Gothamist: BREAKING: Midtown East Crane Collapses Kills 4, Injures Many, Others Missing

nicemarmot

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:29:08 -0500

Schwartzie what strikes me as impressive is that the "professional engineer, a certified master rigger, and a seasoned construction manager"s might as well be laymen judging by the job they've done. I don't have to be professionally involved to comment on an obviously unsafe worksite 2 blocks from my apartment. If that crane had fallen the other way, it could have hit my building. You don't have to be a professional to notice what's right in front of your face.

Schwartzie

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:59:05 -0500

What's most impressive is that everyone commenting on this article and quoted in the press seems to be a member of the NY Bar, a professional engineer, a certified master rigger, and a seasoned construction manager. I'm humbled.

Spiritof76

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:37:16 -0500

Unions are relevant in that the function of the union is to look after the welfare and interests of its members. That may have been the original purpose of unions, but nowadays, the only purpose of unions is to ensure their own continued existence. If that means keeping union members safe, then that's a freebie, but otherwise, as long as other suckers keep joining, that's all that matters.

cucarachita

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:05:37 -0500

Um... "All the piece of steel had to do was fall slightly left or right, and nothing would have happened." WTF? Why did this piece of steel fall, anyway? And what would it have hit if it had fallen slightly to the right? A person? Just one building? Obviously they were doing things wrong in the first place if stuff was falling. This is what you get for hiring meatheads to handle heavy machinery. And also what you get for trying to insert a 43-story building in the middle of an already populated block. It's sick.

Karen

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:48:51 -0500

If this was an "accident," it sounds as if it was one that could have been avoided. I don't live in NYC, but part of the problem may be that due to budget cuts, every agency to do with workplace safety in any industry, has had a shortage of inspectors, since the Reagan years. When people complain about such sites, how long does it take an inspector to go to look into things? Does it happen before someone gets injured or killed? Before property is damaged, or a project put behind schedule due to an accident? Probably not. as for unions...unions have comprehensive safety programs and work closely with management on this. Its to everyone's advantage...if work stops due to injury, deaths, or near misses, work stops. Projects get behind. From a practical, monetary POV, it makes sense to have safety practices in use, from both labor and management standpoints. But...is it me, or the media? Are there more construction accidents, especially in NYC, the past year, or is it just the subject reporters are focusing on?

GCN

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:47:39 -0500

What I don't understand is why this crane/building was passed by inspectors who came in as the result of nearby residents compaints and concerns. I agree with those above who feel that these tall buildings are completely out of whack. I spent every weekend on this very street, c;oser to First Ave. and in this tall building made no sense--even with the brick thing across the street and the building on First. The street is one of nice, small buildings. It's so sad.

Jen S

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:29:43 -0500

Spiny, you just summed up all of my related frustrations. What's needed is a better conversation between the DOB and the neighborhoods being affected by these developments to ensure that everyone is happy and safe. In the Williamsburg area, I play a game and count the new condos being slapped up. The number is constantly growing, and the neighborhood looks crazy , not to mention severely unbalanced. The trend seems to be pointing the city to newer, bigger, shinier, but where is this going to lead us? I mean, I'd like to live in a nice, new condo, but no way can I afford that - not for years, at this rate. Who is living in these buildings? And where are the rest of us going to live when the old buildings are knocked down for new ones?

starrygordon

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:05:33 -0500

Unions are relevant in that the function of the union is to look after the welfare and interests of its members. Getting killed is not in the interests of a worker, usually. Evidently the unions are not doing their job, just as the DOB is not doing its job. The only people doing their job are the developers, whose job is to be as greedy as possible and practice the old American principle of dog eat dog, and devil take the hindmost. I imagine some of these new buildings may be falling down before long, given the standards being adhered to in constructing them.

magilla gorilla

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 08:30:44 -0500

i think what they're trying to say is that the crane was secured properly and being "jumped" properly up until this supposed freak incident where a steel beam or whatever fell. if a piece of steel fell and sheared one of the crane's support ties, that is not a freak accident. no way that steel should have fell in the first place. on some projects, safety is considered an afterthought. something that takes a backseat to progress it may take them a while to figure exactly what happened but there will no doubt be massive and wide ranging lawsuits involving the owner, gc/const. mgr, crane owner, crane operator, steel sub., dept. of buildings, nyc, etc. the finger pointing has already begun by this kaplan guy but just because reliance wasn't directly responsible for the crane, doesn't absolve them of responsibility. also, typically union workers are better trained and more skilled than non-union. i don't think that's really relevant

glennQNYC

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 08:18:27 -0500

Tragic stuff. Whoever dropped the piece of steel that caused the chain reaction must be devistated. I guess this is why those crane operators make over six figures...

Tim N.

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:15:04 -0500

I heard some developer already made an offer on the townhouse's lot.

David McCaffredy

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:36:47 -0500

Well said, Spiny.

Spiny

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:24:37 -0500

"It is entirely possible that this spate of construction fatalities may be the undoing of the Bloomberg Administration's positive public record. The DOB should shut down every single building site in the city at this point. There is simply no way of knowing what building sites are safe any longer." Agreed, tartugas. Real estate developers are not evil incarnate, simply as a result of being real estate developers. Nor is development necessarily a bad thing. Change and development can be bad...or good. New York City history shows that to be the case. But the heavy-handed, greedy recklessness of real estate development in this city, at present, is shameful. It's irreparably altering communities, against the wishes and the best efforts of the people who actually live and work in them. It's frequently changing the skyline for the worse, and making it harder and harder to distinguish among the characters of individual neighborhoods. It's serving only those who can afford "luxury condos." (Where are these affordable housing developments that we're always being promised?) And it's costing lives through rushed jobs, risky cost-cutting measures, and shoddy construction. NONE of it has to be this way! Development doesn't have to be this way. But people all over the city seem so willing to just accept that this is the way development is going. How many more times are we going to collectively shrug and say "oops," or "gee whiz, that tacky condo tower sucks for everyone except the people who live in it or profit from it -- too bad!" Nothing's going to change as long as the developers have City Hall in their pockets. I fear for the arts and culture, I fear for the preservation of our history, I fear for middle- and low-income New Yorkers...but most of all, I fear for our construction workers. I haven't walked past a construction site since I saw people injured in the Toll Brothers incident, and the rate of accidents in this city has proven that to be a good policy: don't step on anything with a ConEd logo on it, don't walk past construction sites, and you'll probably live. I love this city, but I would love it more if City Hall would address the needs of its residents in addition to the needs of its developers...one of which is the need to be able to walk down the street without fear of being crushed to death by a giant fucking crane.

Steven

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:05:50 -0500

Blame the rushing of these buildings to be built. This should be a wakeup call to the city and saying no to ugly huge condo buildings!

tartugas

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:12:26 -0500

'Union or non union? it seems most of these accidents happen at UNION sites." Excuse me? This has nothing to do with Union or Non-Union. This is all about bad management. There are companies straining human resources and logistical limits to deliver projects for less money in less time. It takes X amount of time to do any job safely. What really concerns me is the buildings that made it through construction without significant catastrophes and will be falling down in the next 10 years due to shoddy construction. If Union construction was actually used on this site I'd be surprised. If people hadn't been so anti-union for the past s20 - 30 years, we wouldn't be facing this sort of rush of catastrophic accidents. Let me ask you something edEX, how many cranes collapsed during the construction of the Empire State Building? It is entirely possible that this spate of construction fatalities may be the undoing of the Bloomberg Administration's positive public record. The DOB should shut down every single building site in the city at this point. There is simply no way of knowing what building sites are safe any longer. You want to know what's really scary? As this was all coming down (pun intended), I was joking with friends that if they saw a Bovis Lend/Lease sign that we had to cross the street. We were on 86th and 3rd Ave. Thank God we didn't walk south.

kenny000

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 21:45:43 -0500

You don't find projects of this magnitude that are non-union, so it's difficult to compare. Non-union sites are smaller and while there are accidents and deaths, they don't get nearly the same attention.

edEx

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 21:29:17 -0500

Union or non union? it seems most of these accidents happen at UNION sites.

jaycjay

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:53:23 -0500

"There were 13 violations at the site, which is considered 'normal' for a building of this size." That really gets to the heart of the problem. Yes, there are regulations, but no there's no expectation that anyone would actually comply with them. And no real requirement to comply, for that matter.

Spiny

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:20:02 -0500

This is a horrific disaster. I pray that no one else has been killed, and my heart also goes out to anyone who is now homeless and to the owners and employees of Fubar. I was evacuated from my building a little over a year ago when a crane partially collapsed at the Toll Brothers construction site on Third and 14th. That crane was owned by New York Crane, and it always looked and just "felt" unsafe to myself and my neighbors, and that accident happened while the construction crew was "jumping the crane" -- raising the whole thing up to add a new section. Here, we have another crane owned by New York Crane, collapsing and killing construction workers who were "jumping the crane"...and residents of buildings on and around 51st Street are now saying that they wouldn't go near it because it seemed unsafe. It may all be a coincidence, but I still wonder: what is going on here? I fear for every construction worker in this city, and I can't bring myself to even walk past a construction site, after witnessing the Toll Brothers incident. How many more people are going to be injured and killed in this plague of construction disasters before our city leaders decide that enough is enough?

Ethan

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:11:21 -0500

FUBAR is an acronym that commonly means "F#*&@ Up Beyond All Repair", "F#*&@ Up Beyond Any Recognition," (the recognition version was most often used to describe a situation) or the most common translation "F#*&@ Up Beyond All Recognition." It is attested in the United States Army and other military settings, as well as civilian environments.

JacqueMehoff

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:38:26 -0500

thank you WSM, people should visit their local borough office and see what goes on in there. one thing you notice is a sign stating employees can not accept any gratuities and that a "thank You" would suffice. and, we know what Fast track means when it comes to applying for permits.

mrs_t

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:35:04 -0500

is there anything that people in the area can do to help?

nickv

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:33:16 -0500

Posted this on the Times blog but probably more responses here: This is what happens when the Department of Buildings refuses to enforce any of the laws and violations that it gives. The survivors and survivor families should sue the Department of Buildings for complete lack of enforcement. The situation in the city has gotten pathetic and the same swan song of “accidents happen” completely abdicates everyone from responsibility. I love how the contractor claims “it was a subcontractor.” Soon you’ll see the subcontractor claim it was a black cat next door that crossed a path. The attorney general should already be working on filing criminal charges against the developer, the construction company contractor, the sub contractor and those in charge at the Department of Buildings. Its time for people to stop getting away with literal murder in everyone’s desperate race to the bottom.

bklynd

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:30:50 -0500

NYT is reporting that the detaching of the crane from the building was a "freak accident" - they supposedly dropped something on one of the beams that connected it.

values_hehe

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:21:02 -0500

Wow, I walk by that townhome everyday on the way to work. It seemed like the building got taller by a floor every day. I thought I was hallucinating at first, but then it was undeniable.

Jen S

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:16:36 -0500

Check out this amazing shot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekavet/2336093824/

west side Michael

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:52:46 -0500

Writer MSC thanks for that info. Wish I were a lawyer against them.

west side Michael

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:50:52 -0500

Let me tell you now the Dept. Of Buildings is the most corrupt part of our city it is always working for landlords and usually only for "squeeky wheels" tenants. Every one in the D.O.B. should\ be fired. This crane was inspected on Friday the day before this horrible accident.I wonder if the DOB crane inspector ever got out of their city car? This after the city says they were going to be more vigorous on construction job site inspections. What a great job on that,anyone can see this crane was becoming top heavy and as they raised the crane today it toppled. Nice Job DOB! I empathize with the dead and injured which as I write now 3 injured are "Likely"in hospital i.e.Likely to die.

Jen S

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:42:15 -0500

Terrible. How is this still happening? Where are our standards?

Streamwise

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:40:52 -0500

A couple of years my building was remodeling a front concrete staircase, fairly simple. We had two work stoppages and several DOB inspections because someone complained and thought the stairway was unsafe during construction....no, not because of some blatant safety violation, but because the remodeler had screwed up and one of the stairs was like 1" off. All very minor stuff,but DOB seemed to have enough time to send someone twice over a week period to look at it. So how is it, that people can make 311 calls about a crane swinging 20ft outside their window, plus several other safety concerns regarding the construction of a high-rise, and not do anything??? Maybe they function like the community boards, i.e., whoever greases their palms gets a little less "oversight"!

babyhitler

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:19:32 -0500

we should send the cranes back to mexico where they belong. Not only do the cranes kill people, but they don't pay taxes and take jobs away from americans.

EastRiver

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:52:31 -0500

yes, REALLY. no such thing as just an ACCIDENT. That's a cop out answer. You must be a lawyer. Try picking up a book on statistics sometime. Sure, everything can be traced back to its root cause but to think every detail can be caught is again simply naive. You will probably be right that an investigation will turn up that the crane was improperly installed weeks or months ago but you have no way of knowing that now.

UnionCarpenter157

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:45:53 -0500

This is the problem to the Building owners and the Contractors Life is cheap in the old days they would build one casket for every 3 floors so they expect one death every 3 floors going up that means in your average concrete crew of say 70 carpenters building a 42 story building there will be at least 14 Injuries perhaps some deaths. The nature of the beast is to get it build as fast as possible whatever it takes. it is up to the Building department and OSHA to protect the interest and safety of the workers and civilians in my opinion they need to issue a city wide shut down of all cranes and have them reinspected ASAP and those prablomatic sites may need to get contractors with a better safety records. my prayers go to everyone affected.

just_saying

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:45:46 -0500

Good work, Gothamist. Somehow you always seem to have the most complete coverage for NYC catastrophes (of which there are many).

MSC

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:45:16 -0500

Quote from the Reliance Construction Group Website regarding Fast Track Jobs. "...Fast-Track Scheduling We have earned a special reputation for our willingness to take on assignments with deadlines considered virtually infeasible, and then to do whatever it takes to succeed, assuming full responsibility for supplying the resources required. Getting there on time takes the right planning tools and the right planning skills. We have those. More importantly, it also takes the right relationships with sub contractors and suppliers and their one hundred percent cooperation. We have that too. Retailers off to a late start in the planning of a new store come to us so that they are open by Christmas. Manufacturers and retailers facing complicated renovation or expansion projects come to us to minimize disruption and downtime. Building owners trying to accommodate incoming tenants with demanding occupancy requirements come to us for help in meeting their commitments. In thirty years of high-pressure construction management, we have never once struck out." STRIKE ONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

MSC

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:38:39 -0500

Construction company http://www.relianceconstruction.com/english/ go to projects Hotel and Condominium click on 303 east 51st Street to see picture of CRANE "Still Standing".

kenny000

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:35:18 -0500

According to wcbstv.com: About 19 of the 44 stories had been erected, and the crane was scheduled to be extended Saturday so workers could start work on a fresh story when a piece of steel fell and sheared off one of the ties holding it to the building, according to Stephen Kaplan, an owner of the Reliance Construction Group, which manages construction at the site.

nicemarmot

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:35:07 -0500

Yeah I live just up the street and this was a somewhat alarming construction site. Very sketchy, as opposed to the Veneto down the street which never seemed dangerous. This was an "accident" but a lot of people saw it coming. I didn't actually realize I had heard the collapse until some time afterwards, I wrote it off as another truck. That's how loud 2nd Ave is.

Aly Q

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:27:59 -0500

I texted my brother-in-law to see if he was okay as he lives a few blocks from there. He's fine but said he's not suprised. He said he saw it swaying as they were putting it up and almost ran. It almost took out a light post. I'm so sorry for the four who died and the others that are injured. Hopefully those are the only fatalities and they find the missing alive.

dbc

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:27:57 -0500

I witnessed this from the Starbucks at 50th/2nd; we were sitting at the window. We heard a really loud rumble--not "freight-train like", as some of the descriptions on the news have said, but more like a bunch of huge trucks rumbling down the street. We looked around a bit to see where the sound was coming from, then we saw the crane come falling southward, parallel to 2nd Avenue, followed by a deafening crashing sound. The street filled with red/brown dust, making it impossible to see exactly what was going on; a few people ran into the Starbucks. I grabbed my phone to call 911, and while I was on the line with the operator the first cop car arrived, driving up 2nd Avenue. At this time, I also saw a bunch of construction workers running up 2nd Avenue and eastward on 50th Street; I wonder if these were construction workers from the site, since I've often seen many of them congregating in the small park at 49th/2nd.

JacqueMehoff

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:21:09 -0500

yes, REALLY. no such thing as just an ACCIDENT. That's a cop out answer.

David McCaffredy

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:20:37 -0500

Why hasn't anyone named the construction company yet? It should be easy - it will be on the scaffolding. Y'know - on the side that hasn't been reduced to rubble.

EastRiver

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:17:29 -0500

Accidents don't happen. Really? I'm not saying that this particular incident was unavoidable but you are incredibly naive or just have an axe to grind. Either way, this incident happened two hours ago and you already have the whole thing figured out. And your Department of Health analogy has no relevance. Apples and oranges.

S.D.

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:06:53 -0500

My condolences to the families of the victims. I'd bet that all cranes will be shut down for the time being. Considering how many cranes are in use, The City needs to find out how this happened ASAP.

JacqueMehoff

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:00:54 -0500

there were complaints called in on record and violations issued. send in surprise inspectors and shut down unsafe jobs but they won't do that. Put scrutiny on weekend and off hours work. Like scott stringer mentioned, the DOH would shut a restaurant down for fruitflies but the DOB won't shut a job down until this happens. Accidents don't happen.

Albert Sharpton

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:54:32 -0500

Please Don't Try This At Home.

EastRiver

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:50:16 -0500

I think you should off on blaming Bloomberg. If the crane collapsed while they were moving it there isn't much the DoB could have done to stop it. Sounds like operator error. If it turns out the crane was improperly set up for weeks or months then you have a point that inspectors should have caught it. But if it's operator error, well, accidents happen. Find out how much experience the operators had before lashing out. Maybe they were poor trained or something.

Dan Dickinson

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:35:50 -0500

Any word on who the construction manager is for the site?

JacqueMehoff

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:32:00 -0500

the city doesn't care or should I say bloomberg. violations means nothing, look at the Trump site. I'm waiting for something to happen in the LES.

Alex

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:26:56 -0500

Yeah holy shit, how does this happen? There are tons of cranes all throughout the city that don't collapse, but christ, the DoB (deservedly) is gonna get a ton of shit for this. Remember when the top of the crane at 110 third ruined that cab and shut down the neighborhood?

Spiritof76

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:20:04 -0500

What is happening nowadays? It seems like I've read about more crane collapses and construction accidents in the past year than in the ten years before that. Is it because of the booming real estate market and a spate of rush construction jobs?

Snoopy

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:18:49 -0500

How does this happen almost day in and day out? Our little shittin' building is being harassed constantly by DOB about piddly shit and stuff like this occurs? GET WITH THE PROGRAM DOB! ASSHOLES!

gattogrosso

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:54:14 -0500

I live in a similar building on the Northwest corner of 51st and 2nd and got some photos of both the crane shaft leaning into the apartment building on 51st and a peek at the demolished bar/apartment house on 50th. Going to see if I can get more. What a mess. http://www.flickr.com/gp/44709009@N00/9j49ca

boyno

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:50:00 -0500

The main picture from NY1 looks horrific.

nicemarmot

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:45:26 -0500

I can see this from my apartment. It's been total madness down there for hours now.

JacqueMehoff

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:45:00 -0500

Not good and on this beautiful day. NY1 has 2 dead.