The spectacular collapse of a towering crane on the East Side began when a massive piece of steel designed to secure it to a new high-rise building came loose and pancaked on top of a second support nine stories below, shearing it free and creating a fatal imbalance that sent the 22-story crane toppling across a two-block swath of Turtle Bay, officials said on Sunday.þþOfficials were focusing their investigation in part on the way the steel piece — called a “collar” — was being installed, including whether a series of hoists and nylon straps used to hold it temporarily in place were strong enough to sustain its weight, said Patricia J. Lancaster, the buildings commissioner. Building officials estimated the weight at 12,000 pounds.þþMeanwhile, work crews and rescuers swarmed over the site of the disaster, on 51st Street and 50th Street just east of Second Avenue. They began to remove portions of the broken crane’s white lattice tower, one leaning against a 19-story building on 51st Street and another, which had broken off and tumbled through the air, lying across a demolished four-story town house on 50th Street. þþFour construction workers — a crane operator and three riggers who were helping to “jump” the crane, or increase its height — were killed. Three people were missing. On Sunday, as hope dwindled, firefighters, including a unit that specializes in building collapses, continued to search for signs of life. “We’re still calling it a search operation, though with each passing hour, things are getting more grim,” said Nicholas Scoppetta, the fire commissioner.þþSpeaking at a news conference near the scene, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said 24 people were injured. þþBuildings Department officials said that construction on the building had been halted while the investigation continued.þþ“As far as we can tell, all procedures that were called for were being followed, but it’s much too early to make a definitive decision,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “We will look to see whether or not there was human error or mechanical error or whether or not our procedures just aren’t adequate. At this point in time, we don’t know, and we don’t want to rush to any judgment.” þþOn Saturday, hundreds of workers boiled about the site, and several other cranes were brought in to help lift heavy sections of latticed steel from the toppled crane. Meanwhile, dozens of onlookers gazed from behind metal barricades on Second Avenue.þþAt the site of the demolished town house, which had a bar called Fubar in the ground floor and apartments above, ironworkers cut up sections of the toppled crane and removed pieces of the building. Each time they cleared a section of the rubble, rescue workers descended on a ladder and then crawled farther into the collapsed ruins, armed with listening devices to search for signs of life.þþRed Cross workers handed out coffee to rescue workers at the site while a Starbucks at the corner of 50th Street and Second Avenue gave out free coffee.þþSeventeen buildings were evacuated, and most people were still not able to get inside. One man, however, was given 10 minutes to dash into his apartment in the building at the corner of 50th Street and Second Avenue, which was damaged in the disaster, to retrieve his pet guinea pig. The man, Seth Shearer, 24, said that he persuaded officials to let him inside because he was scheduled to leave town on vacation and would not be able to get the animal until later.þþMost people who had been displaced found lodging with relatives or made other arrangements.þþSeveral streets in the area remained closed, and officials said they hoped to have at least one lane of Second Avenue opened by Monday morning.þþThe disaster occurred at 2:22 p.m. on Saturday, a day workers on the high-rise condominium under construction at 303 East 51st Street had spent adding two or more 13-foot sections to increase the crane’s height, a process known as “jumping” or “climbing” the crane. By the time they were done, the crane’s tower had reached a height of more than 200 feet, or about 20 stories. That structure was topped by a cab and jib extending farther. þþAt that point, the workers turned to the process of bracing the crane by positioning a steel collar around the outside of the crane’s tower at the building’s 18th floor. The collar, which officials said weighed about 12,000 pounds and was made of two U-shaped pieces of steel joined together, was to be secured to the tower and then tied by steel struts to the building. þþAs the work progressed, the collar was suspended high above the ground from metal hoists, known as chain blocks, connected to a higher section of the steel tower with slings made of thick nylon webbing, according to a person involved in the recovery.þþBut as workers were maneuvering the collar into place, it broke free and plummeted down the crane’s tower, like a ring around a steel tube sliding down. It slammed into another collar already in place at the ninth floor, shearing it from the struts that held it to the building and carrying it down to smash into yet another collar at the third floor.þþUnmoored and unbalanced, the spindly structure teetered and fell, the heavy cab and counterweights at the top pulling it down onto the buildings to the south. þþMs. Lancaster said investigators were looking at how the collar was being maneuvered into place just before it fell and whether the slings might have broken. She said investigators would try to determine whether the slings were worn or damaged or if they were strong enough to hold the collar’s weight. The person involved in the recovery provided a photograph of the collapsed collar showing one of the nylon straps still attached with what appeared to be a frayed and broken end.þþMs. Lancaster also said the position of the cab, with its approximately 40 tons of counterbalances, might have contributed to the disaster. “The counterweight was pointing south, and so it pulled the crane away from the building,” she said. “If it had been pointing north, it would have pulled the crane into the building.”þþScrutiny on Sunday also focused on the developer and the contractors involved in the work. þþThe crane was owned by New York Crane & Equipment Corporation, but it had apparently been leased to one of the contractors involved in the project. þþMs. Lancaster said that the company in charge of the crane was an Elizabeth, N.J., subcontractor on the construction project known as Joy Contractors Inc., identified as JCI in Building Department documents. Ms. Lancaster said her agency was still determining what other construction jobs JCI was involved in. þþThe crane installation was designed and approved by Peter J. Stroh, an engineer based in West Babylon, N.Y., according to a permit issued for the equipment in January. Mr. Stroh’s company was helping on Sunday with the removal of a crane piece that lay tilted against an apartment house on 51st Street, opposite the construction site, according to officials. þþThe lead developer on the project was James P. Kennelly, a retired firefighter with a law degree who branched out into real estate. He has done about two dozen projects since he opened his own development company in the mid-1980s, but the building on East 51st, which is to rise to 43 stories, with 180 condominium apartments, was by far the largest. The biggest building he had built before was a 14-story apartment building on East 30th Street in Manhattan. Mr. Kennelly issued a statement Saturday saying that he had instructed his construction manager, Reliance Construction Group, known as RCG, to cooperate with investigators. “We’re devastated by this tragedy, and our prayers are with the families,” he said in the statement. þþSaturday’s accident was the most recent of several high-profile construction accidents that have come during a building boom in the city. þþThe number of construction permits for new buildings or major renovations issued by the Buildings Department has soared 23.3 percent over the past five years, rising to 86,915 in 2007 from 70,515 in 2002.þþThere were 128 construction-related injuries last year, up from 116 in 2006, according to the Buildings Department. The number of construction fatalities fell to 12 in 2007 from 18 in 2006. There were at least five fatalities this year before the crane collapse on Saturday. þþJames Conway, political director of Local 14 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, said that the collapse on East 51st Street was the “worst crane accident” in memory.þþ
Source: NY Times
