Daily News from New York, New York • 9

CRANE CHAOS SHOWS NO SIGN OF STOPPING 6 MR Serious accidents on the rise in city as Buildings Dept. flooded with new plans complaints AS THE NEW YORK skyline grows ever upward, the number of crane accidents has dramatically a Daily News investigation reveals. Reported crane incidents climbed from 19 in 2006 to 29 in 2007, with the number of accidents involving injuries rising from three to nine. If 'srf' BRONX XJ E. WT7 BY BRIAN KATES DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER 1 Jf 1 jf HjfOs queens 121407- 200 Murray This year alone even before the March 15 disaster that left seven people dead, flattened a brownstone and forced the evacuation of 18 buildings the city was hit with three serious crane incidents, including one in which a worker was injured.

"The Buildings Department continues to show a lack of effective, competent oversight and seems not to appreciate the risks involved" in crane op erations, said Assemblyman James Bren-nan (D-Brooklyn), who has held hearings to reform the troubled agency. In the city's burgeoning construction boom, the Buildings Department has DGTB LMEEE 4507 -HE. 29th St (at least one injury) 071007-36 W.21st St. (at least one injury) 10307-206 E. 86th St.

(at least one injury) A 82307 343 W. 39th St. (at least one injury) Crane accident locations: MANHATTAN 062206 -170 East End Ave. (one death) 092906-110 Third Ave. (at least one injury) 031507-12 E.

53rd St. (at least one injury) disassemble the crippled crane. Neighbors told The News that work had been progressing at breakneck speed at the site since January. The operator was issued a violation for working in an unsafe manner with a "grossly overloaded" crane. But months will pass before any action will be taken.

He is not scheduled for a hearing before the city's Environmental Control Board, which adjudicates serious building violations, until April 17. Fines typically are low and punishment haphazard. At 170 East End for example, a crane lifting a bundle of metal bars banged into a pile of construction material on the 10th floor, causing it to fall two stories onto a worker, killing him. The Buildings Department issued three serious violations to Plaza Construction Co. for the June 2006 incident.

"All of these violations were dismissed by the Environmental Control Board," according to the Buildings Department. The reason for the dismissal could not be immediately determined. Plaza could not reached for comment. Plaza was cited again in June 2007 when material from a crane load slipped and struck a worker's hand. The company re- 1 it illnf ii jfcim 1i I mil ill" 'tT'j Site of disaster where a crane fell on March 15, killing seven people and crushing a brownstone.

Photo by Reuters ceived a violation for failure to safeguard public and property. Buildings Department records show no fines were issued. Then there's the debacle at 110 Third Ave. on the lower East Side. In September 2006, a 4-ton chunk of steel plummeted four stories from a crane at a condo construction site there, crushing a taxicab, injuring five people and forcing closings and the evacuation of nearby homes.

York Crane and Broadway Concrete issued separate statements saving they were not at fault. A Tishman spokesman said, "We believe all of our personnel at this project performed their duties according to New York City Building Code rules and regulations." mwhitenydaHynews.com Chrislorme Paul was driving a cab when a crane broke, crushing his taxi. Photo by Nicholas Fevelo 1 1 i St (at least one injury) 2208-450 Washington St (at least one injury) 031508-303 E. 51st St (seven deaths) BRONX 011006-2300 Southern Blvd. (at least one injury) QUEENS fa 61507-120-01 Roosevelt Ave.

(at least one injury) brush with crane safety problems. Last June, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined the company $8,700 for violations at a 33-story building going up at 343 W. 39th St. OSHA fined Broadway again on Aug. 24, this time for $10,000, after a foreman dismantling a crane at the site suffered five broken ribs and internal injuries.

The Buildings Department fined the company $5,000 in the incident The fine has not been paid, city records show. Repeat violations at the same site are not uncommon. Last December, the Buildings Department cited DCM Erectors for using old and defective slings to hoist building material on a crane at 200 Murray Goldman Sachs new headquarters. Debris cascaded from the crane, striking an architect inside a work trailer and leaving him unable to move his legs. Just lact Thursday, records show work was stopped at the Goldman Sachs site again after inspectors found the crane operated by someone not identified in the city permit.

bkatesnyaailynews.com The Buildings Department issued violations to the Tishman Corp. for allowing a worker without a master rigger's license to set up the crane, and operating the crane in an unsafe manner. Tishman wound up paying a lightweight $2,000 fine, according to the Buildings Department. Another company, Broadway Concrete, also was charged with allowing crane work to be supervised by an unlicensed worker. It was not Broadway's only been flooded with applications to set up cranes skyrocketing from 707 in 2003 to 931 in 2006, the latest year for which complete statistics are available.

More than ever, cranes are being set up by unlicensed riggers, operated unsafely and used to hoist loads far heavier than what they were built to manage, records show. In the last serious accident before the horror on E. 51st an overloaded 200-foot crane buckled and partially collapsed at a condo construction site at 450 Washington St. in Tribeca, forcing the temporary evacuation of several homes. That was Feb.

1. The next day, two workers were injured in a fall as they were attempting to they want would have prevented this type of thing from happening." Paul and Siganoff are suing Tishman Construction which oversaw the building of the condo tower at 110 Third as well as New York Crane, which owned the crane that flattened the cab and the equipment that toppled on the East Side, and Broadway Concrete, the firm that was using the leased crane in 2006. The Third Ave. crane was to (ill everyone in the being dismantled without a master rigger or tower rigger on site, said city Buildings Department spokeswoman Kate Lindquist. The city is pursuing criminal charges against Broadway Concrete and its site safety coordinator, Ernesto Tersigni, Lindquist said.

Tishman and Broadway Concrete also were issued violations by the city. Lindquist could not say what caused the 2006 collapse. New 5. I yr ro to.