New York Construction Accident & Safety News

In a rather unfortunate turn of affairs, the Midhudson News points out:

TOWN OF CARMEL — The New York City Department of Environmental Protection continues to investigate an incident where a worker fell 20 feet to a rock ledge below while working on a dam construction project last week.

The man was employed by a company hired to construct the new Croton Falls Dam at the North Salem-Carmel town line was seriously injured when he fell off a ladder and plummeted 20 feet to a rock ledge below.

The DEP, which is constructing the dam that traverses Hemlock Dam Road from Stoneleigh Avenue to Croton Falls Road, handled the accident investigation with the assistance of Carmel Police.

The article details the results of the fall:

Soucier said the victim suffered head, back and arm trauma and was airlifted by a STAT-Flight helicopter to the Westchester Medical Center where he was admitted.

Soucier said the man was conscious and was talking with rescue workers who came to his assistance.

Its rather fortunate that the injuries weren’t worse or in an unconscious state.

In tragic news this morning USA Today reports:

NEW YORK — One construction worker died and two others were critically injured after a construction crane collapsed Friday morning on New York’s Upper East Side, smashing into a 23-story apartment building before crashing onto the street below.

Witnesses described the crash as feeling like an earthquake and sounding like a loud boom and thunder clap. People ran out of buildings in the area, some in tears, and pedestrians in the street ran for cover.

This crane accident is especially troubling given that the recent rise in construction accidents. The construction workers and citizens of New York City deserve better protection and safety.

Update from Newsday:

The crane’s operator, identified as Donald Leo, 30, of Staten Island, was pronounced dead at the scene. Another worker, Ramadan Kurtis, 27, of the Bronx, died later, police said.

A third worker was in serious condition with a chest wound, police said. The unidentified man was being treated at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

The article continues:

City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin said New Yorkers should be furious about another deadly crane collapse.

“They have a right to be angry,” she said in a television interview. “They have a right to be nervous when they’re walking down the street near a construction site.”

Sad, sad indeed.

New York City is cracking down on building safety regulations. The New York Times reports:

On Sunday, the Bloomberg administration said that it would hire 63 more inspectors, bringing the total to 461. The department has already established seven enforcement teams, which can appear on job sites unannounced with the authority to suspend work on the spot.

The excavation team, which was formed nine months ago, has conducted 2,772 inspections on 1,685 sites, forcing half of those with active excavation to stop work at least temporarily.

Conditions at some 300 sites were found to be so egregious that a full engineering audit was ordered. Only two passed, said Timothy D. Lynch, chief engineer of the excavations team.

This crackdown isn’t really surprising to anyone given the recent string of building and construction related accidents in New York City. The move hopefully means that the NYC Buildings department is giving construction accidents their due attention.

High-visibility safety apparel will be required of media, ambulance crew, and policy responders for highway related incidents. EMS Network points out:

A federal mandate will require ambulance crews, firefighters, police and media who respond to vehicle accidents and other incidents to wear safety vests on most area highways.

The regulation takes effect Nov. 24 for federal-aid highways — roads that receive federal funds for construction and maintenance. More than 1,750 miles of federal-aid highways are in the six-county PennDOT District 9.

More than 100 workers are killed each year and an additional 20,000 workers injured in the highway and street construction industry, the federal government says. More than 50 firefighters were killed by vehicles at accident scenes from 1996 to 2006.

Responders have to wear high-visibility safety apparel such as a reflective vest that can be seen from all sides. Current firefighter coats and pants, which have reflective tape on them, don’t meet the mandate.

Some area responders already are wearing the vests ahead of the November deadline.

This seems like a fantastic development. With 100 workers killed and 20,000 injured, this seems like a huge step in the right direction for the health and safety of these individuals.

Follow a March crane accident in New York, city officials are altering building construction rules and regulations. Ny Newsday points out:

NEW YORK - New York City officials will no longer require that buildings inspectors be present when cranes are moved at construction sites.

The Buildings Department on Wednesday amended an order it put out after a crane collapse in midtown Manhattan killed seven people on March 15.

The department said it will still conduct unannounced inspections of sites. Also, contractors will have to notify the city and hold safety meetings before raising, lowering or lengthening a crane.

This decision seems to make no sense or at least is counterintuitive. Why would you roll back regulations in order to increase worker safety? And if it will increase safety, why didn’t Newday explain why or how.

Investigations still surround the Deutsche building fire in New York, NY . New York Newsday points out:

Manhattan prosecutors continue to dig deep into the circumstances of last August’s fire at the Deutsche Bank building that killed two firefighters.

A grand jury probe by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has amassed more than 3 million documents, including building and work records, which have to be reviewed as part of the criminal investigation.

Thats certainly a hurculean legal undertaking. Hopefully truth and justice will prevail.

Goldman Sachs construction site just got a little safer. New York Newsday reports:

NEW YORK - Goldman Sachs says it will not resume construction at its new lower Manhattan headquarters until new safety measures are in place.

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced Sunday that Goldman has promised safety provisions beyond what the city building code requires.

The stepped-up safety efforts come after a piece of metal fell 18 stories off the building May 17. The chunk of steel landed on a field where Little League games were being played.

Luckily Goldman Sachs is taking a more proactive stance after an earlier safety blunder. Hopefully, other companies that have experienced building and construction accidents in New York City and beyond take heed.

THe building and construction business is dangerous in New York City–especially given the problems with self-certification. New York Newsday points out:

NEW YORK - More than 8 in 10 building plans vetted by architects and engineers _ instead of city inspectors _ violate zoning rules, city reviews of the plans found.

The Buildings Department recently checked 869 of the “self-certified” plans and issued objections against 727 of them, the New York Post reported Sunday.

Recent accidents have heightened scrutiny of construction practices and criticism of the city’s “self-certification” system for building plans. The system lets architects and engineers confirm on their own that some plans comply with regulations, instead of having department inspectors do it independently.

Self-certification has become common since it was created in 1995 to tackle a backlog of plans awaiting approval. Some 54 percent of the 61,000 plans filed between January and April were self-certified.

This seems like an easy area for abuse and thus a large loophole for accountability, legality, and safety. Given that the Buildings Department of New York City only randomly checks 20% of these, it seems the should either increase the number of random checks or do away with the self-certification system all together.

New York Newsday points out:

NEW YORK - Firefighters say construction debris from a luxury condominium building has plummeted onto a Harlem market.

The Fire Department says no one was hurt in the mishap Thursday afternoon at the Kalahari Harlem, an environmentally conscious condo building under construction on West 116th Street.

The Buildings Department is investigating and has no immediate comment.

Luckily it doesn’t appear that there is any substantive damage.

NY1 Reports another two construction injuries:

Two construction workers were injured after falling 15 feet from a Bronx scaffolding Friday night.

The Department of Buildings said the workers were washing the facade of P.S. 18 at 502 Morris Avenue at the Bronx’s Hub at the time.

DOB inspectors said a piece of equipment that helps extend scaffolding closer to the building failed, causing the accident.

Its sad that construction companies and the Department of Buildings haven’t done a better job decreasing construction and building injuries in New York City.