Contractor offers explanation for building collapse in West Harlem
A contractor at the West Harlem site where a worker was killed on Thursday in a building collapse said Friday that an “unusual” condition in a structural beam was to blame.
The contractor, Breeze National of Brooklyn, was working on a century-old, two-story warehouse facing demolition as part of Columbia University’s expansion.
The city’s Buildings Department, which is investigating the accident, declined to comment on Breeze National’s statement, as did Lend Lease, the construction manager overseeing work on the site.
According to Breeze National, structural beams that run horizontally are typically “joined together at a vertical column.” The beam that was being cut just before the collapse, however, was not joined with its adjacent beam at the column, the company said.
That beam, the company continued, “carried past the column” and was joined to another horizontal beam by a splice with bolts, encased in two feet of concrete.
“Because this was a century-old building, the bolts in the splice apparently failed and could not carry the load that was transferred to the splice and the bolts when the beam was cut,” the company said. Two other workers were injured in the accident.
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