Helicopters everywhere. I am as concerned about the hovering helicopters as I am about the remaining scraps of the crane. If you are seeking the latest reports as of 11:19am: Here is the NYT report:
Updated, 11:05 a.m. | Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is expected to speak shortly at the site of the accident. Eyewitness accounts are continuing to come in. Tevon Griffin, of Bronx, a union laborer who was working on the 13th floor passing up equipment, said he saw debris falling, and “heard everybody screaming and running, so I started running.”
He added, “I thought the floor above us was coming down that the 30-story high-rise they were constructing was collapsing.” Mr. Griffin said was baffled when the large horizontal crane arm began circling. They saw the operator was trying to steady it and gain control, Mr. Griffin said and that when it fell, the perhaps 90 workers at the site began fleeing down stairs and ladders. “If the crane would have hit our building, I think everyone would have died,” he said. Workers said city inspectors had visited the site frequently. We will have audio interviews soon with witnesses at the scene.
10:30 a.m. | The authorities now report that only one person has been confirmed dead, not two, as officials had earlier reported.
10:27 a.m. | Councilwoman Jessica S. Lappin, a Manhattan Democrat whose district includes the site of today’s fatal crane collapse as well as the site of a March 15 crane accident that killed seven people, said the Azure condominium building, where today’s accident occurred, was to have housed a new home for the East Side Middle School.
“This building is an Education Construction Fund project,” she said in a phone interview. “It’s supposed to house a new East Side Middle School on the bottom, with residential units on the top. This was a way to get a private developer to build a new school, a $40 million, state-of-the-art middle school. We broke ground in September of 2007.”
Ms. Lappin said that many people now cross the street to avoid construction sites. “A lot has changed since March 15, the most obvious being that there is a new buildings commissioner,” she said. “A lot of the focus since then has been changing crane protocols.”
10:20 a.m. | Officials initially said that at least two people, including the cab operator, were killed in the collapse of a crane on the Upper East Side this morning. [The authorities later revised that to say just one was confirmed dead.] The crane, which was being used at a construction site, crashed into another building at East 91st Street and First Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, moments after 8 a.m. on Friday.
The crane operator “was still in the cab of the crane” when it came down, a law enforcement official said. One of the two victims was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was taken to Metropolitan Hospital, where he died. At least two other people were reported injured.
The crane’s top piece apparently broke off, the law enforcement official said. “It’s a confirmed crane collapse,” the official said. “It snapped at some point along the crane and stuck a building on the other side of 91st Street and First Avenue.” The official said the crane was working on a “new construction” site on one corner of East 91st and First and that when it broke, the broken piece cascaded down and fell into a building on the other side of the street. (See a slide show of images of the accident.)
The Fire Department got the first 911 call at 8:06 a.m., with the caller saying a “crane was down,” said Firefighter Chris Villarroel, a spokesman. Scores of Fire Department trucks and emergency medical workers responded to the scene. He said units rushed to the scene and found the wreckage. “We pulled out two people,” he said.
First Avenue was closed to traffic between 86th and 96th Streets. Vehicles traveling between 79th and 86th Streets may not turn on to First Avenue. On East 91st Street, traffic has been closed between York and Second Avenues. “All side streets in the general area are subject to closure,” the Police Department said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reported that several bus lines — the M15, M31, M86 and the X90 — have been rerouted because of the accident.
The building under construction was the Azure, a high-rise condominium tower at 333 East 91st Street; about 12 of the 34 planned stories have been completed. The crane apparently crashed into a white-brick apartment building at 1749 First Avenue, which houses a Duane Reade drug store on the ground floor.
According to city records, the company that is building the Azure is the Leon D. DeMatteis Construction Corporation of Elmont, on Long Island. A call to the sales office of 1765 First Associates L.L.C., a subsidiary of DeMatteis, was not immediately returned.
City records show that the building has been the subject of several complaints from residents who have called the city’s 311 hot line.
On May 7, an inspector issued a partial stop-work order after observing a defective or inadequate safety guard rail. The work order was fully lifted by May 29.
On May 13, a caller complained of unsafe construction practices, saying that bricks, sand and wood had fallen from the site onto the sidewalk and street. An inspector determined on May 17 that there were no violations.
On May 20, a caller complained about the crane, saying that its platform extended across the sidewalk and well into traffic. A Buildings Department inspector responded but determined there was no violation.
Joe Quinn, 25, a member of a lathers union, had started work at 7 a.m. as part of a crew of about 25 workers on the roof of the building when the accident occurred. The turntable, which was attaching the crane to the tower, “came right off,” Mr. Quinn said in an interview “Boom. There was no weight on it. It boomed up, then just boom! There was no load on it. It wasn’t hooked up to anything. The disk came off where it attaches to the tower.”
After the crane fell, “I ran like hell,” Mr. Quinn said. He used ladders and stairs to get down from the roof.
1 comment:
Tower Crane Assessment
Investigators now believe it was the failure of a weld at a critical joint just beneath the crane's cab that caused it to break-off and plunge more than 20 stories to the street.
They have isolated the portion of the wreckage in question, and metalurgists are examining the weld to determine precisely why it failed.
The city's acting buildings commissioner Robert Limandri is suggesting that the age of the crane may have been a factor. The model of crane, known as a Kodiak, is no longer in production but it is presently in-use at four other construction sites in New York City.
In a statement issued within the hour, Limandri said, "There are currently four Kodiak cranes in use in New York City. I am ordering immediate re-inspections of these models and a review of all of their maintenance logs in an attempt to ensure that whatever caused the collapse is isolated to this particular crane."
The department is also suspending all crane operations until Monday morning, effective immediately, citywide.
"While we have no reason to believe the cause of today's accident was in any way similar to the crane accident that took place on March 15, I have suspended all tower crane erection, dismantling and jumping operations in New York City until Monday, June 2, 2008 to enable our cranes personnel to focus on remedial work that must take place to make the 91st Street site safe," the statement said.
Limandri is also calling an emergency meeting, convening a task force, as it were, to brainstorm additional steps to increase high-rise crane safety.
"I am calling an emergency meeting at the Buildings Department," the commissioner said, "to bring industry experts, labor, crane owners, maintenance companies and OSHA personnel together to make immediate recommendations for our ongoing efforts to make crane operations safer."
Forensic Investigation
The preliminary investigation indicates the crane cab, boom, and machine deck separated from the tower mast and collapsed onto the street after hitting the building at 354 East 91st Street. The tower crane was not being jumped, erected, or dismantled at the time of the incident. Preliminary reports indicate the tower crane was being used at the time of the incident by the crane user (concrete subcontractor), Sobara Construction Corporation. Buildings forensic engineers and inspectors are investigating the cause of the accident.
Post a Comment