Crane that collapsed, killing 1, is removed from NYC street

Feb 14, 2016, 06:52

City officials said it could take weeks to determine why the crane collapsed.

In a statement, the Mayor's office declared that all crawler cranes must cease operation and go into safety mode when winds exceeding 20 miles per hour (or gusts exceeding 30 MPH) are forecasted.

Following last week's fatal crane accident, which killed one and injured others, the city has announced new immediate improvements to ensure all New Yorkers are kept safe.

The penalty for failing to safeguard a crane will also be upped, to $10,000 from $4,800, de Blasio said, speaking at a press conference Sunday at Worth and Church streets. Shortly after Friday's crane collapse, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer released an audit that found the Department of Buildings has adopted very few of the recommendations submitted.

The accident's sole casualty was David Wichs, an Orthodox Jewish Harvard graduate and immigrant from Czechoslovakia.

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The city will also "increase enforcement of sidewalk and street closures" and require operators to notify nearby residents and businesses before moving a crane.

As the investigation into what caused the crane to collapse continues, mourners gathered Sunday to remember the man killed in the crash.

"He was so generous, always wanted to take care of everyone", Daniel Wichs, his younger brother, said at the funeral service, according to the New York Daily News. "So thank God the crew did exactly what they were supposed to do".

The area in lower Manhattan was still blocked off Sunday morning, but the crumpled steel from the 565-foot-long crane is now gone.

In the next 90 days, the team will evaluate the conditions surrounding Friday's crane collapse and propose better practices and regulations "to make New York's cranes the safest in the world".

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"If we have to put strong measures to put limits on construction, we will do so", de Blasio said.

Officials said they recovered the mobile crane's movement recording computer, which could provide clues - such as the angle of the boom - as to why the crane fell. "So again I'm sure there will be questions about which theories we're working on", de Blasio said. The hope is for some normalcy by Monday, but there are no promises.

"Given what happened here it is extraordinary that there was not more damage", de Blasio said.

Finally, the city has created a new task force to create future strategies that will improve crane safety, the mayor said.

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