'Glaring Safety Violations' Prompt 69 Queens Work Site Closures

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — 69 construction sites across Queens have been shut down by the city for glaring safety violations, according to a recent report.

The New York Daily News reported that the Department of Buildings (DOB) shuttered 322 sites in June during a safety sweep aimed at limiting construction deaths across the city.

Seven construction workers have died in accidents this year, including central Queens resident Diego Lliguicota, who fell down an elevator shaft on May 22 while working on the sixth floor of a Long Island City building.

At the time of his death Lliguicota was working at 45-18 Court Square, an existing building that was in the process of being expanded into offices and a laboratory, according to reports.

The Daily News reported that the 32-year-old Maspeth resident fell from the sixth floor to the second floor of the building down an elevator shaft, and ultimately died at Mt. Sinai Queens.

“If we find that safety rules were ignored, we will hold those responsible to account,” Buildings spokesman Andrew Rudansky told the Daily News after Lliguicota’s death, at which point the DOB had issued a full stop work order at the building to investigate the incident.

The DOB did not immediately respond to Patch for comment about what came of that investigation.

According to the Daily News, 113 construction sites were closed in Brooklyn this month, in addition to 83 in Manhattan, 54 in the Bronx, and three in Staten Island.

Read the full Daily News report here.