Bay Crane Collapse New York

Over the past few years, Bay Crane has found itself at the center of numerous construction site accidents. The latest occurred on Friday, February 5, when a crane owned by the company collapsed in Lower Manhattan, killing one and injuring three other victims.

After the accident, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio called for the creation of a crane safety task force and cited the need for more sidewalk protection for pedestrians. Additionally, the Mayor indicated that the Department of Buildings will raise the fine for failure to comply with regulations to $10,000. While these actions will hopefully help prevent such accidents from occurring in the future, they offer little solace to the victims and families who’ve been impacted by crane accidents, especially those caused by negligence.

About Bay Crane

Bay Crane Service Inc. describes itself as “the leader in specialized transportation and logistics planning for the implementation of heavy hauling solutions in New York.” They claim to operate the area’s largest fleet of heavy haul equipment and, per Buildings Department Commissioner Rick Chandler, own about a quarter of the cranes that operate in New York City. They operate in multiple offices throughout the United States, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Long Island City, NY. Bay Crane Services owns crane fleets classified under all-terrain, crawler, rough terrain and conventional categories and offers more than 30 types of cranes on its website.

Past Bay Crane Services Incidents

Per CBS2 New York, Bay Crane has been cited for four safety violations since 2011. Their cranes have also been involved in several recent accidents, including:

  • October 2015: A 24-year-old Army veteran, Nicholas Dumont, was killed when he fell about 40 feet while working on a warehouse in Taunton, MA. Bay Crane Services operated machinery at the worksite.
  • May 2015: A crane owned by Bay Crane dropped a heating and air-conditioning unit on a Midtown avenue, injuring 10.
  • March 2015: A Bay Crane worker lost two-thirds of his left hand in an accident at La Guardia Airport.

About the February 5, 2016 Collapse

On February 5, a crane in Lower Manhattan collapsed while being lowered, killing 38-year-old David Wichs and injuring three others. Per The New York Times, the crane was being lowered from its height of 15 stories because of high winds, and began to topple over while its boom was descending. Officials are still investigating the cause of the collapse and it’s unclear at this time if wind is directly responsible for the crane’s collapse.

Crane Injury Statistics

The latest crane injury statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are from 2006. In that year alone, there were 72 fatalities caused by crane accidents. Over the years between 1997-2006, crane accidents were responsible for 818 workplace fatalities. Mobile, truck, rail-mounted and overhead cranes represented the cranes most often involved in these incidents. The most common types of crane accident fatalities by cause of death include:

  • Struck by falling object – 42%
  • Falls – 20%
  • Caught in or compressed by equipment/objects – 11%
  • Transportation incidents – 10%
  • Contact with electrical currents – 8%
  • Other struck by object – 8%

Don’t let authorities or construction companies tell you that accidents such as the one that occurred on February 5 are acceptable or unavoidable. If you or a loved one has suffered a serious personal injury or wrongful death as the result of a crane accident, contact Sheff Law for a free, no-obligation case evaluation today.