The construction boom in New York City has brought with it numerous worker accidents that result in injury and death. Fortunately, no one was killed at a Midtown building near Grand Central on Madison Avenue when a wall fell on them during demolition of a building. Two workers were injured and were transported to Bellevue Hospital.
The building slated for demolition is one of several buildings that are being torn down to provide space for a new office complex. The construction site is managed by Tishman Construction. A Tishman spokesperson confirmed that the property, once cleared, will be the site of a complex known as One Vanderbilt that will be 65 stories tall. The injured workers were employed by Waldorf Demolition.
The workers’ injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. The NYC Department of Buildings is investigating.
This is not the first incident at One Vanderbilt. In April, four workers were seriously injured when a chandelier fell on them in one of the other project buildings.
Tishman Construction is one of the largest unionized construction firms in New York City. Founded in 1898, the company was the building of the original two towers at the World Trade Center in 1898. The company managed the construction of many other NYC buildings, including:
- Barclays Center
- One Bryant Park
- One World Trade Center
- Weill Cornell Medical Research Building
Tishman projects have been the site of several high-profile accidents, including two in 2013 that involved pedestrians. One of these occurred at a site of Park Avenue, where a pedestrian was struck by falling masonry. The other involved a fence that fell from a worksite in Harlem, striking a pedestrian. In April 2015, Tishman said that its pedestrian accident record has improved in the two years since these incidents. However, the record since April has not been accident-free, as the six workers injured since then at One Vanderbilt can attest.