Problem at Soho Trump Tower from Planck's Constant

fallen worker behind scaffolding. apparently the bucket dropped cement from the top causing floors to collapse and 2 workers to fall, 1 being caught in the safety net.

trump tower collapse 2
Flickr Photo by: cultofinsatiable.

Accident at the Soho Trump Tower across from my office. Fire Engines and Police presence. There are reports that a crane lost its load of concrete beams at Spring and 6th Avenue. The beams hit the building and sidewalk scaffolding and people are trapped. One fatality is being reported.

In photo: a fallen worker behind scaffolding. Apparently the bucket dropped cement from the top causing floors to collapse and 2 workers to fall, 1 being caught in the safety net.

Last month it was reported that wooden planks broke free from a crane and crashed onto Spring Street crashing atop several cars.

The company managing construction at the site, Bovis Lend Lease, is the same company that oversaw demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan, where two firefighters were killed in August in a blaze that swept through the contaminated structure [NY Times].

I previously wrote on the tower: Donald Trump, Poltergeists, and Disaster in 2030 and mentioned that it was being built on abandoned burial grounds. Perhaps the ghosts are not happy.

More Flickr photos here and Curbed.com has a good set here as well as comprehensive details of the accident including this comment:

UPDATE 4:52pm: Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer issues a statement that blames overly quick construction for the accident: "The accident at the new hotel at 246 Spring Street is another example of the dangerous conditions created by rushed construction in Manhattan. My office did an initial investigation of violations at the site and discovered that there were two Class A violations issued on October 26, 2007. These violations are considered high risk. However, the construction was allowed to continue unchecked."

New York Magazine,
Trump Soho Victim Had Wife, Kids. Project Was Under Investigation for Code Violations.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer just released a statement on this afternoon's accident at 246 Spring Street, the site of the Trump Tower hotel, where a bucket of wet cement crashed into the building's scaffolding on the 40th floor, killing a worker, a married father from the Ukraine named Yuri, according to the New York Post and injuring several others. Some have noted that the tower had been going up a little too quickly, and from the statement it seems as though that had something to do with today's events.

And there are always those who have to blame Capitalism:

New York Observer,
Reaction to Trump SoHo Accident: 'A Momument to Greed and Hubris'
First and foremost, our thoughts are with the victims of this tragedy and their families and loved ones. But this is a tragedy that never should have happened. This building was illegal and never should have been approved by the City. But the City bent over backwards to push it through, and then the developers worked at lightning speed to get the building up while the legal challenge has been making its way through the system. This building was already a monument to greed and hubris; now, sadly, it will be a monument to tragedy as well.

All developers work to get their projects done quickly. This has nothing to do with greed, deaths cost money - lots of money; but accidents happen no matter how carefully one tries to avoid them. A truly greedy person wants no one to die to delay the construction.