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Construction of the future world headquarters of financial giant Goldman Sachs was halted Friday after a sling carrying steel up the side of the building suddenly snapped, sending 25- to 30-foot long metal studs hurtling to the ground, seriously wounding a worker below.
The 14,000-pound load fell from the 30th floor, hitting a construction trailer parked on West Street, just before 11 a.m. The impact crushed the trailer and trapped an architect inside.
"We didn't know what it was," said a construction worker who was on the scene at the time of the accident. "We thought somebody just dropped something on the floor. But, obviously, looking at the trailer, it's more than just a couple pieces of alumninum."
Emergency personnel rushed to the scene and were able to pull the architect, 39-year-old Robert Woo of Manhattan, out of the trailer and transport him to the trauma center at St. Vincent's.
"Units responded and were here in three minutes. They confirmed that there was construction material that had fallen from a crane and struck a construction trailer. We had reports of one person trapped in the trailer. My units quickly made access to the trailer and were able to extricate the individual."
"His injuries were multiple in nature. They are serious," said James Booth of the FDNY EMS. "He was talking when he left the scene."
The DOB says it's unclear what caused the sling to snap.
"The sling that was holding the load appears to have snapped," said Patricia Lancaster of the DOB. "The Buildings' Department, forensic engineers and architects are doing an investigation and interviews as we speak that will be ongoing for some time to find out what happened. But it's clearly important to send a message to the industry that safety and the rules that are in place already to prevent accidents are important to obey."
As fire collapse units and other emergency crews worked to clean up the site, emergency officials temporarily shut down a portion of the West Side Highway.
The city's Office of Emergency Management sent out an email alert to subscribers for the first time following the crane accident. The alert program is in the pilot phase, with several thousand New Yorkers signed up to receive emails in emergencies.
Construction on the 43-story office tower for Goldman Sachs' 9,000 employees began in November 2005. The building is part of the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site and is slated to open in 2009.
The DOB has issued a stop work order on the building and says the job will not be allowed to resume until it finds out exactly what caused the accident. The agency also issued four safety violations to the general contractor, Tishman Construction Corporation, and one violation to the crane operator.
In a statement, Tishman said its safety record at the site is excellent by industry standards.
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