Tape measure dropped 500 feet off building, kills worker

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A construction worker preparing a wall on the 50th floor of a new condo in Jersey City, NJ was handling a tape measure when he accidentally dropped it.

The industrial-size tape streaked down before bouncing off a piece of metal and hitting another worker, Gary Anderson, in the head. He was taken to a nearby hospital but died a short time later. The 50-year-old Anderson was not wearing a hard hat while he delivered drywall as a contract worker for George Hildebrandt Inc.

"He was a very good worker," an employee there told the New York Post. "He's been with us for a long time."

City College professor Robert Alfano told The Post the tool would have fallen at close to 140 mph before ricocheting off the metal and hitting Anderson.

"You don't work in this environment without a hard hat," another worker told The Post. "You gotta have it."  The site was temporarily closed, but construction has since resumed.