Experts Review Welding Job In Crane Accident

NEW YORK -- A construction crane snapped and smashed into an apartment building with a thunderous roar Friday, killing two workers in the city's second such tragedy in 2½ months and renewing fears about the safety of hundreds of cranes towering over the New York skyline.

The accident killed the crane's operator, identified as 30-year-old Donald Leo of Staten Island. Leo was the son of a retired city firefighter.
The medical examiner's spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said the second victim was a 28-year-old man, Ramadan Kurtas.The crane collapsed on the Upper East Side Friday morning, smashing into a high-rise apartment building.The incident happened at construction site of the 32-story Azure condominium building at 333 E. 91st Street. The crane collapsed shortly after 8 a.m. onto a 23-story apartment building across the street before falling to the ground.Two other male construction workers were seriously injured and transported to a New York hospital. One worker had an open chest wound and the other had gone into cardiac arrest.A pedestrian also suffered minor injuries.A leading question Friday night was whether the crane had a previous crack from a previous job, perhaps in Lower Manhattan, and whether a past welding job might have been a factor in the accident.The clean break where the crane came apart might provide a key clue for investigators.“Forensic experts will be focusing on a particular weld that failed…” acting Buildings Commissioner Robert Limandri said in a statement.One crane expert explained what might have gone wrong.The house or the turntable, which spins the crane, snapped off for whatever reason, Dan Mooney said; it might have not been balanced improperly. If the crane is unbalanced, it would have a tremendous amount of torque on the bolts and it would just be a matter of time before it could happen.The Buildings Department released updated information on past violations at the site.While there were eight complaints about this crane, officials said they found no violations. Two stop work orders were put in place in April when the crane failed initial load tests.Inspectors said they monitored the crane from installation to the time it was raised.The city said for the overall construction site, there were 22 complaints and 14 violations.Inspectors were on hand Thursday investigating one of those complaints.The main construction firm, DeMatteis Construction, said the crane seemed to have been working fine and in the morning, workers had already lifted two sets of steel beams. They were about to go for a third when the accident happened.The crane was rented out by New York Crane Company, the same firm that owned the crane that fell last March and killed seven people.Investigators stressed the two accidents are different in nature.Bloomberg, speaking at a news conference at the scene of the accident, said seven buildings near the accident site were evacuated as a precaution, just blocks from the mayor's official residence."What has happened is unacceptable and intolerable. Having said that, we do not know at the moment what happened or why," Bloomberg said, adding that it appears the builders followed regulations.A large portion of the crane tumbled onto a building, spilling debris over the street and crushing cars. Emergency workers flooded the scene after the first 911 call came in at 8:06 a.m.Witnesses told News 4 New York that they heard a loud, snapping sound, followed quickly by the sound of sirens.Construction foreman Scott Bair said being hungry saved his life. Bair said he left the construction site to get an egg sandwich just before the crane fell."The sound was like a thunder clap. Then, an earthquake," said Peter Barba, who lives on the seventh floor of the building across the street from where workers were erecting a 32-story luxury apartment building on the site of a former public school.With the city going through a supercharged building boom and an estimated 250 cranes in operation as of mid-March, New York has seen a series of deadly construction accidents. Nine people have died in crane accidents so far this year. None died in crane accidents last year; two were killed in 2006."Construction of buildings is out of control in this city," City Councilman Tony Avella said. "How many people have to die before the mayor decides enough is enough?"In a March 15 accident about 2 miles to the south, contractors building a 46-story condominium near the United Nations were trying to lengthen the crane when a steel support broke, killing seven people.A four-story town house was demolished, and several other buildings were damaged.A city inspector resigned after his arrest on charges of falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing.In April, the city's buildings commissioner resigned, under fire over a rising number of deadly construction accidents that have left more than 26 construction workers dead in the past year.After the March crane collapse, the city has added extra inspections at building sites and required that its staff be on hand whenever the towering cranes were raised higher, a process known as a jump. However, the city changed course on Wednesday.City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, who represented the neighborhood affected by the March collapse, said: "People shouldn't live in fear walking near a construction site -- and certainly shouldn't feel fear sitting in their living rooms."Department records also indicate several neighborhood complaints about cranes at the site in recent weeks. At least two callers had expressed concerns about parts of the crane extending past safety barriers. One complained that workers were hoisting heavy metal and concrete over the heads of pedestrians.Inspectors found most of the concerns were unwarranted, and Building Department officials said the crane had been inspected frequently.The city no longer requires building inspectors to be present during all jumps. Instead the city said it will conduct unannounced spot inspections. Contractors are now required to notify the city and hold safety meetings before raising, lowering or lenthening a crane."I am appalled that the city’s inspection procedures are so lax that we could have another massive crane collapse," Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "Safety has to be the top priority at every construction site."

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