A 33-year-old construction worker was killed on the job Friday after the first floor of a two-story residential home collapsed in Borough Park, Brooklyn, as illegal work was being performed on the structure, city officials said.
Fire and buildings department officials said three construction workers were at the site when the first floor collapsed into the cellar, pinning and killing one of the men. The others survived, and officials said no other victims were discovered nearby.
Police and emergency responders arrived on scene shortly after 12 p.m. Emergency medical service workers pronounced the 33 year old dead on the scene.
According to the Department of Buildings, the work at the site was being done illegally.
“There are absolutely no plans submitted to the Department of Buildings, so this fatality absolutely should not have happened,” said DOB Commissioner James Oddo. “They should not have been doing this work let alone having a Bobcat [construction vehicle] inside this structure.”
Oddo said the department received complaints about the site in late December and could not gain access to the home. When inspectors returned in early January, building officials issued a partial stop-work order.
“The only work that should have been done at this site is to make the site safe,” Oddo said. “And as you can see that stop-work order was violated.”
Oddo stopped short of making criminal accusations but said the fines alone could run into six figures.
A police spokesperson said they would not release the deceased man’s identity until notifying his family.
But by 3:30 p.m. the man’s family had arrived at the site and identified him as Juan Ganche, saying he had immigrated from Ecuador and worked in construction since arriving in the United States 14 years ago.
Carlos Gonzalez, Ganche’s brother-in-law, said Ganche has three children and lived in Corona, Queens.
The worker’s death was the first fatality recorded at a construction site in New York City this year, the…
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