New York Injury Talk Blog

In a natural escalation of the recent spike in fatal NY construction accidents and administrative miscues, Patricia J. Lancaster, New York City’s first female building commissioner, resigned on Tuesday, April 22nd. She becomes the first commissioner to leave the Bloomberg administration under a cloud of public controversy. The move comes as Lancaster faced escalating pressure from City Hall and growing criticism from the media and public at large after a series of administrative blunders.

The proverbial “final straw” may have come after an appearance at a City Council hearing when she admitted that the department had mistakenly issued permits for the East Side building where a crane collapsed last month, killing seven people and injuring 24 others. According to the article, Ms. Lancaster’s performance before the council “not only cast unwanted light on her department’s bureaucratic failings” and the recent rash of construction accidents, but “also drew attention to her awkward public manner and unclear explanations that diminished her credibility”.

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It has been one thing after another since the Deutsch Bank Building was severely damaged and contaminated after the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001. The New York Times reports that the troubled building has passed through a few owners and, most recently, last August 18th two firefighters were killed and two others hurt while fighting a blaze in the building. Just this week a family member of one of the dead firefighters filed suit against a government agency the sister claims created the dangerous conditions at the construction site that caused her brother’s death. Robert Beddia, 53 died as a result of toxic smoke created by the fire. Apparently, the fire was a result of a discarded cigarette on the 17th floor, and while an investigation is ongoing there are serious questions about a malfunctioning standpipe that made it impossible to bring water up above the fifth floor. The second firefighter, Joseph Graffagnino, 33, died as a direct result of the broken standpipe in the basement because it could not deliver water to the fire.

At a news conference last August, Mayor Michael Bloomberg indicated that three senior
fire officials had been relieved of their command as the investigation into the fatal fire continues. Mayor Bloomberg further commented that the local firehouse had conducted none of the required inspections of the bank building since 2006, even though it was on the edge of ground zero.

Continue reading "2 FIREFIGHTERS KILLED AND MORE HURT IN SEPARATE CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS AT THE DEUTSCH BANK BUILDING" »

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Proof positive that the dangerous nature of crane accidents are not reserved for New York alone, a seven-ton section of crane fell 30 stories in Miami recently, killing two workers and injuring 5 others. Fire and rescue officials said the collapse occurred about 1:45pm as a construction crew tried to lengthen the crane for work on a 46-story luxury high-rise overlooking Biscayne Bay. The 20 foot section dangled before dropping through the roof of the home contractors used as an office.

This crane collapse may appear eerily similar to the collapse that occurred in New York, but upon closer inspection, there are some major differences. While the cause of the collapse had not been determined, the circumstances in New York were unique, where a six-ton steel collar meant to help hold the crane in place broke free and plummeted from 18 stories high, leading the entire crane to detach from the building and fall toward the ground, with one section landing on a town house. In the Miami instance, a large 20-foot section of the crane itself weighing seven tons fell through the Spanish style home in Miami.

Continue reading "Two Killed in Crane Accident – This Time in Miami" »

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According to the New York Times, building officials believe it was highly unlikely that a missed inspection resulted in the deaths of 7 people on March 15th, however, Edward J. Marquette, 46, was arrested anyway after he faked a report indicating that he inspected a construction crane on the East Side of Manhattan on March 4th, just 11 days before the crane collapsed killing 7 people. The deaths occurred when workers were ‘jumping’ the crane, which is the process used to add sections to the tower, making it taller.

Officials believe that the accident occurred when a 6 ton steel collar, being fitted around the crane’s tower, as a part of the bracing operation, broke free-plummeting 18 stories, and shearing off braces in place on the 9th floor. An investigation is ongoing, and in addition to the crane falling two nylon slings that had been holding a collar in place high on the crane also broke.

Patricia Lancaster, New York Buildings Commissioner commented that every crane supposedly inspected by Marquette over the last six months would be re-inspected. Further, the New York Investigations Department will be performing a full review of the Buildings Department’s cranes and derricks division.

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An investigation is ongoing after forty-four year-old John Rodriguez, a contract worker, died last month after being electrocuted while installing electrical cables at a Consolidated Edison power station in Queens. Rodriquez suffered a heart attack after the New York Construction Accident when he touched a highly charged cable, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens, where he was pronounced dead. Mr. Rodriquez came into contact with a live wire while attempting to disconnect a ground wire from what turned out to be a live wire. Essentially, Mr. Rodriquez became the electrical conduit when he touched the live wire.

Bob McGee, a Con Edison spokesman, declined to make a comment regarding what precautions might have been taken to avoid Rodriquez’s death. Apparently, however, Con Edison has been under some scrutiny for safety and maintenance problems because of previous deaths.

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Dr. Philip Barie, the chief of the division of critical care at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan was quoted in the New York Times as saying, “If you believe in miracles, this is one.”. Dr. Barie went on to explain, “We’re talking about tiny, tiny percentages, well under 1 percent, of people who fall that distance and survive. Above 10 stories, most of the time we never see the patients because they usually go to the morgue” Dr. Barie’s quotes refer to the surprising recovery and ongoing recuperation of Alcides Moreno, a window washer who, along with his brother, plunged 47 stories from an Upper East Side apartment building last December. The fall, which killed Alcides’ brother, Edgar, happened when the scaffold on which they were standing while working as window washers gave way, plunging both men 47 stories to certain death. Three agencies continue to investigate the work related accident.

After more than sixteen operations; twenty-four pints of blood and nineteen pints of plasma, Alcides’ surgeon, Dr. John Boockvar, an assistant professor of neurological surgery at Weill Medical College of Cornell University indicated that Alcides is doing remarkably well after his latest operation to stabilize Alcides’ spinal column. This latest surgery on Alcides’ spine is meant to reduce the risk of neurological injury when Alcides again begins to walk and move about. After the fall, Alcides suffered serious injuries to his brain, his chest and his abdomen, as well as several fractured ribs, a broken arm, and two broken legs. But, amazingly, after falling 47 stories, Alcides spinal cord was intact and showed no signs of injury.

Continue reading "WINDOW WASHER SURVIVES 47 FOOT FALL FROM SCAFFOLDING" »

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At least seven people were killed when a large crane collapsed Saturday afternoon at a construction site on Manhattan's East Side. The crane toppled across the street and damaged three buildings, destroying a fourth. Twenty-four were reportedly injured following the devastating NY crane accident which occurred at 303 East 51st Street, near Second Avenue, at about 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 15. Ten people remained hospitalized, but the three critically injured victims were upgraded to serious condition.

Investigators said the collapse began Saturday afternoon as crews were "jumping" the crane - installing new sections on the 200-foot main tower to keep pace with what is to be a 43-story building. A six ton steel collar being fitted around the tower at the 18th floor somehow came loose and crashed down onto another collar on the ninth floor - snapping it loose from three 12-inch-wide steel beams that held it to the building. The three support beams were sheared off and with no supports remaining above the third floor, the 164-ton crane buckled to the south and snapped atop a building – sending a 75-foot section skidding over rooftops until the new york construction accident destroyed the four-story townhouse where two of the victims were standing in a kitchen.

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The law offices of Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro have been retained by the family of Luoro Ortega, a construction worker who was crushed to death on Wednesday, March 12th at a Brooklyn work site.

According to an article in the Daily News, Mr. Ortega, 30, of Queens was literally buried alive in the NY construction accident when an excavation caused a wall to collapse on him. William Lattarulo, 62, is owner of both the house whose wall collapsed and the lot next door where construction was occurring when the construction accident occurred. Mr. Lattarulo was cited for violating multiple building codes, including working with an expired building permit, when he hired Ortega and others to excavate under the existing home in preparation for the building of a commercial property next door.

Luttarulo’s engineer, Lewis Sanchez of Sanchez Associates had lost the privilege to perform engineering jobs in the city of New York a week earlier, due to ‘questionable practices’. Sanchez had also been previously penalized when the special enforcement team of the Buildings Department found that he was allowing his business partner to use his professional stamp to submit building applications. His partner surrendered his privileges in 2002.

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The Buildings Department issued a stop-work order against contractor Bovis Lend Lease and cited the company for not securing a chain used to hoist windows. Apparently, according to the Daily News, gusts of wind up to 50 MPH were responsible for causing loose chains to crash into the side of the Trump SoHo tower-showering glass to the streets below and cracking windows, neighborhood residents remarked. Buildings Department spokeswoman, Kate Lindquist, indicated that in addition to the falling glass approximately a dozen windows were cracked and others were removed as a precautionary measure.

Executive Director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Andrew Berman said that the SoHo project has been one disaster after another. This isn’t the first problem for the Trump project, which was cited for several building code violations after a worker fell 42 stories to his death in a new york construction accident back in January.

The winds caused general chaos on several building projects within the city when the Department cautioned and closed down several projects that posed a threat to the public. Seventy-five percent of the timber and plywood formwork located on the roof of a fifteen story West Village condominium building collapsed, according the Department’s spokeswoman, Kate Lindquist.

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In a story reported by the New York Times, Architect, Robert Woo was seriously injured last December in a New York construction accident at the Goldman Sachs office tower, when a nylon sling failed causing seven tons of metal studs to fall crushing a construction trailer.

Two trailers were hit; about a quarter of the load hit the trailer where Mr. Woo was sitting, which was being used as an office, an official said. The Department of Buildings halted work on the office tower, but they partially reopened the site for further construction a day later.

The Times reported, that a spokeswoman for the Buildings Department Robin Brooks indicated that an investigation is ongoing as to the cause of the accident. Immediately after the New York crane accident, it was believed that a nylon sling snapped allowing the seven tons of steel to fall 13 floors. The Buildings Department issued four violations days after the accident. Violations were issued to the Tishman Construction Corporation, responsible for managing the site, at 200 Murray Street for unsafe hoisting conditions; failure to safeguard the public and property during construction operations; failure to maintain vertical netting along the sides of the building; and failure to provide toe boards, which prevent material from being pushed off the side of a building or into a shaftway. Richard M. Kielar, a spokesman for Tishman, said the project’s safety record has been excellent.

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According to a press release yesterday by the New York City Department of Buildings, Buildings Commissioner Patricia J. Lancaster announced the launch of Phase II of the Department's Special Enforcement Plan to raise the bar for construction standards citywide to improve compliance with safety regulations and to avoid New York construction accident deaths. The proposed new rules include requiring more special safety managers at more construction sites-especially those involving concrete. Commissioner Lancaster indicated that, “concrete operations are extremely specialized and require a precise coordination or large numbers of workers.” Safety managers would be required at all buildings at least ten stories high. Present regulations require safety managers for buildings at least fifteen stories high.

According to a recent story in the New York Times, the proposed new rules will further require that general contractors, as well as those contractors working with concrete would have to register with the Buildings Department before obtaining building permits. Registration will enable the Buildings Department to better enforce present building codes and to ensure that safety violations are fined, according to Lancaster. A contractor’s record of compliance with safety and building codes, and whether or not fines have been paid, would be considered by the Department when issuing building permits. The proposed new regulations come shortly after the death of a man who plunged to his death while working on Trump’s SoHo Hotel. Yuriy Vanchytskyy fell to his death January 14, 2008, when wood forms used to hold wet concrete collapsed. According to the New York Department of Buildings’ data Vanchytskyy’s death was the third concrete operations-related death since 2006. Further, the Buildings Department reports that sixteen people have been injured in high-rise concrete construction accidents in the last two years. Sixty-one percent of forty one cases where construction materials fell from a high-rise site involved concrete.

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In Clinton Hill, a 42 year-old man, Jose Palacios, from Queens, trained as an accountant but working in construction for higher pay, died last month when he fell 12 stories after the scaffolding on which he was standing collapsed, according to the New York Times. A second man, whose name was not released, was taken to the King’s County Hospital in serious condition after falling from the same scaffold to the roof of a garage. Yet a third man was able to jump to safety on the roof. While an investigation is ongoing it appears, according to authorities, that Mr. Palacios was standing on an 18-foot-high tubular scaffold applying stucco when the scaffold collapsed beneath him. Safety netting was not in place when the Brooklyn accident took place, as is required by city law, because the Brooklyn project was nearly completed.

Wind gusts of up to 49 mph were recorded by the National Weather service, and the Department of Buildings had issued warnings to buildings and contractors earlier in the day instructing them to either, secure construction materials and tools, or to cancel work until winds subsided for fear of a dangerous construction accident.

Kate Lindquist, spokeswoman for the Buildings Department, indicated that Clinton Court Development, the Clinton project’s developer, had been cited for six violations last November.

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