One Worker Dies from Building Collapse at 126 Lafayette; Site Had Prior Violations

One of the workers injured in a partial building collapse at 126 Lafayette Street has died after after a wall of the abandoned structure that was being demolished tumbled down upon them.

Workers for RJB Contracting Carting Corp were conducting a demolition on the second floor of the structure on March 7th when one wall collapsed onto them. While three suffered only moderate injuries, the fourth was taken to the hospital in serious condition and has since succumbed to his injuries.

The Department of Buildings issued five separate violations to the contractor for site safety issues found during an inspection on Feb. 7th. The violations were for failure to remove hazardous materials and fixtures prior to the start of demolition, sprinklers removed from the building, out of sequence of the demolition plans, tarps unsafely hanging from the scaffold, construction shanty not constructed out of fireproof material, and for storing 50 tons of construction material on the first floor, which was overloading the floor.

Department of Buildings issued a Stop Work Order that same day based on these violations. The contractor corrected the violations by February 10th, at which point the Department of Buildings conducted a second inspection and determined that work could continue at the site.

The Department of Buildings stated that these violations were unrelated to the subsequent partial collapse.

The partial collapse is the first building construction fatality in NYC recorded in 2023. A hearing for the five violations at OATH is currently scheduled for 4/13/23. The Department of Buildings says that investigation into the cause of the collapse is currently ongoing, and that enforcement actions are pending this ongoing investigation.

The NYPD did not release the name of the victim, pending notification of next of kin.