Personal Injury Lawyers in New York

On Saturday, March 15, a large crane collapsed in the area of 50^th and 51^st Streets near Second Avenue in New York. Seven bodies have now been pulled from the site, so that all who were thought to be affected by the collapse are now accounted for. Most were construction workers. There were also 24 other people injured, three of them severely.

The crane’s fall damaged six buildings and about 12 nearby buildings were evacuated. The day before, Friday, city officials had inspected the crane and found no violations. The construction site had previously been cited for 13 minor infractions unrelated to the crane and its fall. One was failing to perform adequate housekeeping and another was failing to have a safety manager present. When asked about these, Mayor Bloomberg had replied, “Every large construction site has violations.”

In response to that, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said that it should not be regarded as “business as usual” for construction sites to have violations.

It seems that what caused so much destruction was a piece of steel falling and cutting a tie which held the crane to a skyscraper under construction. We will probably see more news reports following up on this event.

If you have been injured on a construction site, or if you have lost a loved one in a construction accident, please call or email us to arrange for a free consultation.