16.12.2007

Crane drops 7 tonne load

A luffing tower crane dropped a seven ton load of Steel studding bars onto a site hut at the Ground Zero site in New York on Friday seriously injuring architect Robert Woo, 39.

The load is said to have fallen around 25 storeys from the new headquarters for Goldman Sachs after a 9.5 tonne nylon sling gave way.
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The carnage from the fallen steel

Woo, who works for Adamson Associates Architects of Ontario was the only person injured in the incident. He is stable in hospital but may never walk again after he was pulled from the wrecked hut dazed and bleeding from his mouth.

The general contractor on the 43-story Goldman Sachs building is Tishman Construction, the same contractor as the new Bank of America where a skip was dropped 51 floors from a crane on October See drops Skip
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The two cranes on the site

The Buildings Department issued a stop-work order immediately after the accident and cited Tishman for four violations: practicing unsafe hoisting operations; failure to safeguard the public and property during construction operations; failure to maintain vertical safety netting along the sides of the building, and failure to provide toe boards, which are low barriers designed to prevent falls.

The crane operator, Federated equipment, part of DCM Erectors, was cited for unsafe hoisting operations, according to Department of Buildings officials.