The worker was wearing a harness when he fell from the 29th floor, but the harness wasn't clipped in. He landed on a scaffold bridge above the sidewalk and was pronounced dead at the scene.
HISPANIC WORKERS CONTINUE TO BUILT NEW YORK CITY WITH THEIR BLOODTwo construction workers died in separate falls hours apart in Manhattan Thursday, officials said.
The Department of Buildings said it is investigating the accidents in the Financial District and midtown that left a father of five and a 45-year-old man, respectively, dead. The department also confirmed that at one of the two sites, it was the second such death this year.
In the first incident, a veteran construction worker died in a 29-story plunge from a luxury waterfront condo development in the Financial District, authorities and relatives said.
The victim's identity has not been officially released, but a cousin at the scene, Angel Munoz, told News 4 he is Juan Chonillo, a 43-year-old father of five from Ecuador who has worked on many projects similar to the development on Maiden Lane in the past and that he had lost his balance prior to the fall.
Fire officials said the worker was wearing a harness when he fell from the 29th floor, but the harness wasn't clipped in. He landed on a scaffold bridge above the sidewalk and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A Department of Buildings spokesman said Chonillo and other workers, who were employed by contractor Pizzarotti IBC, were installing molds in which to pour concrete for the 29th floor of the tower at the time of the accident.
The address emergency personnel were called to is 1 Seaport Residences, which, once finished, is expected to be a 60-story building with a "full floor experience" halfway up that offers 360-degree views of Manhattan, according to StreetEasy. The website reports multiple penthouse units are already in contract for more than $7 million apeice.
The Buildings Department website also shows a complaint filed on Tuesday ago over possible unsafe crane operation, but a spokesman said it had nothing to do with Thursday's accident.
Later Thursday afternoon, two workers plunged from a bucket lift from the third floor at 400 W. 33rd St. on Ninth Avenue, according to a Department of Buildings spokesman.
One of the workers, a 45-year-old man, died. Witnesses at the scene said it appeared that they were wearing safety harnesses, but that they weren't secured to the bucket.
It was the second time a worker had fallen to his death at the site this year; another worker died in June.
A spokesman for Tishman Construction, the contractor for the site, said that the two workers fell while a boom was descending.
"We are deeply saddened by this terrible tragedy and we are actively cooperating with all relevant agencies to investigate the matter," a company spokesman said.
The deaths come amid calls for more stringent safety measures. The buildings department said there had been seven construction-related deaths this year, including Thursday morning's fall. In 2016 and 2015, there were 12 deaths each.
The president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, Gary LaBarbera, said construction is "one of the most dangerous industries in New York City and even the best trained workers are not immune to accidents."
"We must end this epidemic and come together as a city to ensure that we do everything in our power to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities for the men and women who are building our skyline," LaBarbera said.
Months ago, the City Council approved a bill that requires a better database of who gets hurt or killed in a fall, but the fate of a more controversial bill requiring construction workers in the city to get safety training and an apprenticeship course is still unknown.
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Electrical Worker Dead After Falling From Bucket Lift At Manhattan Construction Site
by Emma Whitford in News on Sep 21, 2017 5:09 pm
(Maya Rajamani / DNAInfo)
A 45-year-old worker with a Queens-based electrical contractor died Thursday afternoon after falling out of a bucket lift on the third floor level of a mega-tower construction site on the west side of Manhattan, according to a preliminary Department of Buildings investigation.
This marks the second fatality on the 400 West 33rd Street site, also known as One Manhattan West, since June, according to the DOB.
A second worker, also a 45-year-old man, fell from the bucket as well. He was transported to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition with head and body trauma, according to the NYPD.
"The only comment we have is that we are cooperating with the authorities," said Christine Abreu, director of risk management and compliance at EJ Electric, which employed both men.
Brookfield Properties, which owns the Manhattan West site, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"This afternoon, two workers fell out of a boom lift while it was descending. One worker died on-site and the other is at the hospital," said Tishman Construction spokesman John Gallagher. "We are deeply saddened by this terrible tragedy and we are actively cooperating with all relevant agencies to investigate the matter. There are no further details at this time."
A 62-year-old construction worker, Roger Vail, fell ten stories to his death at the site on June 7th, DNAInfo reports, after the material he was standing on up on the sixteenth floor broke. A stop-work order was issued and subsequently lifted.
There are three open DOB violations on One Manhattan West, including one immediately hazardous violation from June 6th, DOB records show. Tishman owes $1,500 for "failure to safeguard all persons and property affected by construction operations." There are also eight open Environmental Control Board violations.
This second fatality at the Manhattan West development also marked the second construction-related death in Manhattan in less than a day. Thursday morning, a 27-year-old worker fell 27 stories to his death while working on a luxury high-rise development on Maiden Lane near the South Street Seaport. The DOB had issued a stop work order on Wednesday for workers using a crane without permits.
One Manhattan West is planned to rise 67 stories, and is part of Brookfield's planned six-building Manhattan West complex.
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Worker Dies in 27-Story Fall at Financial District Site, NYPD Says
By Danielle Barnes, Trevor Kapp and Aidan Gardiner | September 21, 2017 10:55am | Updated on September 21, 2017 1:02pm
Juan Chonillo, left, died in a fall from 161 Maiden Lane, officials said. Facebook/Juan Chonillo and DNAinfo/Danielle Barnes
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — A father of five fell 27 stories to his death at a luxury high-rise construction site near South Street Seaport he was working at on Thursday morning, officials said.
Juan Chonillo, 43, was setting up a framework into which to pour concrete on the 29th floor of 161 Maiden Lane, near FDR Drive, when he plummeted to his death on a street-level scaffolding about 9:15 a.m., an NYPD spokeswoman said.
Chonillo was wearing a harness, but it hadn't been clipped onto anything, according to Department of Buildings officials.
Chonillo, who's from Ecuador, has five children and has worked construction in New York for about a decade, according to family who visited the scene.
"He was really dear to me. He was a great guy. I'm pretty brokenhearted," said Chonillo's nephew, Elias Rivera-Chonillo, 28.
Chonillo, of Corona, died at the scene, police said.
"We just came back from the morgue. I'm just trying to find out what's going on. We're destroyed," said Rivera-Chonillo.
"He was a good father. He would take care of his kids," the nephew said.
Those nearby heard the impact of the fall, they said.
"I didn't see the guy fall, but I heard the loud boom," said Paul James of the Union Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 157.
"We saw complete commotion," James said
The Department of Buildings officials were investigating Chonillo's death.
Chonillo was a subcontractor of Pizzarotti IBC, which didn't immediately return a request for comment.
FDNY officials evacuated some buildings north of the fall site "out of an abundance of caution," Currao said.
The build site is slated to become come a 60-story residential tower which developers have dubbed 1 Seaport, which will sport a spa, fitness center and studio apartments for $1,500,000.
A day before the fall, the DOB issued a partial stop-work order at the site Wednesday for workers using a crane without proper permits, according to the agency's website. The agency is also investigating Thursday's fall.
The site has been cited nine times since January, racking up $24,000 in fines, records show.
On Jan. 3, inspectors found that workers were operating in darkness because no one set up lighting, that exits were blocked by equipment and other unsafe condition, records show.
In April, inspectors cited them for debris strewn about the work area, records show.
On July 20, inspectors cited them for not properly illuminating cranes on the site, records show.
James said he was at the site Thursday morning on behalf of his union, which was protesting the non-union site when the worker fell.
"These workers are underpaid, not unionized and they have no proper training," James said.
Chonillo's death comes a day after new construction safety regulations passed out of committee to be voted on by the entire City Council on Wednesday.
The rules, under Intro. 1447, would require better training for workers throughout the city and levy fines against owners and developers who fail to abide by that, supporters said.
"The measures before the City Council next week are common sense, essential steps towards beginning to change the culture in the [construction] industry. For too long, their safety has been sacrificed for the sake of expediency and profit," council members Jumaane Williams and Margaret Chin said in a press release.
"It is our sincere hope that this will help prevent future injuries and deaths like the heartbreaking incident we experienced today," the council members said.