Recent Events in the News

NYC Concrete-Testing Lab Indicted for Faked Results

Posted on Aug 16, 2011

NYC Concrete-Testing Lab Indicted for Faked Results

An important concrete-testing laboratory, American Standard Testing and Consulting Laboratories Inc. (ATSC), its president, Alan Fortich, and five staffers are in hot water with the Manhattan district attorney's office for falsifying test results in over a dozen building projects throughout New York.

ATSC, based in New Hyde Park, is being prosecuted for racketeering and other charges because it, "regularly skipped vital safety tests." The company gave the go-ahead anyway for many building projects, including the LaGuardia Airport control tower, the new Yankee Stadium, the Lincoln Tunnel, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Jacob Javits Center, a Columbia University science building, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, the incipient Second Avenue Subway, and other office and apartment buildings.

The concrete-testing laboratory's duty is to test various mixes of cement under the projected strains that architectural projects need the cement to withstand. ATSC is accused of falsifying its results. It is also accused of falsifying its credentials to attain big government projects.

Similar cases have raised concerns in the past about construction safety and stringent test requirements have been imposed to guarantee proper laboratory procedure. Some of the projects in question go back to 1997, predating many of the newer initiatives.

In 2010, two other concrete-testing laboratories were tried in NYC for falsifying testing results for projects such as the new ground zero’s skyscraper, the new Yankee Stadium, the WTC memorial, and the LaGuardia Airport control tower. In those cases, one of the presidents was given up to 21 years in prison, while the other company had to pay only $1500.

If you would like more information about how negligence and accident cases work in the state of New York, I encourage you to explore my educational personal injury website. If you have legal questions, I urge you to pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at lawmed10@yahoo.com to answer your questions. That's what I do every day. I welcome your call.

Gerry practices law exclusively in the State of New York. Within New York he practices primarily in the following counties: New York, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk. Technically, Brooklyn is known as "Kings County," and Manhattan and New York City are known as "New York County." Staten Island is known as "Richmond County." These counties make up the New York metropolitan area.