the NYC Crane thread

[Hugh Fatbastard]

So, I'm wondering how many wannabe CNN reporters there are per intersection in NYC.

This Robin girl who called in from the ground is very professional.

On the story itself : top of high-rise crane falls into New York intersection during rush-hour.

Live on CNN now if you look.

[Mighty Mudhsuden]

the NYC Crane thread

If that happened in Lagos/Vientiane/Lima it would be NIBsville.

[Hugh Fatbastard]

the NYC Crane thread

Sorry, Brooke, not Robin (I get all those 'OMG' names mixed up).

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

Jesus, another one????!! The city really needs to do something about this. One a year is one too many, two in two months is inexcusable. No other way to say it.

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

Also, it didn't just fall into an intersection; it took off one side of a residential high-rise. I hope no one was killed.

[Incandenza]

the NYC Crane thread

My first thoughts exactly. One thing I never got straight about the first accident was where exactly these cranes are stationed--on the street, right, and not one of those cranes on top of a building? Makes me wonder about the oversight.

[ursus arctos]

the NYC Crane thread

Looks as if we won't be that lucky; two reported dead.





The whole inspection process needs a revamp.

91st and First.

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

This, combined with the news I got last night that my mother is in hospital, probably having a heart cath at this moment, makes me feel incredibly sad.

This sort of thing should not happen in a city like New York. Or anywhere.

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

Inca - I thought the first one was placed on top of a building, but I could be wrong.

[ursus arctos]

the NYC Crane thread

Geez, FF; I really hope that your mom will be ok.

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

Thanks, UA, I really hope so too.

[ursus arctos]

the NYC Crane thread

And yes, the first one was anchored on an upper floor of a building in a "set back". Such arrangements (created when the upper part of the building occupies a smaller square area than that of the lower part/s) are not uncommon in Manhattan because of the way the building permitting process deals with things like "air rights", interference with light and views, and a building's overall "footprint".

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

So it's kind of set up to fail, based on the laws of physics?

[ursus arctos]

the NYC Crane thread

Not necessarily (the Empire State Building has setbacks and is very stable), but it does create additional possibilities for this kind of thing to happen.

The real culpits, however, are the pace of construction, shoddy materials and workmanship and poor supervision.

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

I just thought to check on one of my colleagues. I knew he lived up around there, but I didn't know exactly where. He said his apartment is about three blocks from there, but his fiancée lives directly across the street. She saw people being taken out of the building.

[E10 Rifle]

the NYC Crane thread

What street/junction is it exactly?

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

91st, between 1st and 2nd.

Map

[ursus arctos]

the NYC Crane thread

91st Street and First Avenue.

There have been an increasing number of very tall apartment buildings built on the "Far Upper East Side" in the last few years. When I was a little kid, there were still breweries there.

[E10 Rifle]

the NYC Crane thread

About eight years ago, when I was doing a shift at the Indy when they were still at Canary Wharf, I saw a crane collapse from the top of where the second main tower now stands. It made this most hideous cracking sound, and sliced several benches on the ground to pieces. The guy in the crane was killed instantly, but Christ knows how many more would have died had it not been a windswept Sunday afternoon.

It got little coverage at the time, certainly less than this is getting.

[linus]

the NYC Crane thread

Best wishes for your mom, FF.

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

Linus - Thanks very much.

E10 - I think the reason this is getting such intensive coverage is because it isn't the first incident of its kind in a matter of months, and because the oversight of the safety of construction sites and equipment has come under increased scrutiny since the last crane collapse (which was also not the first).

This article, for example, was published a couple of weeks ago:

May 7, 2008
Many Propose Ways to Make Construction Sites Safer
By CHARLES V. BAGLI and ANNIE CORREAL

Proposals for improving safety at construction sites in New York City after a rash of fatal accidents stacked up like high-rise scaffolding at a City Council hearing on Tuesday.

There were 12 separate bills proposing a variety of measures: requiring contractors to hire independent monitors; registering builders; establishing a hot line to report unsafe working conditions; and denying permits to developers who habitually flout the rules. But there was little agreement on which of those measures would actually prevent accidents and which would only enlarge an already overburdened bureaucracy.

The city’s real estate industry and construction unions proposed a more wholesale solution: replacing the city’s beleaguered Department of Buildings altogether with a new public corporation that advocates said would act more decisively and provide greater flexibility, while recruiting and training qualified professionals.

“The Buildings Department is collapsing under the weight of its own reform,” said Louis J. Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, who advocates the new corporation.

The Bloomberg administration had set a priority on reforming the department, which has long had a reputation for incompetence and corruption. Despite widely acknowledged improvements in recent years, the city’s buildings commissioner, Patricia J. Lancaster, resigned last month under pressure from City Hall. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was particularly incensed after the March 15 collapse of a tower crane on East 51st Street that killed seven people.

In an interview after the hearing, Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, the powerful lobbying arm of the city’s biggest developers, said that scrapping the Buildings Department and creating a new public corporation to oversee construction would “do more to protect the safety of the public, as well as construction workers, than most of the 12 bills submitted at the Council.”

Indeed, the real estate and construction industry vehemently opposed legislation proposed by Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, whose district includes the site of the crane collapse, that would give the Buildings Department the power to appoint independent safety monitors — at the property owners’ expense — at construction sites where there is a history of serious safety violations.

Mr. Coletti said that the proposal would not ensure safety, since there is already at least one — if not two — site safety coordinators at every building site. He also testified against a bill that would require the licensing or registration of all general contractors operating in the city.

But the acting buildings commissioner, Robert LiMandri, endorsed the Lappin bill, saying independent monitors would be “a meaningful additional tool to improve safety at problematic sites,” and would reduce the strain on the city’s 400 building inspectors who are struggling to keep up with the building boom.

Mr. LiMandri said that while he did not favor regulating large commercial builders, he was working on a proposal for additional regulation of demolition and concrete contractors.

The Bloomberg administration has been working on its own legislative package in recent weeks, but has run into fierce opposition from the construction industry over its plan to license those kind of contractors and require background checks. The industry contends that those measures would have no impact on safety, but could eliminate three or four of the five concrete suppliers in the city.

Mr. LiMandri said that a “whistleblower’s hot line” proposed by Councilwoman Letitia James of Brooklyn was unnecessary because the city already has a 311 information line. But Ms. James said that nonunion and immigrant workers did not use the 311 line because it did not guarantee them anonymity, and they feared for their jobs.

Most construction fatalities in New York City occur at sites that employ nonunion workers, according to a report by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The Bloomberg administration has stirred up a controversy by proposing to eliminate a requirement that the buildings commissioner be either a licensed architect or engineer, arguing that a good manager is more important. Architects, engineers and many in the construction industry say that an extensive understanding of how structures are built is critical to the job.

“We see no basis for removing the requirements,” said Richard T. Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress. “It’s a logical requirement to have someone who is technically qualified and conversant with the building processes.”

[Incandenza]

the NYC Crane thread

Yes, from me too.

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

Thanks Inca.

[Reed John]

the NYC Crane thread

Best wishes. What sort of procedure, exactly, is she having?

I know a fair bit about coronary interventions.

[Femme Folle]

the NYC Crane thread

Reed - Thanks. She had a coronary angiography. They found some sort of blockage that can be treated with medication. So no surgery for now, which is a huge relief. She is already back at home now.

She's a tough old bird.

Oops, don't tell her I said she was old.