NY crane collapse update - two now dead

Two people are now reported as dead following the collapse of a tower crane in New York.

A Kodiak crane working on the Upper East Side hit a building as it fell into the street on Friday morning, killing the operator and a site worker.

With striking similarities to the Battersea accident, the crane’s top half separated from the bottom in the vicinity of the slew ring. The tower appears undamaged and a criminal investigation has been launched to determine if the slewing mechanism had been repaired and, if so, was the work done properly. 

The New York Times reports that the city authorities have placed ‘stop orders’ on five other sites where eight Kodiak machines are operating until fresh inspections can be carried out.

All New York’s tower cranes were inspected following a collapse in March which killed seven people and lead to the city’s buildings commissioner losing her job.

The crane that failed on Friday is over 20 years old and was erected in April. It had been inspected several times since but a weld defect in the slew mechanism would be difficult to spot once the crane had been erected.

A crane expert who has viewed television footage of this latest incident noted:

• there was no distortion to the tower, which indicated a failure of the structure, or connections, as the likely cause rather than overloading or high winds
• there were no bolts or empty bolt holes visible that would indicate failure of the connection or missing fasteners.