Cranes are everywhere, especially in the East Side and Midtown Manhattan areas, but is it safe? There seems to be an escalating increase in construction accidents, with the crane accident that killed seven people being the latest. Liz Krueger thinks she knows the problem.
Our city’s approach to construction approvals and safety has been fundamentally flawed since changes were enacted by the Giuliani administration. Because of a lack of enforcement by the Department of Buildings, along with an extremely hot real estate market, many developers and their contractors ignore safety requirements, disregard building codes and violate zoning laws.
Ultimately, she thinks that there are several solutions, including the need to raise the city’s standards. Another key area is to actually enforce the standards that are in place – if we really want to avoid future incidents. Until then, we’re going to continue to see more needless construction accidents and even more construction accident lawsuits.