This morning, tragedy struck in lower Manhattan when a huge construction crane collapsed near a worksite as workers tried to lower and secure it against rising winds. This killed a man sitting in a parked car that the crane fell on and injured three other people nearby. The injured people were hit with falling debris and two are listed in serious condition.
The crane had a 565-foot boom that stretched about as a long as an entire city block. The whole thing plummeted around 8:24 a.m. this morning near 40 Worth Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of lower Manhattan, during prime commuting time in the busy financial area of the city. The equipment that collapsed is known as a crawler crane, which consists of an upper carriage, or boom, mounted on a crawler-type undercarriage that can be moved from one location to another. The boom is capable of lifting 330 tons of weight. The crane was inspected Thursday morning by the Department of Buildings and deemed safe and functioning.
The winds were gusting at about 20 miles per hour this morning and construction crews were told to halt their work until safer conditions presented themselves, which is why the crane was being lowered until it lost control.
There would more likely be more victims of this giant accident if the workers had not already cleared the traffic on the street and the pedestrians around the site in order to prepare for lowering the crane.
The Department of Buildings and Mayor deBlasio issued orders for all crawler cranes across the city to be secured as investigators tried to determine the cause of Friday’s accident. It was the city’s first major crane collapse since 2008.
However, smaller crane accidents have been happening quite frequently recently in and around the city. We have dealt with numerous crane accident construction cases over the past several years where workers or pedestrians have been seriously injured due to a malfunctioning or improperly operated construction crane or an unsafe workplace.
If you or your loved one have been injured in a crane collapse, you have the right to bring a lawsuit against the responsible parties and obtain compensation for your injuries. It is important that you contact a lawyer right away to protect those rights. The insurance companies working for the crane companies start working for them the same day a crane collapse occurs. You need someone on your side with experience. Here at the Law Office of Richard Kenny we have that experience and can help. We have been helping people injured in crane collapses and construction accidents for many years and have obtained millions of dollars in compensation for them.
