Another Death on a Scarano-Certified Site
When does coincidence become a pattern? That’s the question Robert Scarano should be asking himself this morning. Manipulating building codes and giving the finger to entire communities is one thing; being consistently involved as a certifying architect in projects where workers are injured or killed is another. With news yesterday of Anthony Duncan being crushed…
When does coincidence become a pattern? That’s the question Robert Scarano should be asking himself this morning. Manipulating building codes and giving the finger to entire communities is one thing; being consistently involved as a certifying architect in projects where workers are injured or killed is another. With news yesterday of Anthony Duncan being crushed by a collapsing wall on a worksite at 733 Ocean Parkway, the Scarano-related death count reached three (207 South 1st and 187 20th Street). We know what he will say (in all capital letters, no doubt): It’s the fault of the developer (O.P. Equities) and the contractor (A-1 Construction Expo), not mine. Okay, we might be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in any one isolated incident. What about when it happens twice? Three times?
Even if he has no legal culpability (which we are not in the position to judge), we hope this latest catastrophe will at the very least make Mr. Scarano do a better job of picking his partners. At a certain point, it’s like being the grown up who leaves a loaded gun out on the table and then says it’s not his fault when a child shoots himself. Mr. Scarano, you must have made enough money that you can stop whoring hiring yourself out to bottom-of-the-barrel clients who cut every corner they can. Please, stop enabling their irresponsible and dangerous behavior. How can you sleep at night?
Worker in Brooklyn Dies as Wall Falls [NY Times]
Brooklyn Worker Killed [NY Post]
Construction Worker Killed in Collapse [NY1]
733 Ocean Parkway DOB Application [NYC DOB]
Comments on 207 South 1st Death [Brownstoner]
Brownstoner – to make it brief, great sight, great insight and all around great job – but I have to call you to task over this one – I’m no fan of Scarnao’s work either, but the Architect has no control over, liabilty or responsibilty for any death or injury onsite , assuming he/she didn’t specifically direct someone to anything. The basic legal rule is that once construction begins, the Architect is an agent of the Owner, and has no formal connection to the contractor (assuming its not design build or some other non-standard agreement) While i’m with you on his work, i’ve gotta break with you on lumping all bad things together on him.
fed-up, you seem to know building procedures quite accurately, could you explain to us what is the meaning of a “controlled inspection” as stated by poster “anon at March 8, 2006 10:24 AM”
mentch….. This is completely disturbing. “….so three killed is not that high of a number to deserve such a rant…..”. So what number would you prefer? perhaps 30? then it would qualify as mass murdering, but then again 30 is probably not enough “to deserve such a rant”.
What a fascinating and important discussion. I’m glad so many professionals in the industry have added their know how to the mix, and given us experienced opinions on how the construction and building industry works.
For what it’s worth, I think Scarano is at least morally culpable. I wouldn’t want my name and reputation connected to any kind of unethical practices. If for no other reason than that, I would think he’d be doing more to see that safety standards were stringently adhered to, and corners were not cut.
Fed-up, it is a worthy endeavor to protest poor labor practices on the other side of the globe, ala the Gap. We should. But when people are being exploited right under our noses, here in the USA, and no one does anything, we become hypocrits. Greedy developers always siphon the money out in the ways that hurt us all the most – in cutting corners in materials and paying for labor. Why hire union with their laws and standards, their health insurance and high wages? Better to hire a bunch of really hard workers from somewhere like Mexico, who won’t ask too many questions, won’t take too many breaks, will take whatever money you decide to pay them, and don’t even know there is any such thing as health insurance. Plus they don’t speak too much English, and if they are illegal, they aren’t going to complain. Oh, we lost a couple. Too bad, let’s just throw a bit of money to their families back in the home country, hire a few more, and get back to work.
It’s disgusting. Brownstoner, thanks for going out on a limb with this one, it’s a worthy cause. And to Anon 10:19 who first brought out the fact that all of these deaths have taken place in smaller, low rise projects – kudos for a very observent and telling revelation.
fed-up, I get your points but I read your GAP analogy the other way: it indicates to me that we have become so inured to corruption and exploitation that we not only ignore it when we don’t see it (Asian factories with horrendous conditions), we don’t bat an eye when it carries on in front of our very eyes (the unsafe job sites dotting our streets). Put it that way and you can’t brush it off or try to say it’s relative. Pros know better than we do what corners are being cut, which means if we’re aware then they are mighty responsible, even if only ethically.
2 things
First I believe that all parties should be held accountable. The facts will show that many of these sites start and end with the usual suspects. They are all in bed together and will change names and affiliates to suit there needs. I have seen Jobs that were Illegally self certified by One Henry Radusky. When it was brought to DOB’s attention (By the way the real guilty party is DOB- for facilitating these atrocities), The planes were resubmited by Mr. Scarrano.
Like I said all Vultures with no regard for the people or the Communities that they destroy.
Secondly as to the Union issue. Yes all construction jobs are inherantly dangerous. and yes unions do have there problems. That is to be expected whenever there is MONEY involved. BUT when something goes wrong, at a union job there is much more acountablity. and ultimately that is what this whole thread is about ACCOUNTABILTY.
Lastly let me add that I feel sorry for not only the poor people who are sacrificing there lives on these sites but also the fools who will buy these Cheaply built death traps.
the architect does not necessarily have to make physical inspections of the site. i’ve been working on a VERY large job that has been in construction since last summer, and i (nor anyone from my office) have yet to set foot on the site. it’s not in our contract to do so. the contractor is coordinating the construction per the contract documents, and nothing in the job has arisen in which the architect has needed to inspect anything. in any job, if an unsafe condition is seen, then yes, someone should say something, but unless it’s glaringly obvious, there really is no way of telling whether something might fail on site. ultimately, the contractor foots the responsibility of safety on site.
“Stop whoring yourself out”?
It is terrible a worker was killed.
But how does name calling contribute to the dialogue?
Fed up: Just to clear something up, someone posted earlier that the architect has to make a physical inspection of the project on a regular basis. Is this true? Because if it is, it brings us back to the responsibility of the architect to at least go on the record if he/she sees safety issues or concerns, especially when the foreseeable results of these problems are loss of life.