Construction Worker At Manhattan West Dies From 10-Story Fall
A construction worker at Brookfield's massive Manhattan West development fell 10 stories to his death Monday night.
62-year-old Roger Vail was performing a survey and participating in the raising of a protective "cocooning system" around high-rise working areas to prevent falls when he fell through a platform on the 16th floor at 400 West 33rd St., landing on the sixth. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the New York Daily News reports.
Vail was a surveyor employed by 50 States Engineering, which is contracted by Tishman Construction for building 400 West 33rd St. The New York Department of Buildings ordered a full work stoppage and cited Tishman for failing to properly safeguard the work area.
An avid musician, Vail was a native of Middletown in Orange County, New York, where he played drums locally for decades in 1960s cover bands. His death is another for the thousands of people who have the most dangerous jobs in the city. In 2015 and 2016, 33 construction workers died in the city, and the City Council approved a bill in April that ensures all worker deaths, not just those resulting from city code violations, are tracked.
