel Da Silva, who heard the bang from neighbouring Lavender Bay.
"I heard the bang but didn't know what it was so I jumped in the tender and raced out to see if one of our tenants' boats had exploded," Mr Da Silva said in a statement.
"In all my years working on the water I have never seen anything like this ... we have tourists go past that exact location almost daily, so, we are lucky no one was killed."
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It is unclear at this stage what caused the incident on Waterway Construction's barge.
Luke Bayly was sitting on the other side of the harbour when the crane fell.
"It was a huge bang, it startled me, I thought a bomb had gone off," he told ABC radio.
The construction union was on the scene in the aftermath of the incident, according to CFMEU state secretary Brian Parker.
"What seems to have happened is they were lifting a block that weighs about 10 tonnes and the luffing wire has snapped and the hook, even though it is several metres off shore on the barge, the hook has ended up in the head of Luna Park," Mr Parker told AAP on Tuesday.
Mr Parker criticised SafeWork NSW saying the watchdog had moved towards self-regulation rather than regulating the industry.
"As we have constantly said there will be a continuation of incidents ... while SafeWork hands out advisory notices that aren't legally binding," he said.
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