Owner of N.Y. Crane Rigging Co. Indicted on Manslaughter (6 workers, 1 bystander dead)

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/01/06/owner-of-ny-crane-rigging-co-indicted-on-manslaughter/

by Mike Hall, Jan 6, 2009

The owner of the crane rigging company who was involved last March in New York City’s high-rise crane collapse that killed six workers and a woman in a nearby building was indicted yesterday on multiple charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault and reckless endangerment.

The crane collapsed as workers were “jumping” the crane or installing new sections to the crane so it could extend higher as construction work continued. Workers were attaching a six-ton collar to the crane to anchor it to the 18th floor of the building.

Before installation was complete, the slings holding the collar broke and the collar fell, pancaking two other support collars and leaving the crane unattached to the building. The crane then toppled backward across the street, damaging a 19-story apartment and demolishing a four-story town house.

At a news conference, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said that before the rigging operation began, William Rapetti, owner of Rapetti Rigging Services Inc., refused an offer from the project’s construction manager of a new set of slings. Instead he used four of his own, including one with

substantial pre-existing damage would have been obvious to Rapetti had he properly inspected the sling.

Morgenthau also said Rapetti ignored the crane manufacturer’s instructions that eight slings were needed to properly hoist and secure the collar and that he tied the damaged sling around sharp metal edges of the crane without using protective padding, a violation of the building code and federal regulations.

FULL story at link.

[DainBramaged]

1. He should have been charged with murder. Manslaughter is too easy

Mark my words, he'll get a fine and probation after he pleads to one count of something not even close to describing the horror and loss of the victims, and all parties will claim justice was served.


Makes my hair hurt.