Chinese Crane Welder Lacked Confidence In Its Own Skills

摘要

Nearly a year before an ill-fated Kodiak tower crane collapsed on Manhattan's Upper East Side and killed two workers, China-based RTR Bearing Co. sent an e-mail to New York Crane & Equipment Corp., saying, "We don't have confidence on this welding," referring to a custom bearing assembly the crane owner had ordered. But New York Crane asked RTR to perform the $21,860 job anyway, according to court papers filed in conjunction with the accident.rnEven as personal-injury lawyers are now blaming Brooklyn-based New York Crane and its president, James F. Lomma, for disregarding the early warning, investigators have yet to test the crane. A court call is set for April 22, with, among other things, a goal to finalize protocols for destructive test- ing. Federal safety officials did not find violations in the May 30, 2008, accident, but city prosecutors are still investigating criminal charges (ENR 12/15 p. 103).rn"Everybody agrees that it was the Chinese weld that failed," says Susan Karten, an attorney representing the estate of Ramadan Kurtaj, a 2 7-year-old sewer technician who died on the operating table hours after the crane fell on top of him. "It was not a matter of how it was going to fail; it was a matter of when."