Breaking-Worker Is Killed in Accident at Trump SoHo Tower

[Omaha Steve]

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/scaffold-collapse-at-trump-soho-tower-kills-1/index.html?ex=1200978000&en=9c526400a218d7b2&ei=5043&partner=EXCITE

January 14, 2008, 2:31 pm
Worker Is Killed in Accident at Trump SoHo Tower

By Sewell Chan


An injured worker was lowered from the site of a construction accident at the Trump SoHo hotel and condominium tower. A second worker was killed, city officials said, after he fell from the 42nd floor. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)


Updated, 6:15 p.m. | A construction worker plunged to his death, and two others were injured, after a wooden structure on the 42nd floor of the Trump SoHo hotel and condominium tower under construction in Manhattan collapsed, city officials said. The building, which is to rise 46 stories, has been a persistent source of debate, with community groups complaining about its size and proposed use, even before construction began last May.

The worker fell from the 42nd story — the uppermost story built so far — at 1:52 p.m. when the wooden structure broke apart while concrete was being poured into it, Assistant Chief Thomas Galvin of the Fire Department said at an afternoon news conference. A second worker fell from the 42nd story but was saved by some netting around the 40th floor. That worker was hospitalized with injuries. One other worker suffered minor injuries. All three workers were employed by DiFama Concrete, a concrete subcontractor for Bovis Lend Lease, the general contractor.

It was unclear how far the dead worker fell, but initial police estimates said the distance was at least 30 feet. A second worker fell from several stories into some netting, and was rescued, with injuries. The collapse occurred at 1:52 p.m. at the hotel and tower, at 246 Spring Street near Varick Street, west of the heart of SoHo. Witnesses reported that a large number of firefighters and emergency medical workers converged on the area, as did police officers from the First Precinct.

The accident tangled traffic in the area, especially around the entrance to the nearby Holland Tunnel late into the afternoon.

The company managing work at the site, Bovis Lend Lease, is the same company that oversaw demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan, where two firefighters were killed in August in a blaze that swept through the contaminated structure.

The Buildings Department announced in the late afternoon that it had ordered all work stopped at the building. The department said in a statement:

Preliminary reports indicate the concrete formwork on the 42nd floor failed, leading to part of the formwork collapsing onto the 40th floor. Buildings forensic engineers have determined the new building under construction is not in danger of further collapse and the crane at the site is stable.

FULL story at link.

[kikiek]

1. Either that type of construction accident is happening more often, or I'm just

hearing about it and paying notice.

[ccpup]

2. so THAT'S the eyesore going up at the end of Sixth Avenue

noticed it the other day and thought 'WTF?' because skyscrapers of that height are fairly rare down here in SoHo and The Village.

Oh man, I so intensely dislike Trump. :mad:

[catnhatnh]

3. Okay-this is a collapse caused by poor engineering or execution...

Wanna bet OSHA has something to say about workers not being tied off???