STAMFORD — After the federal government levied a $165,000 fine against Port Chester, N.Y.-basedConcavage Marine Contractors last week for a crane collapse in Stamford Harbor last June, state police have now pressed criminal charges against the owner and crane operator.
Company owner Nicholas Concavage, 55, of 95 Hillside Road, Rye, N.Y., was charged with two misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and a single charge of operating an unregistered crane.
Crane operator Richard Dufresne, 45, of 109 Mennella Road, Poughquag, N.Y., was charged with a single count of reckless endangerment and operating a crane without a license.
A crane lays collapsed on top of a yacht at Avalon on Stamford Harbor on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Photo: Lindsay Perry
The two were released after signing written promises to appear in court in January.
A message left with Concavage seeking comment was not immediately returned.
According to the arrest affidavits, Dufresne was operating a crane for Concavage at Southfield Avenue’s Avalon Bay Marina on May 22, 2013 pulling out storm damaged pilings when the crane flipped over. After glancing off a sail boat, the 80-foot crane boom landed on a 47-foot power boat, which barely kept the crane itself from toppling into the water at the marina. No one was hurt in the accident.
According to the affidavit, the crane had no boom hoist limiting device, no boom stops that could keep the crane from flipping over backwards, no flotation list and trim device, no load chart, no clearly marked boom hoist cable, no inspection documentation and no four year flotation device inspection.
State crane inspector Elliot Henowitz reported to the state police officer investigating the incident that if any of the required devices were not in proper working order operation of the crane should have been taken out of service immediately, the affidavit said. The investigators also discovered that the crane was not registered to be operated in Connecticut.
When Trooper Michael Marino, who investigated the collapse, met with Concavage a day after the incident, Concavage admitted that he removed the crane’s boom stops four months earlier because they were bent.
Concavage said he was trying to repair the stops and knew it was a serious issue. After reflecting on the problem, Concavage said he should have left the boom stops in place, the affidavit said.
When the trooper checked into Dufresne’s background, he could not obtain a crane license in the 20-year employee’s name either in Connecticut or New York state.
Dufresne said to Marino that he knew the boom stops had been removed and were in need of repair, the affidavit said. He said he was aware Concavage was trying to get them fixed and that operating without boom stops was a serious issue.
Dufresne told Marino he thought the collapse occurred because the barge the crane was sitting on was overloaded with wooden pilings.
About three weeks later on June 12, state police got a tip that Concavage was working in the marina again pulling pilings.
When Marino went over he saw Dufresne operating a different crane that turned out not to be registered in the state either.
When that crane was checked out, it was determined it too did not have a readable load chart, no clearly marked boom hoist cable and no inspection documentation. Henowitz told Marino that operating the cranes without a load chart “would be like driving a car blindfolded,” the affidavit said.
When Marino called to find out what was going on, Concavage told him, “you got me.”
Dufresne told Marino that he was told by Concavage to pull the pilings and finish the job at Avalon Bay. He said that they had been working in the marina since Monday.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administrationfined Concavage $165,200 for “willful and serious workplace safety violations,” related to the missing safety devices on the toppled crane.
