Worker Dies in Fall While Installing Solar Panels on Corona Roof, NYPD Says
By Katie Honan | October 19, 2017 5:30pm
CORONA, NYC — A 60-year-old construction worker without safety harness was killed Thursday after falling from the roof of a home where he was installing solar panels, police said.
The man, who has not been identified, was working on the roof of the two-story home at 94-22 50th Ave. at around 11:30 a.m. when he fell, police said.
He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police are still investigating, but do not suspect any criminality, a spokesman said.
A permit was filed earlier this month for the installation of roof-mounted solar panels, according to the Department of Buildings.
After DOB officials inspected the home, they found illegal apartments in the cellar and attic, records show.
The home's owner, Shu Lan Pu, was cited for the illegal conversions and a vacate order was issued for the apartments.
The owner could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
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A worker installing solar panels took a fatal plunge from the roof of a Queens home and died Thursday, police sources said.
The 60-year-old man was working for the solar panel firm Sunrun on a two-story house on 50th Ave., near 94th St., in Corona when he fell at about 11:50 a.m. Medics rushed him to Elmhurst Hospital, where he died.
The worker, whose name hasn’t been released, was testing the anchors installed on the roof to hold the panels, said Gary Padgett, a retired construction worker who lives across the street and saw the aftermath.
“He was up there yanking on it, to make sure it was secure, and he came off the roof,” Padgett said. “He wasn't attached. There was nothing on the roof to tie to... Nothing would have happened to him if he'd been tied on. Nothing. It's such a shame. I stood over here, I watched him die right there."
The city Buildings Department has opened an investigation into the accident, and is also looking into a complaint made Thursday about an illegal conversion in the cellar and attic.
"Our deep-felt sympathies are with the family of our employee,“ said Sunrun spokeswoman Morgan Mathis. “We are doing a thorough investigation working with the authorities and OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) so we can understand what happened.” Public records show the home’s owner as Shu Lan Pu. A woman answering her phone declined comment, except to say she felt sorry about the worker‘s death.
Padgett, who said he used to do roofing work, said he didn’t see common safety measures in place.
"There's plenty of ways he could have protected himself there, put the roof brackets with the boards so he would have had something to fall on, they just didn't have the proper safety equipment of anything on this job,” Padgett said.