One dead and 3 injured in NYC scaffolding accident

A construction worker died and 3 others were injured in a scaffolding accident in Manhattan. The accident occurred yesterday afternoon around 4:20pm at a 12 story condo building located at 136 East 36th Street near Lexington Ave in Murray Hill.

According to witnesses, two hard hats on a suspended scaffold were repairing the facade at the 11th floor level when a piece of the parapet fell into the suspended scaffolding. In a chain reaction, the rig then fell onto the street shed, destroying it.

According to the Daily News a 50 year old worker died in the accident. 2 other workers suffered serious injury and are in critical condition. Another one suffered minor injury.

The workers were employed by Edras Group Corp. Over the last 10 years Edras Group accumulated 43 safety violations.

Last year another construction worker was killed in Manhattan in very similar circumstances

Nelson Salinas, a construction worker for Vlad restoration was effectuating facade repair on a Upper East Side residential building when a piece of parapet fell on his head and destabilized the hanging scaffolding system on which he was standing. Salinas died in the accident that occurred in April 2019 (see previous blog)

A resident of the building told the  Daily News that the roof was in bad shape.

DOB investigators are still working on determining the exact cause of the accident and where the workers were located at the time of the accident.

While it is the responsibility of the building owner to maintain the building so it is safe, it is also the responsibility of the contractor to make sure that the construction workers employed by the company are proprely trained to install and use suspension scaffolds.  When installing a hanging scaffold system,  OSHA has a list of requirements including “Inspecting the support and its capacity and make sure all suspension scaffold support devices, such as outrigger beams, cornice hooks, and parapet clamps rest on surfaces capable of supporting at least 4 times the load imposed on them by the scaffold”.

Picture of the location of the Scaffolding Accident: courtesy of Google Map