Officials said the inspector had “misdiagnosed” as a “decorative” element a column that was holding up the seven-story building.
An engineer who oversaw inspections of a Bronx apartment building that partially collapsed on Monday “misdiagnosed” a column that was holding up the building, calling it a “decorative” element in plans he filed in June, city officials said Friday.
Mayor Eric Adams and the city’s buildings commissioner, James Oddo, said the city had suspended the engineer’s authority to inspect building facades and would seek to permanently revoke that authority.
Nobody was killed or seriously injured in the collapse. But it left more than 170 residents of the building, at 1915 Billingsley Terrace, with no place to live. In addition to the Buildings Department, officials said, the Bronx district attorney’s office and the city’s Department of Investigation are investigating what caused the collapse.
Why does a building inspector even have the ability to define a column as decorative or not? Surely thats already in the initial building plans? Shouldn’t the inspector be working off existing plans rather than being able to declare any structural element as decorative?
Not sure how correct this is, but as an engineer, their word may be trusted enough for higher level decision makers not to have to go back to the materials the engineer should have seen. The engineer must not have done their due diligence or just come to the wrong conclusions.
If you’re suggesting that there be more double-checking and verification, then I totally agree.