Will it become a murder mystery? One man, Edgar Moreno is dead; his brother, Alcides Moreno is gravely injured as a result of their 47-storey fall three weeks ago when their window-washing scaffold collapsed. (If this story is new to you try here and here for background and links).

Update Wednesday: Joseph Ehrlich, a personal injury lawyer for the Moreno family has emerged predicting substantial litigation and saying that the surviving Moreno brother, Alcides has recovered substantially. ("out of the woods" said Ehrlich "...He's now responsive, conscious and he's not paralyzed...")

As of yet no one knows why the cables failed (if they did) but…

Now it appears that a key man in the mystery of the falling scaffold is missing -- if he ever existed: the licensed rigger. This is a difficult tale to tell, but bear with me.

NYC’s Department of Buildings says that: NYC’s Building Code Section 26-172 states that "[i]t shall be unlawful to hoist or lower any article on the outside of any building in the city of New York … unless such work is performed by or under the supervision of a person licensed as a rigger…" (The whole building code is here. . The sections on riggers begins on page 61).

Applying this legal guff to the incident at hand, the Moreno brothers should have been working under the supervision of a Master Rigger. I have not been able to find one working on the site and I’ve looked. In none of the news reports, is any mention of a Master Rigger on site.

Who was in charge? The Moreno brothers were employed by City Wide Window Cleaning, a Queens firm owned by Michael Hoszowski. Mr. Hoszowski is not a licensed rigger according to my search of the NYC Buildings list. Early reports told of a “supervisor” named Tony who, just before the fall, phoned & told the Moreno brothers that the scaffold cables were “OK.” Mr. Hoszowski says his foreman on the job was Anthony Delgado. Anthony Delgado is not a licensed rigger . Indeed, Mr. Delgado, who, in fact made the call, now says he’s just another window washer . (Do I need to say it? The Moreno brothers were not licensed riggers) So, where’s the rigger?

To give you a feel for the confusion here, another government agency, the NYS Dept. of Labor (DOL), issues permits for, and inspects, scaffolds to insure their safe conditions and operations. So, I called them up. The DOL had been to the East 62nd St. building regularly and had issued ten notices of scaffold violation. They check the operations, interview the window washers and review the maintenance records. (The cables which are said to have failed in this case, for example, must be replaced every 18 months, a DOL spokesperson told me. Were they?) DOL inspectors left their notices of violation with the building’s manager: “Alex Vanessa.” He’s not a licensed rigger, either

I asked people who worked at the building and for building management. They all told me they’d been instructed not to talk. “Only the public relations consultant, Michael Gross is allowed to speak to the public.” I was told time and again. So, I talked to him. Mr. Gross said “Hmm” and “I’ll get back to you” and hasn’t. This leads me to wonder – was there ever a licensed rigger supervising the Morenos (as the law requires)? So far the answer appears to be no.

To understand more about window washing, I talked to Gerard McEneaney who is the chair of the Window Washers Division of SEIU local 32BJ. His division, which represents more than 500 NYC window washers (all in commercial buildings), had lost the jobs at the East 62nd Street building (from which the Moreno brothers fell) when the owners contracted out the work to a non-union firm. Mr. McEneaney explained:

Non-union firms don’t pay benefits (pension, health, vacation etc) and often pay below union scale – currently $22.17/hour. Window washing is a dangerous job. Our members are highly trained. They go through an 18-month course, so they know how to work safely. Licensed riggers are an essential part of any window washing operation which uses [as did the East 62nd Building –DM] an exterior power platform. Such platforms can weigh 1,800 pounds. Because operating them can be difficult, power platforms need to be in excellent condition. It’s the rigger’s job to oversee the platform’s condition and to make sure the window washers are working safely. It would be crazy and irresponsible for a building owner to operate a power platform without a licensed rigger.

If someone acts with conscious disregard for a known risk, under NY law, the last I looked, that person is said to be reckless. If a person recklessly causes the death of another, that person is guilty of manslaughter. You could look it up.

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