Diana Ruiz Cabrera was a number of hours into her shift on the huge office-to-residential conversion on the former Pfizer headquarters in Midtown in mid-February when she slipped from a step ladder and fell on her again about 5 ft beneath, tearing a number of ligaments in her ankle within the course of.
She left the construction in tears, descending by way of a hoist from the place she fell on the tower’s seventh ground, and was escorted by a supervisor to a automobile that took her to an pressing care clinic. Ruiz Cabrera, a single mother with greater than 5 years of expertise in building, continues to obtain bodily remedy for her accidents and hasn’t been in a position to return to work since her accident.
“I stay with lots of ache, nonetheless, in my on a regular basis life,” she stated.
The protection of the large improvement at 219 and 235 East forty second Road in Manhattan — the biggest conversion of its variety in New York Metropolis — has invited scrutiny since authorities ordered an emergency evacuation of the location and several other close by buildings on Tuesday and deemed the mission, positioned close to Grand Central Terminal, prone to collapse. Two metal columns on the twenty first ground buckled underneath the load of recent flooring added to the constructing.
The $700 million mission was in limbo Thursday amid an investigation into what triggered the partial collapse, whereas new questions emerged over whether or not the mission’s contractors skirted guidelines about reporting accidents on the job website.
Contractors are required to inform the town Division of Buildings about any job website accident the place a employee was transported by ambulance to off-site medical remedy or if the employee obtained emergency remedy in a hospital or clinic.
A evaluate of metropolis information signifies that website security managers employed by the final contractor notified DOB of three accidents since Could 2025. However The Metropolis Reporter discovered 9 further employee accidents, together with Ruiz Cabrera’s, during the last 12 months and a half for which there isn’t any file of buildings division notification.
In every of these circumstances, the employee has alleged in a civil lawsuit that they have been severely injured.
The circumstances surrounding Ruiz Cabrera’s case — a critical harm and transport to a medical clinic — appeared to fall throughout the class of an accident that may require the contractor to inform DOB. The Metropolis Reporter was unable to confirm whether or not the opposite 9 accidents required notification. The contractors and staff’ attorneys didn’t reply to questions.
“In the event you go to the emergency room, you’ve acquired to report it, for those who went to CityMD, you’ve gotta report it” to the Division of Buildings, stated Charlene Obernauer, govt director of the New York Committee for Occupational Security and Well being, an advocacy group that screens worksite security. “Not doing so might lead to a violation.”
On Thursday the buildings division continued its investigation into the reason for the partial collapse of load-bearing metal beams on the twenty first ground of what is going to finally be a 37-story residential tower that previously served as Pfizer’s New York headquarters. Officers stated the constructing has been stabilized, though the town continued to implement vacate orders at a number of adjoining buildings in a “frozen zone” across the website.
A Buildings Division spokesperson stated the location stays underneath a partial stop-work order the place solely emergency stabilization work is allowed.
Sean Dow, a member of Steamfitters Native 638 working on the website, stated the mission had a number of purple flags that jumped out at him effectively earlier than Tuesday’s evacuation, comparable to joists he claimed weren’t connected correctly and uncovered stay wires.
“Simply not the best working situations, I might say,” he advised reporters.
The mission includes two adjoining addresses —- 219 and 235 E. forty second St., with further tales going up on prime of 235 and a brand new tower rising at 219. At each addresses, information reveal a pretty chaotic historical past of 311 and different complaints about objects flying off the constructing to the road beneath and at the very least 12 employee accidents which are all described as “critical” in lawsuits.
In 9 of these accidents, together with Ruiz Cabrera’s fall off a ladder and transport for an ankle harm to a medical clinic, the accidents weren’t reported to the Division of Buildings.
Metropolis constructing guidelines require contractors or house owners to report any harm of a employee or civilian at a job website “that requires transport by emergency medical companies or requires instant emergency care at a hospital or offsite medical clinic…”
Contractors are required to inform the DOB inside three enterprise days of an harm requiring emergency care, after which file a web based report, together with an in depth description of the incident and harm, the hours the employee had been working previous to the incident, and whether or not the employee was in a union.
The 2 basic contractors for the Pfizer website are 219 GC LLC and 235 GC LLC, each of which have been included by MetroLoft LLC, the mission’s developer. (MetroLoft and Robert Travis, whose basic contractor license is registered to each 219 and 235 GC LLCs, didn’t reply to The Metropolis Reporter’s questions).
In lawsuits filed in opposition to the 2 basic contractors since Could 2025, 12 staff allege that they have been injured on the website for an alarming number of harmful circumstances.
Three staff say they have been struck by unsecured falling objects. That features one who says a jackhammer landed on prime of him from a ground above whereas it was being moved. Apart from Ruiz Cabrera, two different staff allege they fell off ladders and have been severely injured, courtroom information present. None of these incidents have been reported to DOB.
One other employee alleged he suffered a extreme head gash after a heavy door that was leaning in opposition to a wall fell on prime of him. Hearth Division information describe this as a “main harm,” and the employee was transported to Bellevue Hospital. On this case, the location security supervisor reported the incident to DOB, which issued three violations for unsafe situations and imposed $15,000 in penalties.
Generally information point out the contractor’s response to an accident was not full. One lawsuit filed in opposition to 219 GC LLC alleges that on Sept. 30, 2025, laborer Wilmer Cabrera Rojas was injured when he fell whereas dealing with unspecified materials. DOB information state a employee fell 12 ft by way of an open gap with out guardrails on the twenty seventh ground. The swimsuit alleges the autumn “resulted in him struggling critical and everlasting private accidents.” Rojas’ legal professional, Murad Sardar, declined to remark.
Constructing division information say an unidentified website security supervisor “reported to DOB employee fell down. Ambulance referred to as.” Two violations have been issued, together with one for failing to well timed and adequately report the incident in three enterprise days.
By Thursday, inspectors had issued 17 violations in opposition to 219 GC LLC and 235 GC LLC, slapping the contractors with greater than $90,000 in penalties, none of which have been paid.
