The risks of construction accidents are a very real hazard to workers throughout the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. New York City construction sites are often crowded with activity, and tight deadlines too often lead to safety compromises.
No site strikes more pride in the hearts of New Yorkers than the redevelopment of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. But a recent crane accident on that site showed the massive dangers that crane operators, steeplejacks and ironworkers face every working day.
A load of steel that was being hoisted 40 stories up to the new building at Church and Liberty Streets suddenly broke loose, and tons of steel plummeted to the flatbed truck from which it had been raised. Workers were immediately evacuated to nearby Zucotti Park while the FDNY and other investigators assessed the damage.
While onlookers described the scene as chaos and the resulting commotion brought back troubling memories to nearby residents who endured 9/11, the accident resulted in only minor injuries to the crane operator. However, the impact of the falling steel required a precautionary shutdown of the number 1 train below Chambers St.
This accident illustrates the extreme dangers construction workers deal with on a daily basis due to the risk of falling objects. Whether the accident results from operator error, defective cables or hardware, or any other circumstance, falling objects on construction sites can cause serious and catastrophic injuries.
As with other types of workplace accidents such as scaffolding accidents, electrocutions, explosions and falls from ladders, injured workers often need to assert their legal rights to ensure that they receive sufficient compensation. A New York construction accident attorney can explain the complexities of legal claims to worksite injury victims and wrongful death survivors.
Source: NY Daily News, "Worker hurt as crane cable snaps at World Trade Center," Joe Kemp, Feb. 16, 2012
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