Inspector Arrested Following Tower Crane Accident

March 21, 2008 • Authorities have arrested an inspector in the New York City Buildings Department for falsifying a report in which he claimed to have visited the site of the deadly Manhattan tower crane accident on March 4, according to a New York Times report. The inspector later admitted that despite logging the response to a complaint he never inspected the crane that toppled, killing seven people last Saturday.

Though Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster said that it's unlikely the missed inspection had any relation to the March 15 accident, all of the cranes examined by Edward J. Marquette in the last six months will receive new inspections, according to the Times article. Lancaster also plans to have the city's Investigations Department perform a full review of the operations of the Building Department's cranes and derricks division.

 

It is believed the accident, which killed six construction workers including the operator of the luffing-jib crane, as well as a Miami-area resident visiting New York City for St. Patrick's Day, happened because a 6-ton steel collar fell down the crane's mast as the crew was jumping the tower crane. The collar pancaked with another collar already in place, and the unstable crane toppled, damaging and destroying several buildings in its wake.

 

Officials have verified that on March 14, another inspector examined three tower sections that were to be installed the next day, according to the Times report. Investigators are still trying to determine why two nylon slings, in place to hold the collar on the crane, were found broken after the accident.