Dive Brief:
- Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has announced five indictments in connection with a deadly Manhattan gas explosion and fire last March. Charges against the building's owners, plumbers and a general contractor include falsifying documents, assault in the second degree and criminally negligent homicide.
- Prosecutors allege that those indicted "recklessly engineered an illegal gas delivery system," ABC News reported. Authorities said a worker implemented an unsafe gas hookup and then engineered a complex, makeshift workaround from an uncapped gas meter next door after utility inspectors turned off the gas.
- The explosion destroyed three buildings, killed two people in one of the destroyed buildings, and left dozens homeless or injured, according to the New York Business Journal.
Dive Insight:
"Development, construction and renovation is happening across the city at breakneck speed," Vance said in a statement. "In this market, the temptation for property owners, contractors and managers to take dangerous — and, in some instances, deadly — shortcuts has never been greater."
Included in the indictment are building owner Maria Hrynenko and her son, Michael Hrynenko; master plumber Andrew Trombettas; general contractor Dilber Kukic; and worker Athanasios Ioannidis, ABC reported.
Keeping the public safe in places where buildings, transportation systems and residents coexist in such tight quarters is a major task for cities like New York.
Most recently, a construction crane collapsed in Manhattan, killing one pedestrian and injuring three others. According to reports, the crawler crane fell over as it was being lowered in advance of a coming storm. Mayor Bill de Blasio, at a press conference following the collapse, said the crane manufacturer requires it be placed into a secure position when winds reach 25 miles per hour.
As a result of the accident, de Blasio said the city is implementing a four-point construction crane safety plan, which includes new restrictions on crawler cranes during windy conditions, double fines for equipment operators who don't follow safety requirements, increased protection for pedestrians near crane sites and increased notification to buildings located near cranes.