Dive Brief:

• A New York pedestrian died and eight bus passengers in Seattle were injured this week in freak construction accidents.

• In Manhattan, a real estate agent walking down the street talking on her cellphone died Tuesday after a wind gust tore a 4-by-8-foot board from a construction site barrier and struck her. The impact was so intense that it threw the 37-year-old woman against a building, where she hit her head on a Fire Department stand pipe.

• A few hours later, a large pipe dangling from a crane that was lifting a load of them from a flatbed trailer swung into traffic and smashed into a Metro bus full of passengers in Seattle. Before the crane operator could regain control, the pipe had pierced the bus and then bounced into a freeway sign, toppling it onto the bus. None of the passengers had life-threatening injuries.

Dive Insight:

There's no word yet on whether the crane operator will face charges, but the New York City Department of Buildings is investigating the accident that killed the pedestrian. The company that built the construction barrier, Turner Construction, had been cited several times in the past for posing a danger to pedestrians, according to The New York Post.

“It is the responsibility of building owners and construction site managers to ensure their properties are safeguarded and in code-compliant conditions at all times,” a department spokesman told the newspaper.