Precast Inc. - July/August 2008 - (Page 18) S A F E T Y & H E A LT H NPCA photo Recent Crane Collapses Prompt Increase in Safety Concerns What precast producers and erectors need to know. By Sue McCraven A t 8:03 a.m. Monday, May 30, 2008, as Donald Leo rotated the horizontal arm of his high-rise construction crane, his operator cab and part of the crane’s arm broke away from its steel-framed tower with a stomach-wrenching screech. Leo fell more than 200 feet to his death in a crumpled mass of steel at the foot of 91st Street and First Avenue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side in New York City. Just 30 years old, Leo had plans to be married in one month’s time. Another worker, a 27-year-old who was sending his earnings home to his family in Kosovo, was also killed in the accident, and a third construction worker, a 32-year-old, was seriously injured. JULY/AUGUST 2008 | PRECAST INC. Two months earlier, in March, seven people, including six construction workers, died when another tower crane collapsed during jacking operations near the 22nd level of a planned 43-story New York City townhouse. Perhaps all safety-related stories should first reflect on the loss of human life to remind us that construction accidents often take the lives of relatively young workers; young people with hopes, plans and promising futures are lost. The second purpose of safety articles should be to present steps that can be taken to help prevent future accidents. In New York City, where more than 20 tower cranes may be in operation on any 18
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