SCAFFOLD COLLAPSES, KILLING ONE BROTHER, AND LEAVING A SECOND BROTHER STRUGGLING FOR HIS LIFE
According to the New York Times, two brothers, Edgar and Alcides Moreno fell from the 47th floor of Solow Tower, a Manhattan building, after their scaffold collapsed beneath them. The two brothers, Edgar and Alcides Moreno, who worked as window washers together, fell from a swing scaffold, a built-in feature of the Solow Tower that is intended to let workers move the platform so window washers can reach any point on the facade. Both brothers were experienced window washers, and both had worked as window washers in high-rise buildings for over ten years.
The times relayed that, two hours before they fell, both Edgar and Alcides told José Cumbicos, their brother-in-law, that they feared a workplace injury might occur on the Solow Tower’s scaffolding, because their scaffold had a ‘mechanical problem’. In fact, according to the Times account, Alcides told his brother-in-law, the morning of the fall, that they were only reporting to work because their boss called telling them, ‘The scaffolding was fixed, come to work.’ So they both left.”
In an interview at his home, Jose indicated he only knew the brother’s boss as ‘Tony’. The Times reported that Jose said the brothers apparently trusted Tony, and that Tony reassured the bothers that the scaffold was safe. Apparently, the scaffold had been used, without incident, earlier in the week. Jose recounted that the brothers “….took every precaution when they worked.” But Jose, who is himself a window washer, added, “Something was wrong with the scaffold.”
As of last Friday, at least one investigator agreed with Jose. Another investigator said that new cables had been installed on the Solow Tower scaffold, but that it was unclear who did the work, when it was done and whether it was satisfactorily completed.
Jose related to the Times, that his brothers-in-law had also shared three other incidents with him where, just this year, there were problems with the scaffolding-one that reportedly put the scaffold totally out of commission just this last summer.
The accident is under investigation by the city’s Department of Buildings; the state’s Department of Labor, which inspects and regulates window-washing scaffolds; and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administrations, which examines workplace fatalities.
This accident comes many months after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, in response to an increase in construction-related deaths, announced a raft of measures in Februaryof this year to improve worker safety. These steps include creating a new inspection team at the Buildings Department, increasing regulations and training, and sharply increasing the penalties for violations.
According to a task force formed by the Governor in November of 2006, the statistics released in 2005 for the previous 12 months revealed that: 29 laborers died in work-related accidents, with 17 of them falling to their deaths. That was determined to be an increase of 61 percent over the previous year, when 18 construction workers were killed, 9 in falls.
Edgar, only 30, was killed when he fell onto a fence in an alleyway below-cutting him in half. Alcides, 37, suffered extensive critical injuries. As the various investigations continue, Alcides, the father of three children-two sons, aged 14 and 7, and a 10-year-old daughter, is still struggling for life at New York’s Presbyterian Weill Cornell hospital in Manhattan. Jose and another brother-in-law, Juvan Rivas, said doctors had told the family of the injuries Alcides Moreno suffered. The Times relates that, according to José Castillo, a cousin of the Moreno brothers, Alcides underwent surgery on Friday night for blood clots in the brain, collapsed lungs, damaged kidneys, numerous bone fractures and extensive internal injuries. Jose said the doctors talked to the family after the surgery, indicating, “The only sign that he’s alive is that he’s breathing”.
The two Moreno brothers were employed by City Wide Window Cleaning of Jamaica, Queens. A New York Department of Buildings spokeswoman, Kate Lindquist, confirmed that an investigation was underway, and she acknowledged that City Wide Window Cleaning, along with Solow Management, would be included as a part of their investigation.
