4 Killed in NY Crane Collapse Members of IUOE Local 15

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/16/4-killed-in-crane-collapse-members-of-iuoe-local-15/

by Tula Connell, Mar 16, 2008

Our hearts go out to the families of the four workers killed and the more than one dozen injured in yesterday’s crane collapse in Manhatten. The four men were members of Operating Engineers Local 15. According to The New York Times, the four killed were Wayne Bliedner, 51; Brad Cohen; Anthony Mazza, 39; and Aaron Stephens, 45. The Times quotes Mayor Michael Bloomberg saying the collapse took place

as workers attempted to jack up the crane, raising its height to enable work to continue above the 19th floor of a planned 43-story building. Builders had city permission to raise the crane, and the crane had been inspected on Friday, with no violations found.

The collapse occurred at 2:22 p.m. as the crane, about 22 stories tall and attached by girders to the apartment tower under construction at 303 East 51st Street, east of Second Avenue, broke away from its anchors and toppled south, across the block between 51st and 50th Streets, as workers at the site and people in high-rises for blocks around looked on, stupefied.

Damage was expected to run into the millions of dollars in what the authorities called one of the city’s worst accidents—a calamity that turned a neighborhood near the United Nations into a zone of panic, pulverized buildings, wailing sirens, evacuations, searches in the rubble and covered bodies in the streets.

Stephen Kaplan, an owner of the Reliance Construction Group, called the tragedy ”an absolute freak accident, and later released a statement expressing sympathy to the families of the dead and injured and said it was cooperating with investigators.

According to the Times:

Kaplan said the company had subcontracted the work to different companies and was not in charge of the crane. Phone messages and an e-mail left for the crane’s owner, New York Crane & Equipment Corp., were not returned.