Personal Injury Law

SCAFFOLD COLLAPSES, KILLING ONE BROTHER, AND LEAVING A SECOND BROTHER STRUGGLING FOR HIS LIFE

According to the New York Times, two brothers, Edgar and Alcides Moreno fell from the 47th floor of Solow Tower, a Manhattan building, after their scaffold collapsed beneath them. The two brothers, Edgar and Alcides Moreno, who worked as window washers together, fell from a swing scaffold, a built-in feature of the Solow Tower that is intended to let workers move the platform so window washers can reach any point on the facade. Both brothers were experienced window washers, and both had worked as window washers in high-rise buildings for over ten years.

The times relayed that, two hours before they fell, both Edgar and Alcides told José Cumbicos, their brother-in-law, that they feared a workplace injury might occur on the Solow Tower?s scaffolding, because their scaffold had a ?mechanical problem?. In fact, according to the Times account, Alcides told his brother-in-law, the morning of the fall, that they were only reporting to work because their boss called telling them, ?The scaffolding was fixed, come to work.? So they both left.?

In an interview at his home, Jose indicated he only knew the brother?s boss as ?Tony?. The Times reported that Jose said the brothers apparently trusted Tony, and that Tony reassured the bothers that the scaffold was safe. Apparently, the scaffold had been used, without incident, earlier in the week. Jose recounted that the brothers ??.took every precaution when they worked.? But Jose, who is himself a window washer, added, ?Something was wrong with the scaffold.?

As of last Friday, at least one investigator agreed with Jose. Another investigator said that new cables had been installed on the Solow Tower scaffold, but that it was unclear who did the work, when it was done and whether it was satisfactorily completed.

Jose related to the Times, that his brothers-in-law had also shared three other incidents with him where, just this year, there were problems with the scaffolding-one that reportedly put the scaffold totally out of commission just this last summer.

Full post as published by New York Injury Talk Blog on January 23, 2008 (boomark / email).