A massive “crawler” crane being used to lift equipment into a building in the Tribeca neighborhood toppled over on Friday during a swirling snowstorm, killing a man who worked in the neighborhood, injuring three others and crushing a line of cars parked in the street. Investigators are looking into the cause of the accident.
“No building is worth a person’s life. We are going to ensure the record boom in construction and growth does not come at the expense of safety,” de Blasio said in a statement announcing four policies aimed at improving safety.
The city will now require contractors to stop operating “crawlers” whenever meteorologists forecast steady winds of higher than 32 km per hour and gusts of more than 48 kph. More than 300 non-stationary crawler cranes were operating in the city last week, the mayor said.
Officials said it was unclear whether high winds played a role in the accident during Friday's morning rush, when the moderate snowstorm was moving across the city. The mayor would not rule out the weather, the equipment or any other factor as the cause, and said it would not be fair of him to speculate.
