UtterlyUrban Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I walked by last evening. Seeing it in person is impactful and I am amazed that there appears to be no deaths. They have closed the roads around the collapse for an undetermined period of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Walked by the site today.  Street is still closed off, and it looks like they might be trying to clean it up already.  Crawford scaffolding collapse by Christopher Hisle, on Flickr  Crawford scaffolding collapse by Christopher Hisle, on Flickr  The street closure looks very improvised.  There's a handwritten "do not cross note" and that police car looks fake  Crawford scaffolding collapse by Christopher Hisle, on Flickr  Crawford scaffolding collapse by Christopher Hisle, on Flickr 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Cleaning up the wreckage. Â 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 ^^^ excellent illustrations cspwal! Â i am praying that all is well worker wise, and that there is no damage to this magnificent structure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I find it hard to believe that a car could hit this as the rumours say about what may have caused this. The scaffold was set back far enough from the street (looks like about 15' to me) that it would be very hard for a car to hit it. More likely in my eye was overloading or an extended reach forklift hit it while loading bricks to the workers. Â Â Â Â Â 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 A car hitting the scaffolding has been ruled out.  Here's a video of the scaffolding falling down. As you can see it began on the left side and the forklift is idle. Most likely due to a lot of weight on the scaffolding. https://twitter.com/KHOUJackie/status/655133055061856256 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerNut Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 The street closure looks very improvised.  There's a handwritten "do not cross note" and that police car looks fake  Crawford scaffolding collapse by Christopher Hisle, on Flickr  I think the Boba Fett sticker gave him away.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KDW Posted October 18, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted October 18, 2015 I was involved with the Houston Club Demolition and had up to 18 stories of scaffolding on the building. We had 3 competent people who had to inspect all the scaffolding every day. The competent person has a lot of responsibility on a project. Something went seriously wrong at the site, whether the scaffold was over loaded, or the tie backs weren't properly installed or were compromised to allow the work to progress. System scaffolding is very resilient and if properly used is some of the best scaffold to work with. I will be interested to hear what the cause was. I have also worked with the Finger Company many times. They are first rate people and typically pay well to produce a quality product. I am glad to see no one was killed in this collapse. These men and women who work these projects deserve to go home to their families safe every night. Let's hope something is learned from this. We need good competent people responsible for these workers make their safety top priority. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 ^^^ wonderfully articulated, as well as quite thought provoking KDW. Â thanks for contributing, and please post more.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 http://abc13.com/news/restraining-order-granted-against-company-over-scaffolding-collapse/1042760/Â HOUSTON (KTRK) --A judge has granted a restraining order against companies connected with last week's scaffolding collapse. An attorney for the most seriously injured victim filed the temporary restraining order, or TRO, this afternoon and it was granted.The attorney for Victor Rubalcava says he filed the TRO as part of an effort to preserve any records that could be crucial in potential lawsuits. The petition requests Finger Companies and Triple J Masonry to retain all documents related to the collapse. In addition, the order asks the construction site be preserved as is, so no further construction work can be done at the site until the hearing on November 2. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunstar Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I would be surprised to see work starting up again by November 3rd. I assume there needs to be a full incident investigation first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Looks like they piled up much of the old scaffolding in the courtyard area on the Westin end of the property, and everything has been moved off of the Crawford side. I'm not sure what the restraining order is actually going to accomplish at this point, but lawyers have to do their jobs, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I'm not sure what the restraining order is actually going to accomplish at this point, but lawyers have to do their jobs, I guess. Make sure no one else gets hurt from bad practice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 (edited) Make sure no one else gets hurt from bad practice? It is a private lawsuit seeking to obtain evidence in order to build a case to support a victim. The physical evidence has already been altered significantly since the incident, that was my point. Document preservation makes sense, but I assume accident investigation by OSHA, city construction permitting, the police and others have already begun to act on behalf of the public interest in investigating any bad practices that may have contributed here, that's their purpose, not a private lawsuit's. If Finger was anything less than fully cooperative with authorities in this regard at this point, I'd be surprised. To the extent that they don't have a stand-down on their scaffolding work already, who would go up there willingly? Whatever went wrong is either a now obvious oversight that they figured out quickly or unknown and pending an investigation. Edited October 21, 2015 by Nate99 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I'm not sure what the restraining order is actually going to accomplish at this point, but lawyers have to do their jobs, I guess. It's to prevent any further alteration of the physical evidence.  Since it's already been messed around with, it's fair to expect it to get loaded onto trucks to be recycled or whatever in fairly short order as part of cleaning things up unless somebody puts a hand up and says "stop."   Even though it's been moved around, metallurgical testing and the like can still be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post hindesky Posted November 8, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted November 8, 2015 Scaffold is down and it looks like the east side is at a standstill with the brick. I wonder if they will continue the brick placement with a AWP/JLG while the lawsuit is going on? Â Â 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enriquewx91 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Wonder how long this may delay the completion of the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 ^^^ this has to costing loads of money.... right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Can they work on the interior while this is under investigation? I know they're still working on the other end, but if they can do interior stuff then I wouldn't think the finishing touches to the brick would delay this too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astros148 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 some of you guys are unreal.. these people could've KILLED INNOCENT WORKERS and bystanders and you guys are worried about the costs and delays.  this damn this should be delayed until they figure out who fkd up! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brijonmang Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 some of you guys are unreal.. these people could've KILLED INNOCENT WORKERS and bystanders and you guys are worried about the costs and delays.  this damn this should be delayed until they figure out who fkd up!  Well this is an architecture forum.  No one here is trying to overlook the fact there was a terrible accident and that a thorough investigation needs to be done to find out what happened and who is to blame...but people have been looking forward to seeing this completed for a LONG time, there are still going to be questions about what's going on with the actual construction of the building.  I think I speak for everyone when I say we are all thankful that no one died in the incident and we all hope those injured have a quick recovery.  However, in construction and in life, the show must go on.  9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 some of you guys are unreal.. these people could've KILLED INNOCENT WORKERS and bystanders and you guys are worried about the costs and delays.  this damn this should be delayed until they figure out who fkd up!  ^^^ never assume! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 some of you guys are unreal.. these people could've KILLED INNOCENT WORKERS and bystanders and you guys are worried about the costs and delays.  this damn this should be delayed until they figure out who fkd up!  If that delay would help find specific fault that would prevent future incidents, sure, but at what point are plaintiff's attorneys holding an entire project hostage over the fault (perhaps honest, perhaps not) of one or two subcontractors? That's a question for the lawyers, I suppose, but I think what folks are saying here is that it would be shame for more the value of this project to go to waste.  Employers are responsible for installing scaffolding that doesn't collapse, figuring out "who fkd up" has long since been completed, precisely what errors were made may or may not be possible, and may or may not be useful once known. For whatever reason, this one failed, so the contractor in charge of erecting and checking the integrity of the scaffolding is on the hook and should be held liable as is anyone responsible for overall project safety. These conditions are not mutually exclusive with resuming work promptly in a safe manner, though finding a new contractor (if that's required) for work of this scope isn't exactly a routine retail transaction. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 some of you guys are unreal.. these people could've KILLED INNOCENT WORKERS and bystanders and you guys are worried about the costs and delays. this damn this should be delayed until they figure out who fkd up! I get your point, but since we have no new info on what happened, it's not unreasonable to talk about other matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryDierker Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Â Â Â Â Â If Pujols had hit that ball off Lidge in 2015 Â 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 If Pujols had hit that ball off Lidge in 2015  Pretty sure that one landed around Fulshear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 I'm not involved in this, but I have been around other projects where something or another went way off the tracks for some at first unknown reason. My seat of the pants guess is that this part of the project is going to be delayed by six months, plus or minus. Why?, you ask... Typically, the part of the site that's involved is going to be a "no fly zone" until everybody's had a chance to examine it.  That means figuring out who may have been involved in the event, which starts with putting together a list of everyone who touched that aspect of the project.  Those in the line of fire then get their insurance companies involved and get lawyered up, which generally doesn't happen overnight.  Once everybody in the gene pool is present and accounted for they then figure out who they are going to hire to look at it for them, and then inspections get scheduled.  All of this involves more than a little planetary alignment. tl;dr - There are going to be a lot of fingers out there pointing in a lot of directions, and it's going to take a while to narrow down what really happened and who's really on the spot. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Move-ins still scheduled for this winter, but I'd guess only for the portion of the complex that's nearly complete. http://www.downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2015-11-11/Downtown_Real_Estate_Update_2015_3Q.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 There are going to be a lot of fingers out there pointing in a lot of directions, and it's going to take a while to narrow down what really happened and who's really on the spot. Fingers at the Finger's site? ok, send me to hell, glad everyone is ok. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Pretty sure that one landed around Fulshear. It's still in orbit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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