Posted on 05/30/2008 5:44:39 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
There have been conflicting reports on when the last jump was. Some early reports said it was last night, but at least one of those reports (in the NY Daily News) has now been changed to read that the last jump was 3 days ago. Re an inspector being present at the most recent jump, see http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/crane-collapses-on-upper-east-side/#comment-331534
“At a news conference led by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. David A. Paterson, the acting commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings, Robert LiMandri, gave a summary of the inspection history involving the crane. The news conference ended around 11:45 a.m. A meeting was held on April 17 with the developer, the construction company, the crane operator and city officials, Mr. LiMandri said. On April 20 and 21, the crane was erected, with Buildings Department inspectors on the scene to inspect the process. The crane was then jumped – lengthened – twice, on May 22 and May 27. Each time, Buildings Department engineers were present.” [snip] The mayor added that there was “no reason to believe at the moment” that anybody was still trapped in the building that sustained the most damage. Mr. Bloomberg continued: We will release later today all of the records of any complaints about the buildings and any stop-work orders. A crane was stepped over the weekend. They were fully in compliance with building regulations. They did have on-site a building inspector and it was done properly. The sweep that we did of all the cranes in the city after the last crane collapse, on the East Side in the 50s, did not include this crane because this crane hadn’t been erected at that time. But the first examination of the records indicates that this crane was inspected and installed and stepped in compliance with regulations… So we don’t know why the top just snapped off.”
my point exactly, guido controls all those cranes and the NYC construction industry in general. Just ask Trump
The list of complaints are at the link in my post #88
You will note that there are complaints for “Illegal night work” going back a ways.
I heard on Fox that the requirement that an inspector be present during jumps and moves was rescinded just two days ago.
From the link you gave me
It’s clear we need to be far more strict and crack down on any unsafe construction sites, and its clear we need more inspectors, still. When a violation is issued, disciplinary action must follow. Just two days ago the city decided that inspectors will no longer be present every time a construction crane is being erected or made taller, an emergency provision put in place following the last major accident. This move by the D.O.B., tightening restrictions following a catastrophe, and then relaxing them as soon as the smoke clears, was likely premature.
I expect that emergency provision will be back in force before 5PM today.
Horse....barn door....Hey, it’s Fun City!
There’s a big difference between random complaints from the public about noise and other non-critical problems, and the structural unsoundness of a huge tower-mounted crane. Keep in mind that a lot of the complainers are longtime renters in the immediate vicinity, who harbor the socialist notion that they have a right to continue living in the neighborhood indefinitely without any changes that they don’t like, and without an influx of those pesky rich people who buy “luxury” apartments.
When Stuyvesant Village was lawfully sold to a private company, there was a rash of lawsuits from longtime renters, and some of the media interviews with them were telling. I literally heard one woman whining to a reporter about how the courts really needed to stop this because it would destroy her community and cause unwanted people to start moving in, “you know, rich, Republican” — she actually said this in a taped interview! These people will jump at every chance to call in a complaint, no matter how insignificant.
I’m sure there are also inspector-originated citations that are rooted in a desire to extract bribes — lots of corruption in this industry. Not that there aren’t also some legitimate complaints, but I haven’t seen any that looked like cause for concern over a potential structural failure of the building or crane, are that are unusual in type and number for any large construction site in the city.
What I find most worrisome and suspicious is the fact that this crane was operated by the same company that operated the one in the March collapse. You have to think that even just for purely selfish purposes, the company management would be pulling out all the stops to prevent another crane accident, even a minor one. I can’t imagine this company or will be able to get insurance for its business in the future, nor will the senior managers/owners be able to get insurance for a similar business set up under another name and corporate entity. Insurance underwriters aren’t stupid. One crane company with 2 catastrophic failures inside of 3 months, both with fatalities and huge amounts of damage to neighboring properties, is no way insurable.
Again, not at all similar to the crane collapse in March, although the resulting death, injury and property damage is awful in either case.
Is this usual?
...and of course we all know that there is no truth in stereotypes. /s
Not similar, except for being operated by the same company. That just looks suspicious to me. After the March collapse, you’d expect that company to be the MOST vigilant about inspecting their equipment and adhering to their safety procedures.
From what I recall reading after the March collapse, that sort of litany of complaints and citations and partial stop-work orders is totally routine. You practically need a permit to hammer in a nail in this city. On a construction site of this scale, at any given moment there are probably literally hundreds of different permits that are required. Complaints about working at night sound very likely to be neighborhood residents who call the minute construction noise goes past the official stop time. In many cases, it’s probably much safer to finish a task in progress than to strictly adhere to the stop time.
Where else would the cab be? The operator needs to be up top so he can see what he’s doing, and he can’t be out on the lifting end of the crane because 1) it would difficult to get there, and 2) again, he wouldn’t be able to see what he was doing, as the load and its pick-up and drop-off points would be underneath him.
Not likely :-) I just don’t think there’s any connection between the complaints and citations, and the failure of this crane. If there was sabotage involved, it would most likely be by a disgruntled former crane operator, or a competitor for this company’s crane business. Somebody who has both professional level knowledge of this type of crane, and motive.
Hopefully, if it was sabotage, they will find out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.