New York Construction Accident & Safety News

Ms. Lancaster, the former buildings commisioner appears to have lost her job over politics, not substance. Kirsten Danis of the New York Daily News documents:

Lancaster’s biggest accomplishments - overhauling the building code and transforming the agency’s paper-jammed files into an online, searchable system - will help build Bloomberg’s legacy.

But they didn’t help Lancaster when construction workers started falling from the sky. Thirteen people have died in building accidents so far this year, just one less than died in all of 2007.

Skyler was keenly aware of the department’s public image, having been Bloomberg’s spokesman for four years.

By all accounts smart, honest and dedicated, Lancaster wasn’t savvy with the media (she told the Daily News last year she was afraid of walking under scaffolding) and didn’t always grasp that in a crisis, just looking like you’re in charge is half the battle.

The battle over the safety of constuction workers versus the unending desire for more corporate real estate. Charles V. Bacli of the New York Times suggests:

As the city kicks off Construction Safety Week, there is growing concern among developers, builders and unions that the safety crackdown by the Buildings Department is causing unnecessary delays and layoffs at some major construction sites, including the Goldman Sachs headquarters downtown.

And while several thousand union laborers and contractors mourned 13 people killed in construction accidents this year during a special Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Monday, they also talked about the new rules and the delays and work stoppages that have ensued.

The article continues:

Last week, the Bloomberg administration announced that it would pour an additional $4 million into the Buildings Department to hire 20 specialized engineers to reinspect excavation sites and concrete and crane operations around the city. In addition, the engineers will be asked to evaluate the city’s safety inspection procedures and to make recommendations.

We hope that care and due diligence is paid so that workers are able to work, but that they are able to work in a safe and secure environment. Our New York construction workers deserve no less.

The recent resignation of Ms. Lancaster from the New York Building Department has been receiving a lot of media coverage over the last few days. Writer Alan Feuer of the New York Times reports that problems in the building department reflect a larger theme of corruption:

For more than 200 years, the department has been plagued by allegations ranging from the dastardly to the absurd. Plumbing inspectors have been charged with taking bribes. Consultants have set up get-aways for influential councilmen. A deputy commissioner was once indicted for accepting an illegal gift of wine.

Given the history of corruption in the Building Department, its surprising that there weren’t more construction and building related accidents in New York City. Hopefully, the new appointee will establish more accountability so that construction workers and the citizens of New York City are ultimately safer.

Its sad that during Construction Safety Week a New York construction worker suffered and construction related fall. Thomas J. Lueck of the New York Times reports:

Just one day after thousands of workers gathered to mourn the loss of the 13 people killed in construction accidents in New York City this year, a steel worker was critically injured on Tuesday when he fell 25 feet from a building under construction on East 29th Street in Manhattan.

Lueck claims:

Mr. Gunn fell to a concrete slab, fracturing his safety helmet and losing consciousness, according to witnesses.

The article continues:

The city and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are looking into the cause of several fatal accidents.

Hopefully, as the Buildings Department cracks down and New York City begins to take safety more seriously, our cities construction workers will see a day in which safety is at the forefront of building projects rather than an afterthought.

The New York Times points out:

At least four people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured, and damage was expected to run into the millions of dollars in what the authorities called one of the city’s worst accidents — a calamity that turned a neighborhood near the United Nations into a zone of panic, pulverized buildings, wailing sirens, evacuations, searches in the rubble and covered bodies in the streets.

Many residents of the neighborhood around the site of the collapse — 51st Street between Second and First Avenues — said they had been worried for months about the possibility of a collapse, calling the crane, looming higher each week, a menace, particularly because so many residential buildings were being put up in the area with remarkable speed: several floors a week at times.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

NEW YORK — The city’s buildings commissioner resigned Tuesday from an agency that has attracted critical comments, some of them from New York’s mayor, for a rising number of fatal construction accidents.

Patricia Lancaster, an architect who overhauled the city’s 40-year-old building code and introduced several new rules to manage building safety, quit after six years on the job. Thirteen people have died in construction accidents in New York this year.

The New York Times details both sides of the Building Chief story:

“She did a terrific job in getting the department back on track,” the developer Douglas Durst said.

Ms. Lancaster also had her share of critics, who said her department had been too easy on developers even as they flouted building regulations and safety standards. But even some of those critics said Ms. Lancaster could not be blamed for all her agency’s shortcomings.

“Clearly, our city has been facing a crisis of confidence around construction safety,” said Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, “but the problem before us is not the making of a single person.”

The AFP reports:

NEW YORK (AFP) — Seven people were killed over the weekend when a construction crane collapsed in New York, police said Monday, reporting the discovery of three more bodies in the rubble.

Four construction workers were initially confirmed dead in Saturday’s accident, which saw a 60-meter (200-foot) crane collapse and crush an entire residential building and damage several other properties.

A police spokeswoman said Monday that three more bodies had been discovered in the remains of the buildings on Manhattan’s east side, but was unable to give their identities pending notification of next of kin.

Christoper Faherty of the New York Sun:

“This is the third fatal construction accident this year within one mile on the East Side of Manhattan,” a City Council member who represents parts of the Upper East Side, Jessica Lappin, said. “The real question here is whether the buildings department is doing its job.”

The article continues:

“A tragedy happened here today,” the commissioner of the department, Patricia Lancaster, said in a statement. “We will pursue the toughest enforcement to the full extent of the law. Development cannot be at the expense of the workers building our City.”

The developer of the condominium, Alexico Group, released a statement following the accident, sending its deepest sympathies to Kelly’s family and showing support for the construction company, Hunter Roberts Construction Group.

“Construction safety is our utmost concern and we believe that the construction manager, Hunter Roberts, has a good safety record. We will cooperate fully with the City’s investigation of this tragic event,” the statement said.

The New York Daily News reports:

The site has 38 open Buildings Department violations, 25 since construction began in April 2007, records show. They include such high-severity problems as failure to safeguard the public and property, lack of a site safety manager, no safety nets and lack of fire-safety standpipes, records show.

A site inspection - triggered by the March 15 crane collapse at East 51st St. that killed seven people - found there was no plumb and torque inspection report to ensure the crane there had been properly installed.

The condo, the Laurel, is next to Public School 168 on 67th St. between First and York Aves. Children were playing in the schoolyard when Kelly fell.

The tragedy comes amid a 12% jump in high-rise development and an 83% spike in construction accidents.

“You had a site known to be dangerous,” said Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, whose district includes the site of yesterday’s tragedy and the E. 51st St. disaster. “How do you allow business to carry on as usual?”

The city and the feds are investigating the accident.

The New York Times suggests the grave nature of this accidental tragedy and the wide scope of the legal ramifications:

“We will be holding the individuals responsible for this terrible tragedy accountable,” Ms. Lancaster said during a visit to the site. “Construction companies, owners, architects and engineers have to obey the law.”

Construction in New York has been proceeding rapidly recently, and there has been a string of fatal accidents. Ten people have been killed in high-rise construction accidents since January, including seven who died on March 8 when a 200-foot crane collapsed at another East Side condominium project, demolishing a four-story town house on East 50th Street.
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For more info on the accident click here.

According to the New York Observer, the Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster had this statement:

Construction site and worker safety begins with proper site safety measures… A tragedy happened here today… As part of our investigation, our team is now auditing the method the crews used to install the safety straps throughout the building. We will pursue the toughest enforcement to the full extent of the law. Development cannot be at the expense of the workers building our City.

The deceased’s identity has not been released, but he was an employee of subcontractor New York Windows in his mid-twenties to early 30’s, according to various media reports.

Borough President Scott Stringer told the Associated Press that a preliminary investigation by his office shows about 36 violations at the site, which he called “an outrage.”

The general contractor at the site issued the following statement in response to the worker’s death:

Hunter Roberts has contacted the local authorities and OSHA. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the accident. Our hearts go out to the family affected by this tragedy.