Inspection: Almost One Third Of Tower Cranes Are Unsafe
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
A citywide inspection of construction cranes like the one that killed seven people when it toppled last month found that eight of the 29 were not in compliance with safety regulations, the city Department of Buildings said yesterday.
Of the eight so-called tower cranes that failed inspection, six had safety-related violations including broken decelerators and missing pins, while two had administrative violations such as not having the proper paperwork.
Seven of the cranes were back in operation after contractors corrected the violations. But a stopwork order remains in effect for a crane at the new Goldman Sachs building in lower Manhattan.
That building, across from ground zero, was the scene of a serious accident in December when a crane’s nylon sling ruptured and dropped seven tons of steel onto a construction trailer, injuring an architect.
The Department of Buildings said yesterday that one of three tower cranes at the Goldman Sachs site failed inspection after it was “jumped,” or lengthened with a new section, on April 10. Inspectors determined that the collar and tie-ins connecting the crane to the 42nd and 43rd floors had not been installed according to plans.
