The arm of a construction crane collapsed Friday afternoon onto the pool deck of the luxury condominium One Plaza West Brickell in the Brickell neighborhood of Miami, with no injuries reported among residents or workers, according to the Miami Fire Rescue Department.
The incident occurred around 3:55 p.m. when a crew was assembling the crane at a construction site adjacent to the building located at 1818 SW 1st Ave. The machine was not in operation at that time, but was in the process of being assembled.
The lieutenant Pete Sánchez, spokesperson for the fire department, explained that the crane experienced "some type of failure," which caused its arm to twist and fall onto the pool area of the residential complex.
Emergency teams inspected the area immediately and confirmed that no residents were injured. The construction team, for their part, informed the authorities that "all workers were accounted for and none were injured."
As a precautionary measure, the pool terrace was cordoned off to protect the residents of the building, a 22-story condominium with 188 units completed in 2009.
The work where the accident occurred corresponds to a public-private project valued at approximately $158 million, spearheaded by Westbri School Development LLC, which involves the construction of the West Brickell Middle School —with a capacity for about 632 students— and a residential building of approximately 465 units.
Both the Miami Building Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) opened investigations to determine what caused the failure. It was not possible to contact Westbri School Development LLC for comment.
The incident occurs against a backdrop of increasing construction activity in Brickell and a documented history of crane accidents in Miami-Dade. At the end of April this year, a large crane collapsed in Hialeah without causing any injuries, and last January, six workers were severely injured at the I-395 bridge construction site in downtown after a beam fell from about nine meters high.
Federal OSHA regulations require inspections prior to crane assembly and during operation, making it particularly relevant that the machine involved in this case was precisely in the assembly process when the failure occurred.
Authorities have not provided an estimated timeline for concluding the investigation, nor have they specified whether the work will remain halted while the causes of the incident are determined.
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