Worker Dies After 5-Story Plunge Down Elevator Shaft In Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A contractor was killed Thursday morning after plunging five stories down an elevator shaft in Queens.
It happened at a construction site for P.S. 313 on 42nd Street in Sunnyside, WCBS 880's Paul Murnane reported.
A second worker plunged from the second floor to the first floor, the Department of Buildings said.
Peter Petrino, a shop steward for the drywall tapers union, said he rushed to the elevator shaft after hearing a loud noise and found other hard-hatted workers gathered around a motionless figure below.
The contractor, a man in his 40s, was working on the elevator when he fell, police said. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The worker was wearing a safety harness but it was not connected to a lifeline, the Department of Buildings said.
Petrino said the victim was not part of his union's membership.
It's an accident that has shaken even industry veterans on the job, Petrino told Murnane.
"We're trained for safety, the unions train us. There's site safety guys, it's much safer than most of these other construction sites, but things do happen," he said.
The site, a 6-story new building under construction, was hit with a stop work order, the Department of Buildings said.
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