07.03.2010

Lomma faces manslaughter charges

Jimmy Lomma, owner of New York Crane & Equipment and Lomma crane rental looks set to be indicted on manslaughter charges, in connection of the tower crane collapse on East 91st Street in May 2008 that killed two men.
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The accident came two months after another fatal Lomma tower crane collapse on East 51st Street that killed seven.
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Lomma has not been charged with any wrongdoing in that accident, although William Rapetti, a rigging contractor, was charger with manslaughter for using faulty slings to lift the tie in collars, one of which snapped, causing the collapse.

According to local reports Lomma is expected to turn himself in to the Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday. It also looks as though a Lomma employee and the company will also be charged.
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Several Apartments accross 91st Street were badly damaged

The manslaughter charges relate to the failure of a slew ring support weldment that had been re-welded following an earlier crack. The case appears to revolve around claims that Lomma had a Chinese company, RTR, carry out the repair due to the lower price it quoted, in spite of the fact that the company said it was concerned that it had no experience of such critical welding.

According to the lawsuit, an Ohio based company, Avon Bearings, told New York Crane that work on the weldment would cost $120,127 and would take 28 weeks. Shanghai-based RTR proposed doing the job for $20,000
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The tower

Michael Carbone, a city inspector who approved permits for both of the cranes that collapsed, resigned in the summer of 2008 after the buildings commissioner accused him of “neglect of duty.”