A Building Department crane inspector was arrested and charged with lying about inspecting the crane accident that killed seven people, injured dozens and caused millions of dollars in property damage. On March 3, a call was made to the Building Department about the instability of the crane. The claim inspector said he inspected the crane and falsified documents as to doing so. The Building Department commissioners don't think the lack of crane inspection was the cause of the March 15 accident; that there were probably other factors; and the investigation continues.
The crane inspector was charged with two counts both felonies which could mean up to four years in prison.
The head of the Building Department ordered re-inspections of 100 percent of crane inspector's inspections over the last six months. He requested the Department of Investigation to do a full audit of the crane inspector's inspection reports. He requested the Department of Investigation to do a full audit of the entire cranes and derricks unit. He redistributed the code of conduct to our entire agency and launched a full operational review of the cranes and derricks unit and ordered that associated applications and paperwork be made available on the Web so that they are apparent to the public. He suspended the crane inspector until further notice.
see: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/city-inspector-is-charged-in-crane-case/?hp
