New York suffered its first construction-related fatality yesterday when a wall fell in Queens, killing one and seriously injuring three more. And it gets even sadder. Not only was the deceased, 26-year-old Huberto Sanchez, the father of two boys with a third child on the way one of his eight siblings, Miguel, was also working at the site and was one of those injured in yesterday's accident.
The three injured workers are reportedly in serious but stable condition.
Though details are still being sorted out, the accident seems to have stemmed from poorly poured concrete at a troubled construction site. Sanchez was underneath the two-story wall when it collapsed around 9:30 a.m. and quickly went into cardiac arrest.
In light of the accident the city has issued a stop-work order at the site, which had already racked up six violations since work started in June 2009. However Tony Sclafani, the chief spokesman for the Buildings Department, told the Times the violations were not related to the construction of the fateful 65-food-wide wall, instead relating to issues like failing to post proper signage or failing to keep the sidewalk free of equipment.
Sanchez is the first construction-related death of the year, and hopefully the last. In 2010 the city recorded four such deaths and three in 2009. As far as construction accidents go, according to the city last year there were 157, well down from 218 in 2009.
