Bill Rapetti was a master rigger on a NYC construction site and owner of Rapetti Rigging Services. He was rigging the 300′ tower crane that collapsed on 51st Street in 2008, killing seven and injuring another two dozen. The accident outraged the community and Bill was charged with manslaughter. He was found not guilty on all charges this summer.

We work in a dangerous business. We all make decisions every day that have a degree of risk. I found the following interview with Bill Rapetti in ENR this week to be sobering. I’ve just re-printed a few questions below:

“How did you prepare for the trial?

William Rapetti: By teaching [attorneys Arthur Aidala and John Esposito and Marianne Bertuna] the business. The prosecution didn’t have a clue so far as what really goes on. I retained them in January of ’09, and pretty much from that point on was teaching them. I took them to jobs, introduced them to guys in the field doing the work. They actually went on climbs, on erections and dismantling jobs. This industry, it’s got its own engine, and if you don’t really know how it runs, it’s hard to understand.

When were your licenses suspended?

WR: They took them Jan. 5 [2009]. I had to turn myself in. I spent 10 hours locked up, which was very traumatic for me. And when I got home, the [New York City] Dept. of Buildings knocked on my door 10 p.m., handed me a letter stating that my licenses had been suspended because I used the crane as a weapon for manslaughter. That was the night I came home from spending 10 hours locked up in the Tombs [nickname for the Manhattan Detention Complex]. Then they made the big “perp walk.” There were about 100-plus reporters. It was disgusting. They made me out to be a murderer.

What do you remember of the day of the collapse?

WR: It was a normal day, nothing out of the ordinary. There were minor problems that were easily rectified. I still didn’t like the [tie] beams. I made numerous calls to the design engineer. It was an uneventful day. The weather was decent.

And when it actually happened? One of the witnesses said you were repeating, “They were my friends. They had babies.”

WR: It’s still sore. I try to not think about it. It’s hard to explain. When you do this kind of work, it’s akin to being in a war situation, when you’re in a foxhole. These are the types of guys you would want to be defending alongside you. They each have their own stories. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t take a look at their picture or think about it.”

As you go about your work, “Remember, be careful out there!”

Do you ever feel that most of a Construction Supervisor’s time involves making people behave? We started steel erection a few days ago on a 50,000 sf factory/office project. We discussed safe erection procedures prior to the start, we specifically told them they weren’t going to be running around like yahoos on our site. Then the guys start erecting steel like it was 30 years ago.

Dereck, my Construction Supervisor, jumped on them, then he jumped on them again. After a threat of throwing them off the job, they settled into following some reasonable safety standards. The firm erecting the steel had a fatality last year…a young guy with a wife and young children. The erection firm certainly instructs their guys to follow the safety standards. But the work starts to flow and production trumps safety and off they go.

I understand there are firms that purposely flaunt safe techniques and put their workers at risk to make a few more shekels. But most firms, I think, see the high cost of work place accidents as something to avoid. So even if a construction company doesn’t care about their workers, it makes business sense to have a safe construction site.

So why does so much risky behavior still occur? Do you agree that the Construction Supervisor often ends up being the person on the jobsite making people behave?