DEATH IN CRANE DISASTER

In a bizarre incident, a crane collapsed this week killing a worker and injuring several others.  City officials have cited a number of defects in its hoisting system.  This has been corroborated by engineers who found similar defects in the hoisting system the city Department of Buildings said Thursday.

“Our engineers have found defects in the hoisting system of the crane that failed, and as a result, the maintenance and operation of the crane in the days and weeks prior to this tragic accident has become the focus of our investigation,” Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri said.  Its’ the responsibility of any contractor who operates cranes on a job to perform daily and monthly checks to see that the equipment is safe to use, he added.

The boom fell onto Mr. Simermeyer, 30.

Whether the crane, a 24-year-old, 170-foot Manitowoc model was in proper working conditions or not, those responsible for keeping it fit and will be the focus of the investigation.  The rig had been most recently inspected by the Buildings Department on Jan. 10 according to officials.

Various agencies are investigating the accident, including the police department and the Manhattan district attorney.  All work at the MTA has been suspended and the transit agency is conducting an immediate inspection of all its cranes construction sites throughout the city.

Being the city’s third fatal accident, the disaster was getting extra attention and followed a series of scandals involving lax or corrupt oversight of the industry.

“Cranes are supposed to be inspected, at a minimum, once a year with records kept,” said Ronald L. Brodek, the owner of Brodek Crane Inspections, in Phoenix. “Then, depending on the hours it works and what it is being used for, you do maintenance and other inspections during the year. If you’re doing a lot of lifts, you might inspect it twice a month or three times a month because the wire rope is what is going to wear out on a crane first.”

There are already national standards for the maintenance and operation of mobile cranes.  The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration also recently published a new crane standard.

While these kind of thing shouldn’t happen, they happen quite a lot – and usually not for one single reason, but a combination or series of reasons.

Adam Lisberg, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which controlled the work site, said Thursday that a contractor, not the agency, was responsible for maintaining the crane.