Crane Collapses From Building Under Construction In Midtown

CBS New York ^ | October 29,2012

[Hojczyk]

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The FDNY is at a high-rise under construction in Midtown where a crane has collapsed.

The call came in around 2:30 p.m. Monday at the building on West 57th Street. The top of the crane, about 75-stories up, could be seen dangling down from the luxury building.

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All residents of buildings on West 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues have been ordered to move to lower floors. All others have been told to avoid the area.

There is no falling debris, but the Department of Buildings is on the scene. Emergency officials have also closed the westbound side of 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues.

The site of the crane collapse is One57, a 1,004-foot tower that once completed, will be New York City’s tallest residential building.

All construction work in the city was suspended by the Department of Buildings at 5 p.m. Saturday in anticipation of high winds from Hurricane Sandy. Contractors and property owners were told to secure construction sites and buildings.

The Department of Buildings said Sunday that it had inspected all construction sites in the city.

So far, no word of any injuries.

Stay with CBSNewYork.com as this story continues to develop.

[Hojczyk]

[God luvs America]

i’m 40 minutes north of NYC in Westchester county, have watched this develop on TV and all i can say is pray hard...they said debris is falling from the building and they can’t do a thing about the crane until the storm passes....its effing creepy watching it on TV and reminds me of that terrible day 11 years ago in September- not in scope but in anxiety...

why didn’t they secure this crane or bring it down over the weekend??? gotta love those unions....

[G Larry]

VIAGRA!!!!

[Red_Devil 232]

LOL

[A_Former_Democrat]

My Lord, as if they don’t have enough to deal with

Prayers up NYFD

[Larry - Moe and Curly]

“i’m 40 minutes north of NYC in Westchester county”

Any concerns in your area about the Indian Point nuclear plant? I understand it’s on the banks of the Hudson River and it appears to be in a bad location right now.

[Red Badger]

A perfect analogy of The Obama Campaign.........

[ilgipper]

I can’t believe this was left up there with days of warning. This incident and the ship that went down off the coast of North Carolina are shocking displays of total disregard of common sense.

[God luvs America]

have heard nothing whatsoever....its about 45 minutes straight west of me (i live in the eastern most part of the county)and if there was an issue or concern the evacuation would’ve been issued long ago...

[GeronL]

let me guess, they refused to work on a weekend?

[God luvs America]

they just made Bloomberg look like a bigger fool than we all know him to be- he was questioned about these cranes on Saturday and basically said “don’t worry- it’ll all be taken care of”...

btw- they said the dangling crane is directly over Carnagie Hall and is it breaks off its likely bye-bye Carnagie Hall...

[firebrand]

These cranes are murderous at the best of times. It is a total hobbyhorse of mine that they are not secured better and everyone is tired of hearing me rave about the latest one. Now this one has hit a building full of extremely expensive condos. Maybe Mike-the-sugar-fat-and-salt freak will do something about it. Nah.

[jmacusa]

Having worked construction in NYC I can tell you it would have taken less than a day (overtime at that) to secure the boom of that crane. Not bring down the whole rig, just the boom could have been detached from the base and bought into the building or down to the street.

[Jeff Chandler]

That crane looks like it could use some Enzyte.

[Irish Eyes]

tc God luvs America. My daughter also lives in Westchester County, I am keeping fingers crossed for their safety. They have a lot of trees on their property.

[Wuli]

“Any concerns in your area about the Indian Point nuclear plant? I understand it’s on the banks of the Hudson River and it appears to be in a bad location right now.”

what would be the concerns? that the re-bar reinforced cement domed reactor would not take the winds? ain’t an issue; or that the Hudson River will rise forty or sixty feet due to 5-10 inches of rain - ain’t gonna happen

silly queastions derserve silly answers

[Hebrews 11:6]

In your informed opinion, what would be the most likely procedure(s) now for securing and lowering that damaged boom?

[jmacusa]

At this point there is a big problem in that the steel has been damaged and could collapse at any moment. The best hope would be to use steel cables to secure it somehow to the building, get a small ''lifting crane'' or derrick in place on the floor above where it's hanging and using cutting torches try to remove the damaged part of the boom and lower it down. This could have been avoided though and thats the damnable thing. There is a trade union, Operating Engineers&Riggers who install cranes and take them down, they do this work.. At the base of platform, where the bottom of the booms attaches are large bolts or ‘’pins’’ that secure the boom to the platform and the cables at the end of the boom (the wheel) are wound around a drum in the cab and much like a spool of thread, hydraulic gears run the drum forward and in reverse, rasing and lowering what ever it is the crane is lifting. Once the pins are removed and a ‘’guyline’ or guide line is attached to the boom to prevent it from swaying the operator simply runs the cable foward lowering the boom(hence the expression to ‘’lower the boom’’) slowly to the ground. It's how the crane is installed floor by floor in the construction process and how it's removed after. However, depending on the size of the crane and its weight, it's sometimes necessary to use a heavier ‘’lifting’’ or ‘’erecting crane’’ to do the job. This type of equipment is different than a ‘’derrick’’ which is a lighter type of machine. Judging from this crane it appears as if an experienced could have done the job in a few hours. I've seen done lots of times. It's not rocket science. The men who do this work are a union and they are very well paid by the hour, very well paid believe me.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks for an insightful answer.

If you don't mind, perhaps you could answer further questions.

1. Without the big crane to lift it, how would they get "a small ''lifting crane'' or derrick in place on the floor above"? Elevator? Helicopter? Install a second crane?

2. How would they attach steel cables to the damaged boom? Crawl out onto it while wearing a safety harness?

Sounds like someone is gonna get really paid now!

[jmacusa]

Usually there is a material/personnel hoist(elevator) erected on the outside of every highrise construction project in every major city and the derrick would be hauled up and assembled . And yes, it would require men, ‘’riggers’’ to have to crawl out as best they can wearing safety harnesses to undertake the job. They’re well paid for it— and well trained. “Walking steel’’ is not a job for the faint-hearted. The main enemy right now is the high winds. Even without a hurricane OSHA laws and union and insurance regulations prohibit a normal work day raising steel and heavy loads if it’s raining or the winds are too high. There is every chance because of the weight of that boom and the way its hanging it could pull the whole crane down. Helicopters aren’t used in NYC for this kind of work and NYC prohibits helicopters flying over Manhattan for some thirty years now as the result of a deadly accident that long ago.

[jmacusa]

Usually there is a material/personnel hoist(elevator) erected on the outside of every highrise construction project in every major city and the derrick would be hauled up and assembled . And yes, it would require men, ‘’riggers’’ to have to crawl out as best they can wearing safety harnesses to undertake the job. They’re well paid for it— and well trained. “Walking steel’’ is not a job for the faint-hearted. The main enemy right now is the high winds. Even without a hurricane OSHA laws and union and insurance regulations prohibit a normal work day raising steel and heavy loads if it’s raining or the winds are too high. There is every chance because of the weight of that boom and the way its hanging it could pull the whole crane down. Helicopters aren’t used in NYC for this kind of work and NYC prohibits helicopters flying over Manhattan for some thirty years now as the result of a deadly accident that long ago.

[jmacusa]

Sorry for the double post.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks—your cogent reply deserved double-posting!

[Larry - Moe and Curly]

Wulie wrote: “what would be the concerns? that the re-bar reinforced cement domed reactor would not take the winds? ain’t an issue; or that the Hudson River will rise forty or sixty feet due to 5-10 inches of rain - ain’t gonna happen

silly queastions derserve silly answers”

From CBS news and other news sources this morning (10/30/12):
“WASHINGTON - Part of a nuclear power plant was shut down late Monday while another plant — the nation’s oldest — was put on alert after waters from superstorm Sandy rose 6 feet above sea level.

One of the units at Indian Point, a plant about 45 miles north of New York City, was shut down around 10:45 p.m. because of external electrical grid issues said Entergy Corp., which operates the plant. The company said there was no risk to employees or the public, and the plant was not at risk due to water levels from the Hudson River, which reached 9 feet 8 inches and was subsiding. Another unit at the plant was still operating at full power.”

Your uncalled-for snotty answer to a legitimate question says volumes about your character - or lack thereof. It’s the type of response that should be coming from a teenager who knows everything, not an adult who should know better.

By the way, a sentence is started with a capital letter and ended with a period or other punctuation. You’ve been texting too much. Oh, and spell check is your friend.

[Wuli]

“Your uncalled-for snotty answer to a legitimate question says volumes about your character - or lack thereof.”

As the evidence in your own information showed, there were no safety concerns AT the Indian Point Plant and any cause for shutting any of it’s system was related to external conditions and for reasons needed by those conditions, not intrinsicly for safety concerns about the plant.

As to any other nuclear plants that were reported about, I expect any reasons they might have been shut down were for similar external reasons as I have seen nor heard any reports of any safety issues AT THE PLANTS anywhere here on the east coast.

Had the question been simply about “power plants” it might not have been silly. but the unfounded idea that just because a power plant is a nuclear power plant it is inherently unsafe or unstable is unfounded and silly.

The one power plant that I head had some internal explosion last night was a conventional power plant in lower Manhattan on the East River; and having lived for about 12 years in Manhattan and lived near Manhattan for another 30 I can report that that power plant has had multiple tragedies (once causing the neighborhood around it be evacuated due to taxic fumes from a fire there.

So yes, particular attention to Indian Point is silly.

[Larry - Moe and Curly]

“Had the question been simply about “power plants” it might not have been silly. but the unfounded idea that just because a power plant is a nuclear power plant it is inherently unsafe or unstable is unfounded and silly.”

I asked about Indian Point because I have a special interest in THAT facility and not others in the area. So, paying “...particular attention to Indian Point is silly.”, is not.

If I had only known ahead of time that the unscheduled shutdown at Indian Point (not an insignificant event, by the way) would be caused by “external conditions” not associated with the storm (snort) I probably wouldn’t have asked the question to begin with.

Just beacuse someone uses the word “nuclear” in a sentence does not automatically make them an environmental wacko deserving derision and ridicule. I lived on a nuc sub for 3 years. I’m very familiar with the inherently safe nature of nuclear power plants. However, because of the flooding issues at Fukimashim and the Cooper Nuclear Station in Nebraska, I thought I’d ask the question.

Your critique of my question was uncalled-for, unwarranted, unnecessary and snarky.

[Wuli]

“However, because of the flooding issues at Fukimashim and the Cooper Nuclear Station in Nebraska, I thought I’d ask the question. Your critique of my question was uncalled-for, unwarranted, unnecessary and snarky.”

For someone who has some special concerns about power from the Indian Point plant, it does surprise me that you are not so well informed as to know the analogy to Fukishima and to its flooding is illogical with an educated understanding of the Indian Point plant and this storm.

Though my electricity does not come from Indian Point and though I do not live very near it, contending with the anti-nuclear-power wackos caused me long ago to become familiar with Indian Point and what were and were not legitimate emergency concerns about it, including what kind of weather conditions could possibly endanger it. I just assumed most people who had more intimate concerns with Indian Point would do the same. My apologies.

[Larry - Moe and Curly]

Apology accepted. I live in Texas and don’t know specifics about the plant other than it’s on the Hudson River and had an “historic storm” with possibly buckets and buckets of rain bearing down on it. Hence, the question.

My interest in Indian Point is related to the company that owns it, not the power it generates.

[acecrane]

Amazing how that piece is meant for heavy loads of building material and wind did that to it. Jib Cranes also design for heavy material lifting.