Hard Rock Hotel construction collapses in New Orleans

The satellite image is recent enough to capture the two tower cranes.

Satellite

Soon after the accident, I saw reports of 1 dead, 3 missing, and 18 injured. The next morning the counts were 2, 2, and 18.

Screenshot @ -0:02

Screenshot @ -3:34
A large portion of the Hard Rock Hotel under construction in New Orleans, Louisiana collapsed this morning just before noon. Here's some aerial imagery of the damage which resulted.
[This has several closeup drone views. The steel work for the penthouse is trying to shove the tower crane over. Is it being held up by just the one bracket that we can see? It looks like it may be a while before they allow traffic on the adjacent streets. At -1:58 it looks like some streetcar and/or trolley lines will be out of service for a while. The road can quickly be cleaned up. How long will there be a risk of something more falling onto the street?]

It is bad enough when this happens in a third world country. But how can this happen in America, the land of building codes, inspectors, layers of management and consultants, OSHA, etc?

Update: Tribune's email-an-article-feature didn't work correctly to get a reference, so I include the entire article.

Chicago Tribune, Oct 18, 2019, Section 1, p14

Update 10-19-2019: The Chicago Tribune had a following up article explaining that the demolition of the tower cranes was done by workers in a basket hanging from another crane that has been set up on the site. The workers will cut some truss members and then put explosives on the remaining truss members. But the work has been delayed at least a day because of winds. Meat-on-the-hook work is particularly sensitive to winds because you don't want the basket blown into the tower that they are working on.

Here is an example of a worker basket being maneuvered into place so that they can continue to take down a smokestack at a power plant in Romeoville, IL. (It is a Manitowoc 21000 crane.)

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I read a comment by one of the operators on Facebook that he will loose the $300 of equipment that he left in his cab when the crane is blown up. I've seen another report that three workers were killed. One has been recovered, but the other two are under rubble that is too unstable to disturb by a recovery attempt.

Update: The Nov 26, 2019 Chicago Tribune carried an AP article by Janet McConnaughey about a worker, Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma of Honduras, being arrested by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) two days after the Oct 12 collapse according to Mary Yanik of the New Orleans Worker's Center for Racial Justice. Mary is claiming that the arrest is retaliation for him reporting problems to his supervisor before the collapse and talking to reporters afterwards. He has talked to OSHA officials twice after the collapse. Now a OSHA investigator from their whistleblower and retaliation division plans to interview him.

Ramirez Palma installed window frames. Mary explains that he reported to his supervisor more than five times that his laser level showed the building tilted 2 to 3 inches. He has been moved to the ICE Alexandria facility. An immigration attorney that Janet interviewed explained that the only reason Alexandria has an international airport is because ICE deports people from that facility. I quote Janet's text of Mary's concerns: "His deportation would complicate the federal investigation into the collapse, keeping him out of further proceedings and silencing other workers and witnesses who are in the country without legal permission." It sounds like the OSHA retaliation investigator is in a race with ICE.

Ramirez Palma has been in this country for two decades. His request to hold off execution of deportation was denied in early October, but he was not aware of that until he was arrested. He was arrested while fishing.

"Bryan Cox, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called such claims 'outrageously irresponsible,' The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported....Cox told the newspaper the arrest had no connection to Ramirez Palma's speaking out. He blamed any fear of coming forward on advocacy groups' and critics' claims of retaliation." But Mary notes the timing is extraordinarily suspicious and that the reason given for the arrest was that he was fishing without a license. But he had a valid fishing license.

"A lawsuit by Ramirez Palma and four other injured workers says the project’s developers and construction firms caused the collapse by using inadequate materials and supports." Ramirez Palma’s wife said he had complained before the collapse that the concrete floors were sagging.
[Janet McConnaughey/AP via ChicagoTribune]

Update 12/1/2019: ICE deports 'crucial witness' in Hard Rock Hotel collapse by Derek Hawkins and Kim Bellware, The Washington Post.

Palma escaped the 18-story structure by jumping between floors as the steel and concrete from the upper floors came crashing down around him....Days before Palma’s deportation, the secretary of the Louisiana Workforce Commission asked the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, to release Palma. In a letter to William P. Joyce, director of ICE’s New Orleans field office, Secretary Ava Dejoie said Palma was a “crucial witness” in the ongoing investigation. “His detention and pending deportation hamper the ongoing investigations,” Dejoie wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Post. “If he is deported, the public may never know what key information is being deported with him. The investigations will undoubtedly suffer.”

I have to wonder what the going rate is for a contractor to bribe ICE.

Ted Fortier posted the question: "How is the Hard Rock demo coming along? They had two 2250s a while back."

Eric Brown: It’s half torn down.

Charlie Hinders: I believe the inspectors were falsifying records or something?

Eric Brown: They were falsifing the records, I worked in that job from the ground , they cut a lot of corners the higher up they got.

Ro Warner commented on Ted's post