Criminal Probe Launched in NYC Construction Deaths

by Mike Hall, Jun 3, 2008

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has launched a criminal probe into Friday’s crane collapse in New York City that killed two construction workers. Investigators from the DA’s office seized several boxes of records and computer from the offices of New York Crane and Equipment, which owns the crane.

A spokesman for District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told the New York Daily News:

Everything’s being looked at. We’re going to look into anything that gives us a picture of what the facts and circumstances were of this incident on Friday.

Meanwhile, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the New York City Buildings Department are investigating the collapse, which killed crane operator Donald Leo, 30, a member of the Operating Engineers (IUOE), and Ramadan Kurtij, 27, a construction worker on the ground. It was the second deadly New York City crane collapse this year. In March, seven people were killed when another crane fell.

According to news reports, safety inspectors are looking at a faulty weld on the massive turntable at the top of the crane tower that swivels, allowing the operator’s cab and crane arm to rotate. Witnesses say the cab and arm began swiveling wildly before breaking off and tumbling to the streets.

According to The New York Times, the turntable was a rebuilt part that had been removed from another of the company’s cranes after a large crack was discovered in a steel part in 2007. The turntable and parts were sent to a New Jersey company where they were repaired and the turntable was welded back together before being placed in the crane that fell.

The paper also reports that the turntable and the weld had been inspected twice and certified as done properly. The most recent inspection was May 20, according to the Daily News.

The crane was built in 1984, the last year that model was manufactured. The city has shut down the operations of seven of the same model cranes for inspection.

Earlier this month, prompted by the first crane collapse and the rising death toll on construction sites in Las Vegas, the House Workforce Subcommittee announced it would hold hearings into construction safety standards. The hearing will examine if OSHA is effectively developing new standards and enforcing current construction safety rules, including crane safety.

Nearly four years ago, a 23-member industry and union advisory committee that OSHA established issued recommendations and a proposed standard on crane safety. But OSHA has failed to issue a crane and derrick safety standard, despite the urging of both industry and unions.

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