35-year-old advertising executive, Jennifer Rosoff, fell after the railing on her 17th-floor balcony gave way. The accident happened at an apartment building at 400 East 57th Street early Thursday.
The Buildings Department is investigating what happened. The gray brick high-rise building on Manhattan’s Upper East Side was built before World War II. Only the higher-floor corner apartments have balconies, and the city’s buildings department ordered residents to stay off them.
While the local level investigation is beginning, we believe this horrible accident could be been avoided with tougher regulations on buildings in New York City. This is not the first time an innocent apartment occupant has fallen to their death by merely standing on their supposedly secure balcony.
In 2010, after a 24-year-old social worker fell to his death when the railing gave way at his 24th-floor apartment terrace, the city conducted safety inspections on hundreds of residences. Tenants at 16 buildings were ordered to stay off their balconies because they were deemed unsafe.
Some 800 building owners failed to file mandatory inspection reports on the safety of their balconies and terraces, officials found. It hasn’t been released whether the reports were current at Rosoff’s building.
We have recovered millions or dollars for our injured clients. If you or a loved one has been injured in a balcony collapse accident, contact Duane Morgan or Glenn Dolan of Morgan Levine Dolan.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=9192033