Photo by the New York Times/Hiroko Masuike Collapse of crane's lattice boom killed laborer and injured three others at site of subway line extension on Manhattan's West Side. Photo by N.Y. Daily News Investigators are looking at frayed cable and broken wire strands on the crane's hoist system for clues to the accident's cause. 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
Related Links: TV News Report One Day After Lightning Strike on the Revel Project TV News Report on the Day of the Lightning Strike at the Revel Two workers injured last September by a lighting strike while building an Atlantic City casino resort, and the widow of a third worker who was killed, filed a lawsuit April 4 against contractors and others involved with the project.Dennis Lamond and Joe Forcinito, the workers, and Carmen Bradley, the widow of Bryan Bradley, filed a lawsuit in state court in Atlantic City against Tishman Construction Corp. and Network Construction Co., Pleasantville, N.J.Network Construction
AP Photo Project in New York City where latest crane collapse killed a worker. Related Links: Former Regulator Testifies in N.Y. Crane Criminal Trial Lawyers Trade Contradictory Facts as N.Y. Crane Collapse Criminal Trial Restarts The crane that collapsed on the site of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s No. 7 line subway extension project in New York City had passed its most recent inspection in January and was set for another one this week, a source close to the project has told ENR.The collapse, which occurred April 3 shortly before 7:30 p.m. and killed one worker, was called a “freak accident”
Courtesy of Wilhammer Industries Harness is part of a new line of fall-arrest equipment. Tragedy sparked a new idea about safety for Max Wilhammer, who creates customized fall-protection harnesses including some that provide longer protection for dangling construction workers who have fallen and been saved by their harnesses.Hanging in a harness after a fall for more than five minutes in an upright posture, with legs relaxed straight beneath the body, can cause serious injury or death, according to Occupational Safety and Health magazine. Wilhammer says that severe injury is possible after eight to 12 minutes. Others have put the time
Dana Lowe, a 53-year-old subcontractor for steel erector CSE Inc., based in Williston, Vt., died on March 14 in a crane-related accident at a Hanover Inn hotel construction site in Hanover, N.H.Lowe was injured on the afternoon of March 13 when a crane hook hit the aerial lift he was working on, causing it to topple over, according to a statement by Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone. "Lowe landed on the concrete deck of a portion of new construction," he stated.The New Hampshire Medical Examiner's Office listed the cause of death as blunt-force trauma to the head. The case is
The Gatlinburg, Tenn., wastewater treatment plant has had a third worker fatality in less than a year after an earthen wall collapse killed a demolition worker Feb. 23The identity of the victim was confirmed as Michael “Mike” Eugene Wells, 58, of Candler, N.C., an employee of Roberson Inc. of Enka, N.C. The confirmation was from Brad Searson, an Asheville, N.C., attorney who has been hired by Marjorie Mae Wells, the worker’s widow.Wells “was struck from behind with dirt and rock and received fatal wounds,” according to a statement issued by the City of Gatlinburg after the incident. He was removed
AP/Wideworld Casino floor collapsed as workers were pouring concrete, injuring 13 people. Investigators looking into the cause of a non-fatal construction collapse of a casino floor in Cincinnati in late January and a casino garage deck in Cleveland in late December are searching for common clues, while contractors have added quality controls for extra safety.The developer of both casinos, a joint venture between Rock Gaming LLC and Caesars Entertainment Inc., insists the accidents are not linked. "These are two different construction management companies, two different contractors, two different sites, two different areas," Steve Rosenthal, manager of the $400-million, 354,000-sq-ft Horseshoe
Construction workers who plummet to their deaths while wearing their fall protection equipment always present a puzzle for investigators. So when John Plante, a 44-year-old lineman, fell Jan. 17 from a wooden utility pole while working on a Central Maine Power transmission project in Saco, Maine, no one could immediately explain why.Plante fell more than 40 feet from a 95-ft wooden utility pole, says Don Rassiger, chief counsel for Plante's employer, Hawkeye LLC, a subsidiary of Willbos Utility T & D, Happauge, N.Y. Hawkeye’s work on the $1.4 billion transmission project has been suspended indefinitely pending investigation, according to a
Photo Courtesy of AP Wideworld A fatal flaw in a cold joint, with splicing couplers instead of dowels, weakened the concrete wall. The April wall collapse at a Gatlinburg, Tenn., wastewater treatment plant that killed two workers was caused by deficient construction that allowed gradual corrosion of the rebar inside it, a state safety report said.The report, written by Mahammad Ayub, director of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration office of engineering, and Mary Misciagna, Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health safety supervisor, did not find workplace safety violations, so the state is not issuing citations against the city of
Seven employees of Fluor Corp. were among the 13 people killed in an Oct. 29 suicide bombing of a NATO convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan, CEO David T. Seaton confirmed Nov. 3. The workers were employed by the Irving, Texas-based firm under its Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) IV support contract with the U.S. Army Sustainment Command.A Fluor spokesman says the employees killed are four U.S. citizens, two British nationals and one person from Kosovo. The company declines to identify them or their roles, but says it has informed their families of their deaths.Published reports have identified the British employees as