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[Wellington]

http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/...=15&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Deadly East Side Crane Collapse
Safety Issues Raised
Last Edited: Saturday, 15 Mar 2008, 4:47 PM EDT
Created: Saturday, 15 Mar 2008, 2:37 PM EDT

Three people were killed when a crane collapsed on the East Side on Saturday.
Crane Collapse

MyFoxNY.com -- Three people are dead after a crane collapsed at a construction site on Manhattan's East Side. Several other people were reportedly injured.

It happened around 2 p.m. Saturday at 51st Street near Second Avenue. The falling wreckage appears to have pulverized at least one small, brick apartment building. An apartment tower and others in the area have been evacuated.

The crane, which was about 15 stories tall, fell backwards from 50th to 51st streets into an adjacent building. The top portion of the crane broke off.

Emergency workers said five people were being treated. Meantime, Second Avenue was closed between 50th and 57th streets. Parts of First Avenue were also closed.

Witnesses reported a strong gas smell in the area.

People who live in the area said they had complained to the city several times about the construction at the site, saying crews worked illegal hours and the building was going up too fast.

Stay with MyFoxNY.com and Fox 5 for details on this developing story.

Ugh... NYC Department Cranes and Derricks is a REGULAR visitor to our site to inspect all of our equipment. Shame that something like this could go down, and I am curious as to what actually caused the collapse.

 

[radioheadrule83]

Whats the weather like out there? Last time something like this happened where I am I think it was a quick turn of high winds or something. In this case it sounds like it may be gas/explosion related or something

15 stories is a hell of a big thing to come crashing down... I take it one of the three lost will be the crane operator.

 

[Xdrive05]

Uhh.... Spiderman 3.

 

[Zeed]

Damn, that sucks. Didn't that happen in Spiderman 3?

 

[TheLegend]

My cousin lives two blocks away, thanks for posting this. Just gave her a call and everyone is alright. She said she heard it fall and now it's like Christmas time with dust all over the place and all the lights from the firetrucks. Kinda scary, she could've been walking a few blocks away when it happened, but luckily they were all inside.

 

[nitewulf]

during the summer of 06, a crane fell near union square, we ALL heard it in the office and ran to the windows. it split a yellow cab in half. quite astonishingly, no one died. the passenger was actually riding in front...which almost never happens.

too much construction is going on in NYC, all these buildings are going up too fast. stuff like this is going to keep happening.

 

[Innotech]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9fa_1205591437

this happened in Russia yesterday according to this vid too.

Lots of disasters happening lately with collapsing cranes and tornadoes in downtown Atlanta.

 

[MrOctober]

I work construction and it's very sad how cranes almost never get inspected. The operator is in charge of looking over little things - fluids and fuel levels and the basics, but no one really checks the structural integrity. They want to make as much money as possible and there isn't always work so the more you can get done in less time and do something else the better off you are as a company. So this translates into a "just get it done" attitude where safety takes a back seat. Seriously, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more.

 

[Wellington]

during the summer of 06, a crane fell near union square, we ALL heard it in the office and ran to the windows. it split a yellow cab in half. quite astonishingly, no one died. the passenger was actually riding in front...which almost never happens.

too much construction is going on in NYC, all these buildings are going up too fast. stuff like this is going to keep happening.

Man if buildings were going up too fast we'd all be getting bonuses. The fact is that there is a safe way to do construction, and an unsafe way (careless about inspections).

 

[Karma Kramer]

Good thing there wasn't some sort of Audio DJ equipment store around 51st street... cause I was wondering around to pretty much every audio store I could come across today.

 

[nitewulf]

Man if buildings were going up too fast we'd all be getting bonuses. The fact is that there is a safe way to do construction, and an unsafe way (careless about inspections).

of course, we do a lot of construction as well, remember. cant give out details about our projects i guess, but pretty much every employee has to be aware of field safety...and we have cranes in most of our plants.

but i recall recently two construction workers died in two diff incidents, one on the lower east side, and another at a diff. downtown site. and a building they were building somewhere in brooklyn, not being purposefully vague, but cant quite recall the details...had to halt construction because they were building too fast w/o prioritizing safety and violated a few codes.

meaning some companies are building fast w/o being cautious about safety, in order to increase profit margins. i guess mostly contractors though, rather than the parent companies.