Brothers Concerned About Scaffold, Relative Says

Two brothers who plunged 47 stories from a Manhattan building when their window-washing platform collapsed — killing one and gravely injuring the other — knew their scaffold had a mechanical problem before they ascended the tower, but were assured by a boss that it had been fixed, a family member said yesterday.

The family member, José Cumbicos, a brother-in-law, said that the brothers, Edgar and Alcides Moreno, had spoken of their concern about the scaffold in a telephone conversation with him Friday at 8:30 a.m., less than two hours before they went to work at the Solow Tower, at 265 East 66th Street, at Second Avenue.

Mr. Cumbicos, himself a window washer who had worked with Alcides Moreno for years, recalled that the brothers had told him of at least three problems with the Solow Tower scaffold this year, including one that had put it out of commission in the summer. He said he had urged them not to go to work on Friday.

“I said, ‘It’s cold, don’t go to work, don’t take chances with that scaffolding,’” Mr. Cumbicos said.

But Alcides, with whom he was conversing in Spanish, “told me their boss had called them and said, ‘The scaffolding was fixed, come to work.’ So they both left.”

Mr. Cumbicos, in an interview at his home in East Newark, said that he did not know the full name of the boss, but that Alcides referred to him as “Tony,” apparently trusted him and seemed to be reassured about the safety of the scaffold, which he said had been used without incident earlier in the week.

The Morenos traveled to the city from their home in Linden, N.J., and arrived at Solow Tower about 10 a.m. They took an elevator to the roof of the skyscraper, and within minutes both had plunged over the parapet. Edgar was cut in half by a fence in an alleyway below, and Alcides suffered extensive critical injuries.

The brothers were employed by City Wide Window Cleaning of Jamaica, Queens. Messages left with an answering service were not returned last night, and efforts to reach the owner, Michael Hoszowski, for comment were not successful. The building’s owner, Solow Management Corporation, issued a statement on Friday expressing sympathy for the victims and their families and pledging cooperation with investigators.

The disclosures by Mr. Cumbicos, who is married to Edilma Moreno, a sister of the brothers, shed new light on an accident that is under investigation by city, state and federal agencies.

Investigators confirmed yesterday that neither worker was wearing a harness, as required on all window-washing jobs, but said it was unclear if this was negligence or if the men had been dragged over the edge of the roof by whipsawing cables before they had a chance to put on their harnesses.

New details about the victims’ background emerged from family members and investigators as Alcides Moreno, 37, continued his struggle for life at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital in Manhattan while relatives and friends kept a vigil and mourned Edgar Moreno.

Family members also corrected some information about the brothers that had been misrepresented on Friday by several neighbors in Linden, where the Moreno brothers shared a home. They said it was Alcides, not Edgar, who is married to Rosario Moreno and is the father of three children: two sons, aged 14 and 7, and a 10-year-old daughter, all of whom live in the Linden house. Edgar, 30, was married to a woman who lives in Ecuador.

José Castillo, a cousin of the Moreno brothers, said that Alcides immigrated to the United States 12 years ago and that Edgar came about a decade ago. Both had worked at the dangerous job of window washing in high-rise buildings since their arrivals.

“I know it was a risky job,” Mr. Castillo said, “but they took every precaution when they worked.” He added, “Something was wrong with the scaffold.”

That was a judgment that some investigators appeared to confirm on Friday. The brothers worked on what is known as a swing scaffold, a built-in feature of the tower. It is anchored by cables to a circular rooftop track that lets workers move the platform so window washers can reach any point on the facade. The scaffold cables are motorized, allowing the washers to move up and down at the press of a button. At the roof, the cables are strung through arms that reach out over the parapet and hold the scaffold in place within reach of the windows.

One investigator said on Friday that new cables had been installed on the scaffold, but it was unclear who did the work, when it was done and whether it was satisfactorily completed. Mr. Cumbicos said it was highly unusual for the Moreno brothers to begin work without hooking themselves up to safety harnesses, which are nylon belts that loop around the legs and arms and are connected to cables anchored on the roof.

One scenario for the accident, an investigator said, was that the scaffold cable had not been securely anchored to the track on the roof, and that when the men stepped on the scaffold, they and the platform plunged down.

Another scenario, an investigator said, was that the cables had come loose from the track in some way, then whipsawed around and dragged the men over the parapet before they had a chance to hook up their safety harnesses.

In an alley beside the tower yesterday morning, the crumpled remnants of the 16-foot aluminum scaffold were visible, along with chunks of wood and metal that appeared to be debris left by the accident. In the afternoon, the debris was moved into an unoccupied retail space on the ground floor.

The accident — the first involving the death of a window washer in the city since May 2005 — is under investigation by the city’s Department of Buildings; the state’s Department of Labor, which inspects and regulates window-washing scaffolds; and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which examines workplace fatalities.

Kate Lindquist, a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, confirmed that an investigation was under way, but said it was too soon to discuss details. She acknowledged that City Wide Window Cleaning would be part of the inquiry, along with Solow Management.

Leo Rosales, director of communications for the Department of Labor, confirmed that his agency was investigating. He said his department inspected 600 window-cleaning scaffolds a year in New York City, and noted that the equipment at Solow Tower had been inspected in June. Inspectors, he said, found cables, harnesses, controls and other safety equipment to be working properly.

An OSHA spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Mr. Castillo and another brother-in-law, Juvan Rivas, said doctors had told the family of the injuries Alcides Moreno suffered, including blood clots in the brain, collapsed lungs, damaged kidneys, numerous bone fractures and extensive internal injuries. He underwent surgery on Friday night, Mr. Castillo said, and afterward, the doctors spoke to the family.

“The only sign that he’s alive is that he’s breathing,” Mr. Castillo said.

Mr. Rivas added: “We’re praying that he makes it through this. It’s hard to understand why this happened. God only knows why.”

Mr. Rivas said the brothers had come to America for a better life, and had tasted some success. They each owned a car, and for some years had shared a brick and wood-frame ranch house at 1016 Clinton Street in Linden, a working-class community in Union County. The home, bought about six years ago, is worth about $350,000 today, neighbors said. Alcides Moreno’s children attended parochial schools, and played baseball and soccer. The family often held barbecues in the summer, and swam in a backyard pool.

Mr. Rivas said both brothers were American citizens, but Jorge Alvarez, who identified himself as a longtime friend of the brothers, said in an e-mail message from Ecuador that Alcides was a citizen and Edgar was a legal resident who had applied for citizenship.

Felix Chininin, 47, a family friend who had known the brothers from their days together in Ecuador, said the Morenos had come from the town of Macará in southern Ecuador. “Edgar was very hard-working, very dedicated to his family,” Mr. Chininin said outside the Linden home. “He set an example for all of us.” Edgar often sent money home to his wife, and had planned to bring her to this country soon.

Now, he said, Ecuadoreans in the New York area are rallying around the family and plans are being made to raise money to assist the family and to send Edgar’s body back to Ecuador.

If the brothers were ever worried about the dangers of their job, they never mentioned it, Mr. Rivas said. Instead, they spoke of the wondrous vistas of New York City from the roof of the 46-story tower where they worked. “They talked about the views, and they took pictures from up there,” Mr. Rivas said.

One brother killed, another critical after Upper East Side scaffolding collapse

By MIKE JACCARINO and JONATHAN LEMIRE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Friday, December 7th 2007, 7:45 PM
The high-rise building at 265 East 66th St., where a window-washing scaffold plunged 40 stories. One worker was killed and his brother was seriously injured. Handschuh/News

The high-rise building at 265 East 66th St., where a window-washing scaffold plunged 40 stories. One worker was killed and his brother was seriously injured.

A pair of brothers washing windows on an upper East Side skyscraper plunged 43 stories to the sidewalk below Friday after their scaffolding suddenly collapsed.

Edgar Moreno died on impact; his brother Alcides was still clinging to life in the hours after the terrifying 10:30 a.m. accident, officials said.

"I heard this boom, an explosion," said Phil Stellar, who lives on the 9th floor of the apartment building where the brothers were working.

"[It was] a big noise that sounded like a bomb had blown up," Stellar said. "It was like a roller-coaster sound times ten."

Edgar Moreno, 30, landed on a fence and his body was cut in half, horrified witnesses said. He died instantly.

Alcides Moreno, 37, was listed in extremely critical condition at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center Friday night.

Neither brother was wearing a required safety harness, a Department of Buildings official said.

"Oh my God, I feel sorry for his family," said Tessie Smith, 77, who lives across the street from the Linden, N.J., home where Edgar Moreno lived with his brother, wife, and three children.

"It's very bad," she said. "You wonder how [his family] is going to survive."

Worried relatives kept vigil at the hospital Friday night, hoping that Alcides Moreno would make a miraculous recovery.

Alcides Moreno - who emigrated from Ecuador with his brother - was saving money to bring his wife to the United States next year, a family friend said.

The Morenos were employed by City Wide Window Cleaning and had checked in for work at the Solow Residences on E. 66th St. at 9:30 a.m., officials said.

Preliminary reports indicate the swing scaffold - the permanent portion of the scaffolding built on the building's roof to facilitate window washing - failed. That caused the metal platform to give way when the Morenos stepped on it, the DOB said.

Calls to the Queens-based City Wide Window Cleaning - which earned the building's window-washing contract two years ago - had not been returned Friday night.

Calls to the Tractel Group - the contractor that installed the scaffolding - were also not returned.

No violations have been issued in the accident. A spokesman for the Solow Management Corp. issued a statement last night pledging its cooperation with investigators.

With Alison Gendar

The worker who fell to his death

The worker who fell to his death while clearing snow at the IDS Tower leaves behind a wife and two daughters.

By Chao Xiong, Star Tribune


Fidel Danilo Sanchez-Flores was unusually quiet Tuesday night, telling his wife he loved her and would continue to love her after death.

"I said, 'Why do you say that?'" Vielka Molinar recalled Thursday. "He said, 'I don't know.'"

Molinar felt uneasy on her way to work as a nurse Wednesday morning. The worry grew when her husband didn't answer his phone that afternoon.

It wasn't until about 7 p.m. that she heard from authorities: Her husband was clearing snow off the glass roof of the IDS Tower's Crystal Court about 2 p.m. when he broke through a panel, fell approximately four stories into the building and died.

"He left," a weary Molinar said Thursday. "And he didn't come back home, and he never will come back home."

The Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the fall. It was unclear Thursday what caused the accident in downtown Minneapolis' popular shopping and office tower. Sanchez-Flores, 52, of West St. Paul was working for sub-contractor Columbia Building Services. No one else was injured.

Sanchez-Flores was wearing a harness, said Jim Durda, vice president and general manager of Inland American Office Management LLC, which manages the IDS Center. Workers on the roof are required to secure themselves and their tools to hooks on the structure via a "lifeline," Durda said. It's unclear if that safety precaution was taken.

Sanchez-Flores was familiar with his job's risks and never expressed concerns about safety, his widow said.

"He was a very happy person," Molinar said, recalling how he liked to barbecue and play basketball with their 16-year-old daughter.

Sanchez-Flores and Molinar grew up together in Panama. His wife said he moved to the United States in 1976 and served in the Marine Corps for about 12 years. He lived in New York for about 15 years and Puerto Rico for a year, doing construction work in both places. He joined his family in Minnesota last year.

Molinar said her husband started working for Columbia Building Services this spring. The company's website said it provides building maintenance in the Twin Cities, specializing in window cleaning and snow removal. Company representatives did not return messages left Thursday.

Durda said Columbia has been cleaning the IDS Center for more than 35 years without incident.

However, in 1999 a 6,000-pound motorized window-washer lift operated by the company slid off a downtown Minneapolis sidewalk and crashed onto two taxi cabs. The worker on board leapt off the machine and broke a wrist and hurt his neck. No one else was hurt.

In 2004, the company was cited for a "non-serious" violation for failing to provide window washers with a device that measures wind velocities, state records show. Workers, stranded on a 40-story building in strong winds, were rescued.

James Honerman, spokesman for Minnesota OSHA, said it could take "quite some time" before OSHA issues an official report on Sanchez-Flores' death. His widow said she isn't laying blame at this point. Her grief is too overwhelming.

"I see him walking around with a big smile, just joking," she said. "He enjoyed life."

He is also survived by a second daughter and two grandchildren.

Curtain rising on glass walls

Stephen Weir
Special to the Star



Is the curtain set to come down on the traditional, aluminum-framed condo window? Is a new industrial style about to eliminate condominium owners' two biggest pains in the glass – moisture and mould?

Toronto is about to find out as several highrise project designers have decided that ultra-expensive curtain wall glass is the chic way to let light in and keep water out.

Windows come in many tints, shapes and sizes but almost all are installed using what builders call a window wall system: Glass goes into an aluminum frame which, in turn, is attached to the inside of a building's outer walls. Although relatively cheap to build, mount and repair, a poorly installed window wall can allow damaging moisture into a condo unit.

For residential projects where money is not a significant concern, floor-to-ceiling suite windows appear ready to make concrete outer walls obsolete.

Four soon-to-be-built projects – the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, the Yann Weymouth-designed 77 Charles St. West project, The Florian and the Four Seasons Residences in Yorkville– will hang their windows onto the frames of their buildings using an industrial glass system known as the curtain wall.

"Up to this point, almost every condo in the city has used some form of the tried-and-true window wall," says Darius Rybak, the project manager for 77 Charles St. West. "But when you look at the office towers in Toronto's downtown core, you see that glass is everything. Those 10- and 12-foot-tall windows look strikingly different than what you get in a condo residence. That is because the office towers don't put their windows inside a wall, they use glass to become the wall ... hence the term curtain-wall system. We are taking that industrial concept and using it in our next downtown project."

The 77 Charles St. condos, designed by architect Weymouth who made a name for himself designing the Paris Louvre's glass pyramid, are an artsy venture in waiting. Once the existing four-storey Lycée Français private school has been shut down and the site cleared, Rybak will oversee the construction of the 16-storey multi-use structure for Aspen Ridge Homes.

At street level, the new building will blend in with the University of Toronto neighbourhood. The first three floors are limestone, with understated doors and traditional windows. This will be home to Kintore College, a small religious residence and educational centre.

On top of this heavy-looking structure will be a stacked, seemingly transparent 13-storey all-glass tower. The condos inside will range from 1,200-square-feet lower-level suites, to 6,000-square-feet penthouse units. No price has been announced for the top floor, but the rest range from a reported $1.2 million to $6 million.

This will be a radically different-looking glass-wrapped condo in a part of Toronto where windows are making an exotic statement. Just a half a block away is Daniel Libeskind's controversial Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum.

"Our curtain wall will use large sections of glass which will give total vision to each floor," Rybak says. "The individual units of glass will be five-feet-wide by four-feet-high. The suites we have are 10 feet from floor to ceiling, while the penthouse will have 12-foot ceilings."

Because the glass is not supporting any weight (aside from its own dead load) the height and width of the glass is considerably larger than traditional windows.

"This type of system is probably about three times more expensive than a window wall. The thing is we aren't making more money on this – we are providing a high-end product – we call it our jewel."

Ignoring the cost of the curtain wall, the system will save money for homeowners over time. It is designed to block air and water from being pushed inside by heavy winds. It also puts a stop to outward air leakage, saving on heating and cooling costs.

"Water, be it windblown rain or snow, can get into a suite through the window. It could take years, but when there is moisture behind drywall the danger of mould is real," says Richard Tucker, director of construction for Graywood Developments Ltd, the company building the 53-storey Residence of the Ritz-Carlton. "From a practical sense, a curtain wall eliminates the worry of warranty claims that other buildings face because of mould and moisture damage."

Window-washing firms are probably already in an advanced frenzied stage of salvation as they impatiently wait for the new Ritz-Carlton hotel and condominium tower on Wellington St. (kitty-corner from Roy Thomson Hall) to be completed. The structure will use a curtain wall system that might, at first glance, make one think of a giant terrarium turned on its side.

"The benefit of the curtain wall is that the residents and hotel guests get a superior product," Tucker says. "We won't start hanging the windows until well on in the building process, but once we start the glass will go on rather quickly – I think we can do a floor a day."

The Ritz is working with Sota Glass in Brampton. The company, owned by Juan Speck, designs and exports the Canadian-designed curtain walls to large-scale projects worldwide. Most of the customers are builders of large office towers, but already in other cities developers are finding that the market for high-end condos will bear the added cost of the curtain wall.

"There isn't (an) off-the-rack curtain wall. They have to be custom-built to take into account (the shape and slope of the building)" Tucker says. "We will, of course, order extras in case of breakage."

Earlier reports said the Ritz-Carlton would use a tinted glass. That apparently is not the case; the hotel and condo is going au natural.

"Tinted windows are so very much a look of the '90s," Tucker says. "Even a slight colour clouds the view. The Ritz-Carlton will be installing haze-free, crystal-clear glass."

Living hundreds of feet above the city with only two sheets of glass between you and the pavement, does one have to worry about accidentally banging into a window and falling out?

"This is tough glass, similar to what is already in place at the new Four Seasons (Centre for the Performing Arts) opera house. It might be transparent, but it is double-paned and industrial strength. (It is built to withstand gale-force winds.)," Tucker says.

Of greater concern for many, likely, will be getting used to living in a glass home. Standing in front of a window that doesn't even appear to be there, 40 storeys above a city that never sleeps, may make condo owners feel on display. But that is why designers invented curtains in the first place.