Two Park Slope construction workers were sent to Methodist Hospital following accidents at two separate work sites that occurred within about an hour of each other on Tuesday, in a bizarre, but fortunately non-life-threatening coincidence.
The first injury occurred after a worker at a Fifth Avenue construction site between 17th and 18th streets plummeted down an elevator shaft at 2:45 p.m., and paramedics rushed him to Methodist Hospital on Seventh Avenue with serious injuries, according to a spokesman for the Fire Department.
About an hour later, a worker at a nearby Fourth Avenue construction site between 16th and 17th streets was injured after he fell down a flight of stairs at around 4 p.m. that day, according to other workers at the site.
He was transported by the Park Slope Volunteer Ambulance Corps service to Methodist Hospital for treatment, according to a spokesman.
Following the Fifth Avenue incident, firefighters notified the Department of Buildings and inspectors came to issue a stop-work order after discovering the site had been vacated.
They also issued violations to both the general contractor and construction superintendent for failure to report the worker’s fall, according to Buildings Department spokesman Andrew Rudansky.
During a follow-up inspection Wednesday morning, city Buildings sleuths determined the worker had plummeted a terrifying 40-feet after falling through an open elevator shaft, and issued additional violations including failure to safeguard the construction site, failure to provide property safety barriers around an open elevator shaft, and use of an under-construction elevator device without property city inspection and approval, Rudansky said.
