Even though construction has resumed following a deadly crane accident that left a 30-year-old worker from New Jersey dead and three of his fellow workers with severe personal injuries, questions still persist about exactly what went wrong. The NYC Department of Buildings announced last week that engineers found defects in the hoisting system of the crane that crashed on the night of Tuesday, April 3rd. That fatal construction accident at the construction site of the 7 Train extension, located on 11th Avenue and 34th Street on the West Side of Manhattan, caused the wrongful death of the aforementioned construction worker, and the ongoing investigation is examining whether the crane was properly maintained.
The crane received a ‘Satisfactory’ rating when examined by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in July, and it also passed inspection by the DOB on January 10th. The problem was that, according to the MTA, the latter inspection couldn’t be completed because the crane was operational at that time. Officials said that at least one of the cables that snapped on the night of the construction accident, sending a 40-foot section and an 80-foot section of the crane plummeting to the ground, hadn’t been checked. The rig at the subway tunnel was also exempt from most city construction safety rules because an independent state authority operated it.
This construction accident is the third fatal accident in four years in New York City that has involved a crane collapse. Needless to say, this incident will likely result in a wrongful death lawsuit, as well as personal injury lawsuits, because labor law violations are very probable. At our New York City law offices in Midtown Manhattan, our personal injury and wrongful death lawyers have deep experience in construction accidents of this kind, and in the past our New York City lawyers have won large settlements in such cases. If you or a loved one has suffered a serious personal injury on a construction site, contact us, because we will everything possible to acquire just compensation for your pain and suffering.