Six construction workers were injured when a building partially collapsed in Crown Heights, Brooklyn on Oct. 17, a day after New York city mayor Bill de Blasio signed the new construction site safety bill into law.
According to officials from the The Fire Department of New York (FDNY), the workers have been loading cement blocks onto roof of 1924 Park Pl. when part of the roof collapsed into the basement. There are reportedly nine workers at the site during the incident but the FDNY only pulled six out of the rubble.
The construction site’s general contractor, Vladimir Uchen of Z&J Management LLC, says the roof collapsed due to a mistake on the crane operator’s part. “He tried to take off the fork from the cinder block, and he took the fork and the cinder block together,” Uchen explained to AM New York.
FDNY reported that four of the workers had serious injuries. They are expected to survive.
The collapse also affected 10 people living in the neighboring buildings, specifically 1292 and 1298 Park Place. At least three of them are relocated to a hotel with the help of the American Red Cross.
Following the incident, the Department of Buildings immediately conducted a structural stability inspection and issued stop-work orders at the construction site as well as its neighboring building, 1296 Park Place. Multiple violations are expected to be issued at the construction site.
