Killed on the job
Hardhat hit by sheet metal on Brooklyn site
A falling piece of sheet metal dropped from a forklift killed a construction worker Wednesday at a Brooklyn job site where his two brothers and his son were also employed, colleagues told the Daily News.
The victim, identified by police as Over Paredes, 44, from Newark, N.J., died at the scene despite the best efforts of first responders to save him.
Paredes was working on the roof of the six-story condo development just after 11 a.m. on Myrtle Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant when tragedy struck. A large piece of metalframed wall being hoisted by a manual forklift fell on him when the machine toppled onto its side, officials said.
The city’s Department of Buildings had approved the work site to use an engine-powered forklift — not the manual type that was involved in the incident that killed Paredes, a source told The News.
It wasn’t clear if the machine operator was licensed to operate either type of forklift. Inspectors flooded the site Wednesday afternoon, and hours after the accident DOB issued a violation for the contractor for failure to safeguard workers and a full stop-work order for the project.
The investigation is ongoing and more violations could be issued, a DOB spokeswoman said.
A co-worker said Paredes’ son and his two brothers are also employed at the site, a condo development going up where the Cascade Linen factory once stood on Marcy Ave.
The son, who was there at the time, “went crazy,” the fellow hardhat told The News.
“I had to hold him because I thought he would jump off the building,” said the worker, who requested anonymity. “And to be honest I went and cried because I thought, ‘What if it was my father?’”