Diana Ruiz Cabrera was several hours into her shift at the massive office-to-residential conversion at the former Pfizer headquarters in Midtown in mid-February when she slipped from a step ladder and fell on her back about five feet below, tearing several ligaments in her ankle in the process.
She left the structure in tears, descending via a hoist from where she fell on the tower’s 7th floor, and was escorted by a supervisor to a car that took her to an urgent care clinic. Ruiz Cabrera, a single mom with more than five years of experience in construction, continues to receive physical therapy for her injuries and hasn’t been able to go back to work since her accident.
“I live with a lot of pain, still, in my everyday life,” she said.
The safety of the massive development at 219 and 235 East 42nd Street in Manhattan — the largest conversion of its kind in New York City — has invited scrutiny since authorities ordered an emergency evacuation of the site and several nearby buildings on Tuesday and deemed the project, located near Grand Central Terminal, at risk of collapse. Two steel columns on the 21st floor buckled under the weight of new floors added to the building.
The $700 million project was in limbo Thursday amid an investigation into what caused the partial collapse, while new questions emerged over whether the project’s contractors skirted rules about reporting accidents at the job site.
Steamfitters Union shop steward Sean Dow speaks during a July 9, 2026, press conference outside the former Pfizer headquarters on East 42nd Street after he helped evacuate the building one day before. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/The City Reporter
Contractors are required to notify the city Department of Buildings about any job site accident where a worker was transported by ambulance to off-site medical treatment or if the worker received emergency treatment in a hospital or clinic.
A review of city records indicates that site safety managers hired by the general contractor notified DOB of three accidents since May 2025. But The City Reporter found nine additional worker injuries, including Ruiz Cabrera’s, over the last year and a half for which there is no record of buildings department notification.
In each of those cases, the worker has alleged in a civil lawsuit that they were seriously injured.
The circumstances surrounding Ruiz Cabrera’s case — a serious injury and transport to a medical clinic — appeared to fall within the category of an accident that would require the contractor to notify DOB. The City Reporter was unable to verify whether the other nine accidents required notification. The contractors and workers’ attorneys did not respond to questions.
“If you go to the emergency room, you’ve got to report it, if you went to CityMD, you’ve gotta report it” to the Department of Buildings, said Charlene Obernauer, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, an advocacy group that monitors worksite safety. “Not doing so could result in a violation.”
A construction worker wears a shirt supporting unions outside the former Pfizer headquarters after workers were forced to evacuate, July 9, 2026. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/The City Reporter
On Thursday the buildings department continued its investigation into the cause of the partial collapse of load-bearing steel beams on the 21st floor of what will ultimately be a 37-story residential tower that formerly served as Pfizer’s New York headquarters. Officials said the building has been stabilized, although the city continued to enforce vacate orders at several adjacent buildings in a “frozen zone” around the site.
A Buildings Department spokesperson said the site remains under a partial stop-work order where only emergency stabilization work is allowed.
Sean Dow, a member of Steamfitters Local 638 working at the site, said the project had several red flags that jumped out at him well before Tuesday’s evacuation, such as joists he claimed were not attached properly and exposed live wires.
“Just not the greatest working conditions, I would say,” he told reporters.
The project involves two adjacent addresses —- 219 and 235 E. 42nd St., with additional stories going up on top of 235 and a new tower rising at 219. At both addresses, records reveal a fairly chaotic history of 311 and other complaints about objects flying off the building to the street below and at least 12 worker injuries that are all described as “serious” in lawsuits.
In nine of those accidents, including Ruiz Cabrera’s fall off a ladder and transport for an ankle injury to a medical clinic, the accidents were not reported to the Department of Buildings.
City building rules require contractors or owners to report any injury of a worker or civilian at a job site “that requires transport by emergency medical services or requires immediate emergency care at a hospital or offsite medical clinic…”
Contractors are required to notify the DOB within three business days of an injury requiring emergency care, and then file an online report, including a detailed description of the incident and injury, the hours the worker had been working prior to the incident, and whether the worker was in a union.
The two general contractors for the Pfizer site are 219 GC LLC and 235 GC LLC, both of which were incorporated by MetroLoft LLC, the project’s developer. (MetroLoft and Robert Travis, whose general contractor license is registered to both 219 and 235 GC LLCs, did not respond to The City Reporter’s questions).
In lawsuits filed against the two general contractors since May 2025, 12 workers allege that they were injured at the site for an alarming variety of dangerous circumstances.
Three workers say they were struck by unsecured falling objects. That includes one who says a jackhammer landed on top of him from a floor above while it was being moved. Besides Ruiz Cabrera, two other workers allege they fell off ladders and were seriously injured, court records show. None of those incidents were reported to DOB.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks alongside FDNY officials after an office building on East 42nd Street was evacuated for fear of collapse, July 7, 2026. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/The City Reporter
Another worker alleged he suffered a severe head gash after a heavy door that was leaning against a wall fell on top of him. Fire Department records describe this as a “major injury,” and the worker was transported to Bellevue Hospital. In this case, the site safety manager reported the incident to DOB, which issued three violations for unsafe conditions and imposed $15,000 in penalties.
Sometimes records indicate the contractor’s response to an accident was not complete. One lawsuit filed against 219 GC LLC alleges that on Sept. 30, 2025, laborer Wilmer Cabrera Rojas was injured when he fell while handling unspecified material. DOB records state a worker fell 12 feet through an open hole without guardrails on the 27th floor. The suit alleges the fall “resulted in him suffering serious and permanent personal injuries.” Rojas’ attorney, Murad Sardar, declined to comment.
Building department records say an unidentified site safety manager “reported to DOB worker fell down. Ambulance called.” Two violations were issued, including one for failing to timely and adequately report the incident in three business days.
By Thursday, inspectors had issued 17 violations against 219 GC LLC and 235 GC LLC, slapping the contractors with more than $90,000 in penalties, none of which have been paid.
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