January 14, 2008-A construction worker died when he fell from the 42nd floor of new construction when the wooden structure broke apart while concrete was poured into it. A second worker also fell but was amazingly caught in some netting on the 40th floor which saved his life but he is hospitalized with injuries. The controversial tower is supposed to have 46 stories. Bovis Lend Lease is the company managing the work at the site. It is the same company that managed the Deutsche Bank where two fire fighters were killed when fire swept through the contaminated site.
Preliminary reports show that the formwork failed and toppled to the 40th floor. The building is considered to be stable overall. The Buildings Department announced that it had issued four violations to Bovis Lend Lease for failing to safeguard the public and property, failing to have good housekeeping, failing to have a fire escape hatch, and failing to provide adequate fire extinguishers.
The SoHo Trump Tower upon completion will include 400 apartments priced at $3,000 per square foot with studios ranging from 425 square feet to 10,000 square feet suites. Neighbors who were against the size of the Tower were amazed at how quickly the building was being constructed.
The accident at SoHo Trump Tower is an example of what money can buy in the way of construction. The site was issued two class A violations in October 2007 but the construction continued without checks and balances. The Buildings Department said that 11 Environmental Control Board violations had been cited with 11 violations since May 2007 including operating the crane in an unsafe manner, failing to provide a flagman during hoisting, and failing to close the sidewalk before beginning hoisting operations. Eight of the 11 violations were geared to Bovis Lend Lease.
Construction has stopped until they determine that it can resume safely.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/scaffold-collapse-at-trump-soho-tower-kills-1/index.html?hp
