Investigators looking into the latest deadly crane collapse on a New York City construction site say a failure of the crane's hoist system is the likely cause of the accident, which left one dead and three others injured. But the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the state agency responsible for the project, has called into question the crane's inspection history as an important factor in determining who is ultimately to blame for the accident.
Authorities with the New York City Dept. of Buildings (DOB) and the MTA each say the other is to blame for lack of oversight regarding the April 3 collapse of the lattice boom of the Manitowoc 4100 crawler. The crane was setting rebar cages at the site of the MTA's $2.8-billion No. 7 subway-line extension project on the West Side of Manhattan when its boom snapped. It fell to the ground in two pieces, crushing to death 30-year-old laborer Michael Simermeyer, working with Queens-based subcontractor J&E Industries. Construction was halted at the site for nearly a week and resumed on April 9. The MTA ordered inspections for all cranes operating on any agency jobsite.