Slip, Trips, and Falls #4

updated 05/06/2010

 

PCS worker dies in fall: Company, OSHA investigating
By JUSTIN LANG
A PCS Phosphate employee has died after falling from an elevated walkway on Thursday, said Mike Gwynn, PCS manager of public affairs. David Bowles, 46, had been with PCS for 24 years and worked as an operator at the Swift Creek Hemi Plant complex. Gwynn said that Bowles fell about 21 feet from the walkway. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our employees,” Gywnn said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. We’re trying to determine exactly what happened.” Bowles was airlifted by Trauma One to Shands at Jacksonville, where he died from injuries Friday, Gwynn said. PCS and OSHA have started an investigation. Hamilton County Sheriff Harrell Reid, said a deputy is compiling a report. The deputy went to the scene and spoke to witnesses. “I think it was purely accidental,” Reid said. “We don’t have any suspicion or belief it was anything other than an accident.” In May of this year, another PCS worker was killed and another critically burned when a bulldozer accidentally hit a liquid propane storage tank hidden in the grass. The sparks flying from the bulldozer ignited the gas into a fireball which killed Larry Blair, 57, instantly. James Nelson, 54, received extensive third-degree burns from the inferno. Before that, the last fatality at PCS occurred in 1979, Gywnn said. James Borders, area director of the Jacksonville office of OSHA, was part of the investigation into May’s death. “We issued citations regarding that issue,” Borders said. “We’re just waiting to see what the employers (PCS) response is going to be.” He says PCS Phosphate has until Friday to either pay, request an informal conference or formally contest OSHA findings. “The employer did not safely store propane tanks,” Borders continued. “A citation and notification of penalty. These are alleged violations and the proposed penalty was $5,250. These are just serious violations, as in they can result in serious injury or death.” The citation was issued Sept. 4 and received by PCS on Sept. 9. Gwynn said he was unable to comment at this time about the citation and PCS’ plan of action. OSHA also was notified of Thursday’s death and went to PCS on Friday. OSHA investigator Jim Rowe was unavailable for comment. PCS, OSHA and authorities are not sure how Bowles’ fall happened, but expect to have more information once an autopsy and thorough investigation are complete. “Our hearts go out to the family,” Gwynn said. “The investigation will uncover exactly what happened.”

 

UPDATE, Worker on roof falls 40 feet to death
ARIZONA DAILY STAR 
A 33-year-old worker fell 40 feet to his death Monday morning while removing sheet metal from a roof at a Marana cement company, officials said. Clifford Dunagan of Douglas was pronounced dead at the scene of the 8:15 a.m. accident at the Arizona Portland Cement Company, 11115 N. Casa Grande Highway, said Katy Heiden, a spokeswoman for the Northwest Fire/Rescue District. Dunagan suffered massive head trauma and apparently hit the back of his head on a railing two floors below the roof, said Stuart Rodeffer, lead paramedic and firefighter on the first Northwest engine to arrive. Dunagan was wearing his safety harness, Rodeffer said, and a cherry picker was on hand as a secondary safety measure. But authorities weren’t sure if Dunagan was tethered to a fixed object as he worked on the roof, a routine safety precaution.  Plant manager David Bittel said Dunagan – who worked for Parsons Steel Erectors Inc. – was removing the metal roofing so the plant could replace a section of the cement kiln through the roof. He couldn’t say more about the accident because of the investigation.

 

Emporia soybean plant death remains under investigation 
By Erin Adamson The Capital-Journal 
Authorities are investigating the death of a man who died when he fell from a catwalk Saturday at the Bunge Soybean Processing Plant in Emporia. Emporia Police Lt. John Koelsch said Steven G. Young, 50, of rural Olpe, fell about 30 feet from a catwalk while cleaning at the plant. The death appeared to be accidental. Young’s aunt, Joy Barnes, of Topeka, said her nephew was working Saturday at a job he was unfamiliar with and standing on a catwalk that was missing a section of railing. Koelsch said he fell from a catwalk in the mid-section of the plant, in an area where railroad cars are loaded. Young was pronounced dead at the scene after being found between railroad tracks. The Emporia plant referred questions to Philippe de Lapérouse, spokesman for Bunge North America, who said the company wouldn’t comment on the circumstances of Young’s death until investigations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and local authorities had been completed. “This is a tragic situation and everyone is obviously very upset within the company because we do pride ourselves on safety,”de Lapérouse said. Judy Freeman, area director for the OSHA, said the agency was investigating Young’s death, as it does all workplace fatalities. Barnes said Young usually worked moving and loading railroad cars. On Saturday, she said, no soybeans were being processed and workers were instead cleaning the plant. Barnes said co-workers told the family that Young was standing on a moving catwalk with a piece of railing missing on one side. She said coworkers suspected Young stepped back too far and fell off of the catwalk. “My understanding is that he didn’t wear a safety harness,”she said. An obituary submitted to The Capital-Journal indicated Young had been employed at the plant for 3 1/2 years.

 

Grand Blanc Twp.: Worker injured in fall from roof
By David V. Graham, JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
A construction worker was injured Friday when he fell two stories off the roof of a house under construction in the Pine Hollow subdivision on Canter Creek Trail in the southeast section of the township. gt. Rick Witham said Howard Travis, 49, of Flushing, was helping install a roof truss about 1:23 p.m. Friday when a truck holding the truss slipped in the mud, and he lost his footing. The man fell to the ground and suffered head injuries, a broken wrist and ribs and some spinal injuries. He was taken to Genesys Regional Medical Center in critical condition, but he has been upgraded to serious condition, hospital officials said. The accident is under investigation because the worker was not wearing a safety harness, police said.

 

Accident Kills Worker 
A team of investigators from three states is expected to arrive at Arizona Portland Cement tomorrow to look into a deadly accident at the plant. A worker fell about 50 feet to his death this morning as he was working on a roof at the plant in Marana. Clifford Dunagan of Douglas died at the scene. The Mine Safety and Health Administration will investigate the accident.

 

Injured rail worker awarded $6 million 
By Howard Pankratz, Denver Post Legal Affairs Writer
Saturday, September 21, 2002 – A longtime Union Pacific employee who fell down a steep flight of stairs inside a locomotive was awarded $6 million Thursday at a trial in which the man claimed the railroad intentionally destroyed important evidence. The Denver jury took only two hours to return its verdict in the case of Frank Aloi, a 53-year-old freight conductor whose job it was to couple and uncouple train cars and throw track switches. Aloi claimed he was totally disabled from injuries to his shoulder, neck and lower back sustained during the fall. He also said he suffered a mild traumatic brain injury. “All I want is my health back,” he said Friday. “The money has not cured me.” He said he was informed of the verdict by his wife, Deb. “My wife was crying and saying it was $6 million. And I said, ‘OK, but we have nothing to celebrate.’ I still have a headache and still see the doctor about my knee and neck.” Lou Jungbauer, Aloi’s attorney, said the award is believed to be the highest ever returned in Colorado under the Federal Employers Liability Act, or FELA. Will Browne, lawyer for Union Pacific, said the verdict was “at the high end” of such verdicts. Browne said FELA verdicts tend to be high because railroad workers make good wages. Aloi earned about $65,000 a year. One of the jury instructions, called “spoliation,” specifically alleged that UP intentionally destroyed documents generated during its own investigation of Aloi’s fall on Aug. 27, 1998. Browne said the company will vigorously appeal the verdict to the Colorado Court of Appeals. Among the grounds is the fact that Denver District Judge Frank Martinez included the specific instruction. The instruction specifically told the jury that it could infer that UP’s failure to produce documents meant that the evidence contained in the documents was unfavorable to the company. Jungbauer said the jury’s verdict told him they were unhappy with how the company treated his client. “They were disappointed that the railroad not only destroyed the documents but then came in and tried to explain it away,” Jungbauer said. “The second thing that bothered the jury is that Union Pacific would stand up in court and call this guy, who has put in 27 years of good service on the railroad, a fake and attack him in front of his family.” Jungbauer said the jurors had no doubt that Aloi suffered the injuries. Browne said the “spoliation” instruction “is a red-hot button” issue. “The theory is one party willfully destroyed evidence and destroyed evidence for purposes of keeping it out of trial. That is the theory behind that jury instruction. We absolutely deny that, to my dying days,” Browne said. At issue was a report written about the incident by Carol Townsend, the engineer on Aloi’s train. Also lost was the defective mat that Aloi stumbled over on his way down the steps. Townsend said she wrote in the report that the mat was a stumbling hazard that put the crew in danger. Townsend said she didn’t see Aloi stumble but “heard a racket” and heard Aloi say “Oh.” Browne said that federal law only requires railroads to keep those records for 92 days. Browne said the lawsuit was filed in January 1999, at least 120 days after the accident. Browne said he was surprised how quickly the jury returned the verdict and by the amount. “The jury was out two hours – $3 million an hour. That’s more than the ballplayers make,” Browne said.

 

UPDATE, OSHA cites Denver contractor in death of worker at Keystone
Jane Reuter
KEYSTONE – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited a Denver in connection with the Aug. 7 death of a man working at a Keystone construction site. Miguel Mota, 25, of Commerce City, suffered fatal chest and head injuries last month when he fell more than 30 feet from the roof of an under-construction Keystone home. Mota was employed by Fowler and Peth. OSHA cited Fowler and Peth for failure to ensure the employee used an available anchorage point and for failure to ensure that four or more of its field employees understood the height at which fall protection is required. OSHA fined Fowler and Peth a total of $7,000 – $3,500 for each offense. Ric Peth, a co-owner in the 54-year-old company, said Wednesday he had just received the OSHA notification. “I don’t really have any comment, as we’re just beginning the administrative process with OSHA, and I’m not familiar with the process,” he said. “The accident was certainly unfortunate, and our sympathies go out to Miguel and his family.” Fowler and Peth has no previous OSHA citations, according to information filed on OSHA’s Web site. Dillon-based Infinite Scope, the general contractor on the project, was not cited in connection with the accident. Infinite Scope owner Rick Emarine said Mota was delivering a load of roofing material from Fowler and Peth’s Denver store and was on the roof unloading shingles when he fell. The home, at 410 Elk Run Circle on Keystone’s River Course, is owned by Gary Coughlin of Illinois. “Fowler and Peth have a procedure where they carry their own anchor points and fall protection,” Emarine said. “We had fall protection in various places on the roof. He probably needed to place his own fall protection in the area where he was working, and he didn’t. “OSHA did a complete inspection and determined we have no violations. We’re relieved about that, but we’re still unhappy it had to happen on any job site here in the county. I’ve been building in this county for 30 years, and this is the first time a serious accident has ever happened. We feel bad for the guy and his family.” Mota is survived by his wife and two children. The issuance of the citation does not bring the incident to a close, said OSHA Area Director Herb Gibson. “We can’t go over the specifics of the incident because it’s still an open investigation,” he said. “The employer still has their rights to contest or comply with the citation.” Gibson said OSHA has only one goal in any of its investigations: “The most important thing here is we want to ensure employers look at their work places and make sure employees are properly protected with guard-rail systems or fall protection.”

 

UPDATE, Injured worker continues to improve, wife says
By JIM PATTERSON, News-Times Staff
A worker who was critically injured in a fall at Union Power Station nearly two weeks ago continues to improve, according to his wife. Shelly Dockins, wife of injured welder Donald Dockins, said that her husband’s condition has been upgraded to stable and that other signs also bode well for his eventual recovery. “He’s doing pretty good,” Shelly Dockins said, speaking by telephone Thursday afternoon from the critical care unit at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock. “He opened his eyes yesterday, and the cranial pressure is down. He’s in stable condition.” She added that her husband is scheduled for knee surgery Saturday morning. Dockins, 34, a welder for SNC-Lavalin, was seriously injured about 7:05 a.m. Sept. 7, after falling more than 55 feet from a tower. SNC-Lavalin Constructors, Inc., Dockins’ employer, has until now been reticent on the accident, failing to return numerous telephone calls from the News-Times. Thursday morning, however, Mike Ranz, a senior vice president in SNC-Lavalin’s Seattle office, broke the company’s silence. Serving mostly to confirm information that had already been gathered from other sources – details such as the time and date of the accident – Ranz did supply one new piece of information: the fact that Dockins fell onto the metal awnings of a print shack, which “broke his fall.” Following the accident, Ranz said, Dockins was treated on the scene by company safety officers, then by Pro-Med ambulance personnel. He was later airlifted to Baptist. Ranz offered no information on the cause of the accident. “The cause of the accident is still under investigation,” he said. “There are no witnesses that we can identify at this point.” Several anonymous callers have told the News-Times they saw Dockins fall, but none so far have given a statement for the record. Ranz said the company is providing crisis management and crisis counseling to Dockins’ wife and children, adding that the El Dorado site and the company had also taken up a monetary collection for the family. According to Ranz, SNC-Lavalin’s chief operating officer, John Gillis, has expressed his commitment to identifying the cause, saying that employee safety is of high priority.

 

Worker injured at Times building site
By Times staff writer, St. Petersburg Times
BROOKSVILLE — A 49-year-old employee of a Clearwater-based electrical company fell at the site of the new St. Petersburg Times bureau under construction west of Brooksville on Thursday. Harvey Horner of Hudson was taken by ambulance to Oak Hill Hospital, said Lt. Joe Paez of the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. Horner works for Morgan & Burt Electric Co., which was installing electrical wiring at the new building, Paez said. Horner was found collapsed at the site about 11 a.m. after a co-worker called out to him and he didn’t respond, Paez said. Police noticed a cut above his eye and pipes on the ground. “He may have been hit (by a falling pipe), but the victim couldn’t say what happened,” Paez said. Horner was treated at the hospital and released.

 

Two men injured after fall from scaffolding
by The Daily News staff 
Two men were taken to hospital after they fell off some scaffolding outside a Dartmouth home Friday. Ambulances took the men from the Hawthorne Street home after the 1 p.m. fall. Police estimate they fell about 71/2 metres. Their injuries weren’t life-threatening.

 

Man dies in work fall tragedy
A KILWINNING man died in an accident at his Renfrewshire workplace on Friday. Andrew Bell, 40, of 31 Duddingston Avenue, Kilwinning, is believed to have fallen through flooring he was removing from an upper level of the Foxteq computer components factory in Renfrew. He was taken to the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow where he later died. The Health and Safety Executive has been informed.

 

UPDATE, Parents of sign collapse victims consider lawsuit
By Camie Young, Staff Writer 
LAWRENCEVILLE — The loss of two sons has been hard on the Fowler family. The media spotlight on the situation has made it even harder. Nonetheless, Richard and Juanita Fowler are considering lawsuits after a billboard in Snellville fell, killing their sons, Josh and Anthony Fowler. Juanita Fowler confirmed Wednesday that she and her husband “were looking into the possibility” of lawsuits. A well-known Gwinnett County attorney, Gerald Davidson, has been hired, but neither Fowler nor Davidson commented further. They did not say to whom the lawsuits could be directed. On Aug. 1, a 35,000-pound billboard on Ga. Highway 124 in Snellville collapsed, killing three — Josh Fowler, 23, Anthony Fowler, 21, and Lance Stofiel, 26. All were working on the billboard at the time of the collapse. A fourth worker, Clyde Elrod, 37, was freed from the wreckage. The Fowler brothers owned their own company, Fowler Sign Company, while Stofiel and Elrod worked for Athens-based Stephens Electric and Lighting. “We are not planning on any lawsuit at this point in time,” Juanita Fowler said. “There’s more to this than meets the eye. When we are capable of making a statement, we will.” Fowler said she and her husband have been flooded with calls from local and national media but were not yet interested in discussing the situation. For now, the six remaining billboards that had been constructed in Snellville as part of a court settlement are on the ground while engineers study the structures. As part of the settlement, the city had to allow the construction of seven billboards for Trinity Outdoor LLC, including one that collapsed and one that has not yet been constructed, as well as one permit to ADvantage Advertising. Both companies have expressed sorrow for the collapse. Moreover, Trinity owners said they were close friends with the victims. Phoenix Structures constructed all seven of the billboards and hired the engineering company that is currently working with Snellville officials on the inspections. According to Linda Klein, an attorney representing Trinity, the company does not plan to sue Phoenix Structures at this time, although “Phoenix has a responsibility” to the advertising companies.

 

Small Scottish town has two fatal workplace accidents within 48 hours
The small Scottish town of Renfrew has suffered two fatal accidents within 48 hours. At the weekend an eight-year-old boy died on a housing site and on Saturday Andrew Bell, 40, died of injuries he sustained in a fall at the premises of Foxteq. According to one account, Mr Bell fell through flooring being removed at the factory and died at the Southern General Hospital two days later. Both accidents involve scenarios being highlighted in recent HSE campaigns.

 

Fatal Scaffolding Accident Brings $159,350 in Fines 
For Three New York Contractors
WASHINGTON, DC — Improperly erected scaffolding and failure to train workers on the hazards of working with scaffolding which resulted in the deaths of five workers and injuries to ten more on October 24, 2001, has resulted in citations against three New York contractors – Nesa, Inc, Tri-State Scaffolding & Equipment Supplies, Inc., and New Millennium Restoration & Contracting Corp., – and $159,350 in penalties, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.“Aggressive action is necessary against employers who willfully disregard worker protections. This case resulted in the deaths of innocent workers,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “These penalties should serve as notice to Nesa, Inc., Tri-State Scaffolding, and New Millennium Restoration to take immediate corrective action to ensure that no such tragedy occurs again under their supervision.”  The scaffolding accident took place at 210 Park Avenue South in Manhattan, at a building that was undergoing restoration. Nesa, Inc. was the general contractor on the project; Tri-State Scaffolding was hired by Nesa, Inc. to build the scaffolding; and New Millennium was hired by a DPA, a subcontractor of Nesa, Inc., to perform the demolition and restoration work. The scaffolding, approximately 160 feet high from bottom baseplate to the top, collapsed at approximately 4:00 p.m. on October 24, killing five employees and injuring ten more. Approximately 300 police and fire rescuers responded to the collapse. Killed in the accident were Manuel Barrariso, 40; Ivan Pillacela, 30; Efrain Gonzalez, 26; Donato Conde, 19; and Cesar F. Tenesaca, 25. “Employers should take this enforcement action as a clear indication that OSHA remains committed to vigorous enforcement of construction safety standards,” said Assistant Secretary of Occupational Safety and Health John L. Henshaw. “The tragic deaths of these workers show us that some workplaces still remain are dangerous and unsafe, including places where Hispanic and other immigrant workers are employed. We are committed to assuring that all workers are provided safety and health protections.” OSHA has proposed two alleged willful and four alleged serious citations for Tri-State Scaffolding, with a proposed penalty of $146,600, for erection of a scaffold that violated scaffold safety rules; for erecting a scaffold not designed by a professional engineer; and other violations of scaffolding and worker protection rules. Serious citations, with a proposed penalty of $9,750, have been proposed for New Millennium Restoration, including failure to train employees on various hazards, failure to require personal protective equipment, and other violations of safety and health protections. Serious citations with a proposed penalty of $3,000 have also been proposed against Nesa, Inc., for not providing falling object protection and failure to brace scaffold frames.  OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. A serious violation is one where there is a substantial probability that death or serious harm could result and the employer knew, or should have known, of the hazard. The employers have 15 working days to contest OSHA’s citations and proposed penalties.

 

Man dies in fall from fruit tree
By LEON M. TUCKER, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times
CLEARWATER — A Clearwater man died Monday after falling from an avocado tree he had climbed to pick its fruit. Thomas P. Huchton, 53, of 309A N Highland Ave., was climbing the tree at the Park Trace Apartments when a branch gave way, Clearwater police said. “It was an accidental death,” said Wayne Shelor, police spokesman. “Investigators determined that the man .. was probably about two floors high when a branch gave way and he fell to a concrete sidewalk and sustained a massive head injury.” Huchton was pronounced dead at the scene. “I really don’t know what happened,” said Lori Krull, vice president of Property Advisors Inc. of Tampa, which owns Park Trace Apartments. Krull said Huchton worked for a company the apartment complex did business with when the accident occurred. Huchton worked for Professional Carpet Systems Cleaning & Dyeing in Clearwater. 

Man critical after falling from scaffolding
A construction worker is reported to be in a critical condition after an accident on the site of a reservoir at Cumwhinton, Cumbria. According to one account, the man, aged 53, fell 10 metres from a scaffolding structure on to concrete below. He has serious head injuries.

 

Muscatine, Iowa Firefighter Dies While Fighting Blaze; 27-Year Veteran Succumbs to Injuries
CHRISTOPH TRAPPE, Courtesy Muscatine Journal News
MUSCATINE, Iowa – A 27-year veteran of the Muscatine, Iowa Fire Department lost his life during a Saturday night fire, marking the department’s first death of an on-duty firefighter. Around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, firefighters responded to a house fire at the corner of East Sixth and Orange streets. Two firefighters were hoisted to the roof of the building to ventilate the house. One of them, Michael Kruse, 53, fell to his death through the roof, said Muscatine Fire Chief Steve Dalbey. He declined to release the name of the other firefighter who was on top of the roof. No other injuries were reported. “There was so much heat and smoke built up inside, so they cut a hole in the roof to relieve it,” Dalbey said. “It seemed like things were happening all at once.” Dalbey said he wasn’t sure how and why Kruse fell through the roof. Dalbey said Kruse was the first on-duty firefighter fatality in Muscatine since the city started its full-time department in the early 1900s. Other firefighters pulled Kruse from the building and transported him to Unity Hospital where he died, Dalbey said. The building’s roof was soon engulfed in flames. Many were in shock Sunday as the news sunk in about the death of this lifelong Muscatine resident. “He always had a smile on his face; we can’t believe this happened,” said Betty Kruse, Michael Kruse’s aunt. “It was just one of those things. He would have been off this (Sunday) morning.” “He was kind of a quiet guy, very dedicated to the fire service,” Dalbey said. “When it came time to do work he was all business, very detail-oriented.” Muscatine’s central fire station was unusually quiet Sunday morning. “This is unreal,” said Assistant Fire Chief Jerry Ewers, while another person stopped by to express his sympathies at the fire station. Counselors from the Quad-Cities came to the Public Safety Building to meet with firefighters for a critical incident debriefing Sunday morning, Dalbey said. Some people called the fire station throughout the day to express their sympathies. At least one area neighbor, Julie Stauffer, stopped by to drop off flowers, sticking out of miniature firefighter boots. Stauffer and her mother, Marlene Anderson, live at 608 E. Sixth St., their home of 41 years, which is across the street from the fire scene. They watched the smoke fill the midnight air. Their good friend, Darlene Adams, stood next to them. Adams lived at the ravaged building until two years ago. “I’m devastated,” Adams said early Sunday morning, standing a half block away from the fire scene. “I owned it for like 18 years.” She lived there for 37 and sold it to Connie Damerville, who lived at the brick building with her son, Don, according to the local chapter of the American Red Cross. The Red Cross hosted Damerville and her son at Muscatine’s Holiday Inn for at least Sunday and Monday night and provided vouchers for clothes and groceries, said Dave Carlson, the Red Cross volunteer who responded to the scene. “They were very distraught,” Carlson said. “They had all their belongings in there and all was lost.” Until about five or six years ago, Adams ran her Fitness in Motion, exercise shop out of the building’s side that faces Sixth Street. Before that, a monument store operated out of the space while Adams and her family lived in the rest of the building. The majority of firefighters remained on the scene until 3:30 Sunday morning and the investigation into the cause of the fire and the fall continued throughout the day. The Muscatine fire and police departments and the Iowa State Fire Marshall’s Office are investigating. Muscatine police blocked off traffic to the scene one block in each direction. Firefighters were fighting the fire from several sides and from the top, out of the ladder truck’s bucket. Arrangements are pending at Geo. M. Wittich-Lewis Funeral Home.

 

Worker injured after fall from school roof in Peabody
By LINDA HALFREY, Staff writer
PEABODY — A 49-year-old construction worker from Maine was injured yesterday after falling 25 feet from the roof of a classroom wing at the site of the new Brown Elementary School. Michael Garneau was taken by ambulance to Salem Hospital. The hospital would not release information about his condition last night at the request of his family. Witnesses said the man broke several ribs, his wrist, and was suffering from lacerations to his head. The worker, who witnesses said was wearing a safety harness, was standing inside a metal bucket attached to a tall crane when he someone lost his footing and fell to the ground shortly after 3 p.m. “He was on the roof and he just fell off the edge of the building,” said Jim Hardy, superintendent of the job site. Hardy works for AMG Construction of Stoughton, the general contractor hired to build the new elementary school. Hardy did not identify the man, saying he wanted to contact his family first. Co-workers found the man unconscious, face down on the ground, and immediately called for medical help. This is the first worker injured at the Lynn Street site, Hardy said, since work on the school began one year ago. “This is very unusual,” Hardy said. Investigators from the office of Occupational Safety and Health Administration were called to the construction site, and will try to determine the cause of the accident. Co-worker Richard Leeber, of AMG, said he didn’t see the man fall, but rushed over to his side before the EMTs arrived. “He was working with two other guys. We started at 7 a.m. and we were just finishing up,” Leeber said. “I don’t know what happened.” “It’s Friday the 13th,” he added, shaking his head in disbelief. “You just never want to see anybody get hurt.”

 

Worker hospitalized after roof accident
A construction worker is being treated at Desert Regional Medical Center after falling through a skylight on Tuesday morning in Palm Desert. He’d been installing a new air conditioner on a building at Orr Property Management on the 42000-200 block of Green Way. The worker fell 19 feet and landed on concrete. He is in the ER being treated for trauma. The owner said the man has only been working for Palm Desert Air Conditioning for a week. He also said this is the first time anyone has fallen through a skylight.

 

UPDATE, Injured worker showing signs of improvement
By JIM PATTERSON, News-Times Staff
A construction worker who was critically injured in an accident at the Union Power Station Saturday morning is showing signs of improvement, according to his wife. “He’s doing pretty good,” said Shelly Dockins, wife of injured worker Donald Dockins. “We’re better than we were, but we’re not out of the woods yet.” Dockins, 34, of Many, La., was injured early Saturday when he fell between 55 and 60 feet from a tower. Dockins is reportedly a welder for SNC-Lavalin Constructors, Inc., the company that is currently completing contract work on Union Power Partners’ 2,205-megawatt power plant, located on U.S. 167 a few miles northeast of El Dorado. El Dorado Police Department dispatch reported receiving the initial 911 call at 7:27 a.m. and transferring it to Pro-Med Ambulance. Dockins was initially transported to the Medical Center of South Arkansas, then airlifted to Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock. Reached by telephone on Thursday, Shelly Dockins said her husband is still listed as critical, but added his condition has stabilized. She said she has spoken with SNC-Lavalin’s project manager, but has not been told exactly how the accident occurred. The company has been equally silent with regard to media inquiries. Several telephone calls to Mike Indivero, vice president of human relations for SNC, remain unreturned, and the company’s local representatives have said that any comment must come from corporate offices. The News-Times contacted the Arkansas office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but that agency also knows little about the accident. David Trigg, with OSHA, said a report is required only if the accident involves a power press or if it results in the death of an employee or the hospitalization of three or more employees. Late Thursday afternoon, the News-Times learned that BancorpSouth is accepting donations to benefit Dockins and his family, which includes two young children. Donations will be accepted by bank personnel and deposited directly into Shelly Dockins’ checking account.

 

Fall leaves man in critical condition 
BLOOMINGTON — A man who fell 30 to 40 feet from a ladder was in critical condition late Monday at BroMenn Regional Medical Center, a nursing supervisor said. Dale Miller was taken from 621 E. Chestnut Street after a rescue call at 4:27 p.m. Monday, a rescue report said. His age and address was not available. Miller was on a ladder on top of a screened-in porch, and the ladder was leaning against the second story. Miller, who was doing work at the residence, was found on the ground by the ambulance crew with a back injury and breathing problems.

UPDATE, OSHA Fines Georgia Contractors Nearly $61,000 Following Fatal Accident At Florida Worksite
GULF BREEZE, Fla. — Failing to protect workers from impalement hazards at a Gulf Breeze, Fla., drug store construction site may cost two Georgia contractors a total of $60,900, according to citations issued by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration yesterday. The agency began an inspection following an April 20 accident that killed a 32-year-old laborer who fell from a scaffold onto a protruding reinforcing steel bar, known as a rebar. The worker was employed by Canton, Ga.-based Chadwick T. Wallace, Inc., a subcontractor at the site where Cannon/Estapa General Contractors, Inc., also headquartered in Canton, was the general contractor. “Cannon/Estapa failed to take appropriate action even after sub-contractors on the job informed the general contractor that the protruding rebar needed to be covered,” said James Borders, OSHA’s Jacksonville area director. “Employers must take immediate action once they are aware of serious safety hazards that can cause injury or death.” The general contractor was cited for a willful violation for not guarding the protruding rebar and a serious violation for poor housekeeping. Proposed penalties for the alleged violations total $50,050. OSHA issued three serious citations against Chadwick T. Wallace for not guarding the rebar to eliminate impalement hazards, not providing safe access to scaffolds, and poor housekeeping. The sub-contractor was fined $10,850 for the alleged violations. According to OSHA, neither employer had a safety and health program in place. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the OSH Act and regulations. A serious violation is one where there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and that the employer knew or should have known of the hazard. Each company has 15 working days to contest the OSHA citations and proposed penalties before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Inspection of the work site was conducted by OSHA’s Jacksonville area office located at 1851 Executive Center Dr., Suite 227; telephone: (904) 232 2895.

 

Firefighter Falls Into Lava Tube During Rescue 
Injured Man, Critical, Flown To Oahu 
Story by The Hawaii Channel 
Hawaii — A Big Island firefighter was injured when he fell about 100 feet down a lava tube Wednesday. It happened while crews were searching for some hunters who got lost in the Captain’s Trail area in Glenwood. Officials said the area is not for hiking because of the thick underbrush and numerous lava tubes. He apparently slipped into a large crack in the ground that was obscured by brush, officials said. The 41-year-old firefighter was flown to the Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu. He was last reported in critical condition. He has a number of internal injuries to his liver, kidney and lungs. He also has fractures to his pelvis, back and ribs. The firefighter is from the Waiakea unit of the Hawaii County Fire Department. The three hikers eventually found their way out on their own and were not hurt.

 

AIRLIFT FOR OIL WORKER 
An OFFSHORE worker was airlifted to safety today after breaking his arm in a boat accident. The 38-year-old slipped on the deck of the Havila Sky support vessel 142 miles off the coast of Aberdeenmthis morning. An RAF search and rescue Sea King helicopter was scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth to take him to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

 

Rescuers Deal With Precarious Situation After Construction Accident
Rescuers had a difficult situation on their hands today after a construction worker was injured in downtown Miami. The injured 32-year-old man (pictured) reportedly fell and broke his leg at the site at 240 N.E. 13th St. where the new performing arts center is being built. Because the man was several stories up, rescuers lowered him down the side of the building before taking him to the hospital. Southbound traffic on Biscayne Boulevard in the area near 14th Street was partially rerouted.

 

Worker killed in construction accident at hospital
Police and federal officials last night were investigating a construction accident at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that resulted in the death of a worker about noon yesterday. The worker, Heywood Parker, 50, a subcontractor working at the site, was delivering supplies for the expansion of the South Tower on 34th Street in University City when he fell 50 to 80 feet, and was severely injured when he landed on the ground, said a Children’s Hospital spokeswoman. Parker was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he died of his injuries. Additional details were not available last night. In addition to separate investigations being conducted by Philadelphia police and the construction company, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration was investigating. 

Worker badly hurt in building site fall 
An ironworker was in critical condition last night after plunging 30 feet at an accident-plagued midtown construction site. Joseph Gaffney, 37, of Matawan, N.J., suffered a spinal fracture in the 2:15 p.m. fall from the 22nd floor to the 20th floor of 300 Madison Ave., near 42nd St. On Aug. 23, two workers were killed there when an elevator fell 19 stories.

 

UPDATED, Company fined after director dies in fall 
COASTAL Grains has admitted failing to ensure the safety of one of its directors who plunged 70 feet to his death from a gantry. COASTAL Grains has admitted failing to ensure the safety of one of its directors who plunged 70 feet to his death from a gantry. Tim Mallen, 55, was helping workers at the Belford-based company repair the damaged elevator when the platform he and a colleague were standing on collapsed and sent the pair crashing on to the concrete floor below. Mr Mallen was vice-chairman of Coastal Grains the non-profit making farmers’ co-operative set up to help businesses in north Northumberland and the Scottish Borders by storing and drying grain. He was also farms manager for the Duke of Northumberland and lived on the Hulne Park estate in Alnwick with his wife, Jane. He has a son Simon and daughter Claire. Mr Mallen’s colleague, Denny Winter, 24, of Hilltop Cottage in Chatton, sustained a punctured lung, severe internal bleeding and a badly broken arm and had to undergo emergency surgery at Newcastle General Hospital. He is now recovering but is still receiving treatment for his injuries. Coastal Grains directors were fined £8,750 and ordered to pay £2,437 costs after they pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety of employees at Alnwick Magistrates’ Court on Monday. The prosecution was brought by the Health and Safety Executive which has investigated last September’s accident. The court was told how Mr Mallen had called into Coastal Grains on a Saturday morning to find the main belt of the grain elevator had snapped. He and his son, Simon, initially tried to use a rope to lift the snapped belt back to the top of the elevator but soon realised it was too heavy. They then decided to attach the rope to a Telehandler farm loader which had been used in the past to winch damaged belts back on to machines. Health and safety inspector Shauna Rank told magistrates how the rope became snagged so Mr Mallen and a colleague went on to the platform to investigate but failed to find anything. However, when the Telehandler started pulling again, the elevator structure collapsed and the pair were thrown to the ground. Mrs Rank admitted the procedure had been carried out safely on numerous occasions but said the company had failed to provide a written procedure for the repair of the machinery. In mitigation, Coastal Grains claimed to have an exemplary safety record and, previously, 18 broken belts had been repaired in the same way. However, the firm admitted having no written procedure and said it would never undertake the repair work itself in the future.

 

UPDATE, Pierce Discovers Unauthorized Weld Caused N.C. Aerial Collapse
HEATHER CASPI, Firehouse.Com News 
Pierce Manufacturing officials discovered that the aerial collapse in Cary, North Carolina earlier this summer was due to an unauthorized cut and weld job on parts that Pierce purchased from another company. Pierce spokeswoman Kirsten Skyba said Pierce had acquired a parts package from supplier Nova Quintech in Canada, which they used in a few of their Sky-Arm aerials. After extensive analysis, investigators have determined that the Cary aerial had two unauthorized cuts and incomplete welds on the aerial handrails in the base section. Skyba said the section has two layers of steel. Both layers were mistakenly cut, and then only the outer layer was welded back together. “It was absolutely not to spec. There should have been no cuts or welds,” Skyba said. The area was ground flush and painted, making it undetectable to Pierce during inspection, she said. After a chemical analysis, investigators determined that the cuts were made by a cut-off wheel which Pierce does not use in its production process, so the cuts could not have been made by Pierce workers. Skyba said the flaw in the aerial is an isolated case. Pierce only used the Nova Quintech parts in the first few Sky-Arms they manufactured, and all 21 of Pierce’s Sky-Arms, owned by fire departments nationwide, passed a precautionary inspection this summer. None of the others had the cuts. Skyba said Pierce is presenting its findings to authorities in Canada, although Nova Quintech no longer exists. They are also communicating their findings to sales representatives in case of any customer concerns. Skyba stressed that the defect was caused by parts and procedures that are not part of Pierce’s normal production circumstances. Cary firefighters were operating their 1999 Pierce 105′ aerial with a Sky-Arm at a structure fire on Tuesday, June 4, when it suddenly collapsed and dropped the two firefighters in the basket about 12 feet down onto a parking lot. They sustained minor injuries.

 

Two workers badly hurt in fall at farm 
Two workmen suffered serious injuries this afternoon when they fell more than 20ft through the roof of a cow shed at a farm near Newport. They landed on the concrete floor of the shed at Flashbrook Manor, a few miles north of Newport on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border. One of the men, aged 36, was airlifted to North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary in Stoke with serious head injuries. His workmate, aged 38, was taken by ambulance to Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital with suspected chest, rib and hip injuries. They were working on repairs at a cow shed, whose corrugated roof appeared to have given way at around 12.45pm. The isolated farm is on the road between Newport and Knighton. Bob Lee, of Staffordshire Ambulance service, said crews from Shropshire, Staffordshire and a helicopter from the County Air Ambulance had been scrambled to the scene. He said: “The two workmen were working at a cow shed and they have fallen through the roof, plummeting 20ft. “One of the men was taken to the North Staffs Infirmary by helicopter with serious head injuries. His colleague was also badly hurt and was taken to the Princess Royal Hospital with suspected hip, chest and rib injuries.” Mr Lee said one of the men appeared to have fallen headfirst onto the concrete base of the building. He was in a serious condition when emergency crews arrived. Mr Lee said the ambulance services’ response to the incident was an excellent example of how they co-operated over calls on their borders.

 

UPDATE, Company fined after machine fall
By Simon Dudman
A Coventry telecommunications company has been fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £2,000 compensation after a worker climbed inside a punch press machine to free a sheet of metal and fell. The man suffered “serious” bruising to his head, ribs and legs and had to take six weeks off work to recover from his injuries. The incident happened on February 19 of this year at the premises of Viasystems EMSUK Ltd, in Uxbridge Avenue, Copsewood, Coventry. The company, formerly part of the Marconi group and bought by Viasystems in 2000, was charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 with failing to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of its employees. The company, which employs about 200 people, pleaded guilty. It was also ordered to pay £3,140 court costs. Munera Sidat, prosecuting for the HSE, told the court how the worker had at first tried to free the sheet by climbing up a set of mobile ladders, reaching in with a pole. When this attempt failed, he climbed over a 6ft 5 in safety fence and into the machine. Miss Sidat said: “He was in the machine and was kicking the sheet of metal which was jammed. He had one foot on the sheet and was kicking it with the other when the machine suddenly moved and he fell. “The machine was never designed for people to climb into, yet this had become common practice by the operators and the ladders and pole were next to the machine for such incidents. “No risk assessment was carried out for this practice, which shows a major flaw in the management process.” David Egar, in mitigation for Viasystems, told the court that the company was currently in financial difficulty following a downturn in the market and asked magistrates to consider this when determining a fine. He also told the court the machine had not been used since the incident and full health and safety training had been carried out by all employees following the accident. He said Viasystems put health and safety at the top of its business agenda but did not fully appreciate the risk of the action described in court. “They are guilty of simply not being aware, rather than ignoring a dangerous practice”, he said.

 

Accident occurs at local sawmill
The Ouachita County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an industrial accident that occurred around 10 a.m. today at Gaston Lumber Company on Ouachita 67. One person was reportedly injured in a fall at the facility. Additional details were not available at press time.

 

HORRIFIC ORDEAL FOR GAS WORKER
BY SEAN KENNY AND KEVIN PEACHEY
A man today spoke of the terrifying moment he impaled himself on a metal spike. Gasman Michael Summerhayes, 57, lost his footing as he stepped over a small chain link fence. He landed on a hooked metal spike which went five inches into his left side just under his ribcage. Firemen used a heavy duty electric saw to cut through the spike before ambulance crews took him to hospital. Mr Summerhayes, a former ambulanceman from Bakersfield, underwent a 90-minute operation at the Queen’s Medical Centre to remove the spike. His condition is described as “comfortable”. The accident happened after Mr Summerhayes had read the gas meter at the Acorn Day Centre, Hyson Green, at 9am on Thursday. Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Summerhayes said: “When I fell I did not feel the spike go in, but when I could not get up I realised it was inside me. “I am glad I have got a little bit of weight on me as it gave me some protection.” His recovery is all the more remarkable as he had a triple heart bypass operation five years ago. His wife Val, 48, said she thought he had suffered a heart attack when she heard the news. “He was lucky because it was only a couple of inches away from his major organs,” said the Boots supervisor. “He stayed calm because he did not want to upset me.” Mr Summerhayes is hoping he will be fit enough for their holiday in Florida in five weeks. The day centre caretaker and a first-aider helped Mr Summerhayes immediately after the accident. Station Officer Keith Elliot, from Central Fire Station, and five colleagues worked quickly to cut him free. Mr Elliott said: “A three inch diameter post punctured his left side just below the ribs with a small piece of steel which came out of the side of the post. “He was in a lot of pain but he had been given painkillers and oxygen and he was on a drip.” Mr Elliott added: “Speed is of the essence in these circumstances. “We had to support him as he was on his knees and hanging on the post.” Mr Summerhayes remained calm, thanks to his 15 years’ experience as a Nottingham ambulance driver. An ambulance spokeswoman said: “He was probably in a considerable amount of pain, but when we arrived he was still fully conscious and able to answer questions.” Following the accident, the city council sent a service manager to the day centre to carry out checks. The council has also asked the Health and Safety Executive to investigate the accident.

 

Man dies after site accident
The accident in Londonderry is being investigated. A workman has died in hospital after falling 100ft in an accident at a building site in Londonderry. It happened at a new Debenham’s department store under construction at Foyle Street in Derry at 1130 BST on Tuesday. The victim died in hospital after suffering chest and leg injuries when a staircase collapsed at the site. Police along with Health and Safety Executive officers have been carrying out an investigation into the incident. The name of the dead man has not been released yet. 

Worker dies after falling from roof
PUNTA GORDA — A 46-year-old worker died while being airlifted to Lee Memorial Hospital after an accident at a construction site Monday morning. Authorities said the man fell from the roof of a two-story house being built on Mediterranean Drive by Taylor Contractor of Florida Inc. The owner of the company, Pete Taylor, declined to release the worker’s name until the man’s family had been notified. He called the accident “very sad.” The worker fell while tossing a handful of nails to a co-worker on the ground, about 20 to 25 feet below, said Dee Hawkins, spokeswoman for Charlotte County Fire and Emergency Services. “Apparently he lost his balance,” she said. The man fell onto a stem wall, a concrete block wall about 2 feet high that goes under an air conditioner. “He had multiple fractures and injuries and he was bleeding internally,” Hawkins said. “We worked on him for about 30 minutes before BayFlite picked him up.” She said the man carried no identification. “The other workers didn’t know his last name and they seemed to think he was having hard times,” Hawkins said. “He rode a bicycle to work.” Punta Gorda police worked the accident but could provide no further information. 

SAILOR INJURED IN FALL 
A crew member from a boat at anchor in Torbay was taken to hospital after falling from a ladder on to the deck of the pilot boat. The 47-year-old second engineer, hurt his back in the 10ft fall, at 10.40pm. He was returning to the MV Hemina from shore leave when the incident happened. The man was taken into Brixham harbour where a waiting ambulance put him on a spinal board and took him to Torbay Hospital. The man is not thought to be seriously hurt. Berry Head coastguard attended at Brixham harbour. 

Needle not liable for worker’s injuries
OLYMPIA (AP) — The Space Needle Corp. can’t be held liable for injuries to a worker severely hurt by the tower’s elevator during preparations for New Year’s Eve fireworks in 1997, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled. Jeff Kamla was rigging fireworks on the Space Needle’s 200-foot platform about a third of the way up the building when a descending elevator passing through the narrow utility area snagged his safety line. He suffered major injuries and was pensioned off as permanently disabled by Pyro Spectaculars, the company that puts on the annual year-end display at the Space Needle. But Kamla sued the Space Needle Corp., arguing that the building’s managers should have provided a safer work environment. A King County Superior Court rejected the case, saying the fireworks contractor was Kamla’s employer, not the Space Needle Corp. The high court agreed last week.

 

Workman Dimitrios Mardikis, 60, fell to his death
Workman Dimitrios Mardikis, 60, fell to his death near the Presidential Palace in central Athens yesterday morning when a crane, supporting the platform from which he was painting the facade of a block of flats, collapsed. Another workman was severely injured. The accident occurred on the corner of Irodou Attikou and Lykeiou streets.

 

Man impaled on scaffolding
A 60-year-old man was airlifted to hospital today with serious chest injuries after a piece of scaffolding pierced his chest. It is believed the man, who has not been identified, was cutting branches from a tree in his front garden at Friston when he fell and landed on a piece of scaffolding. Steve Wright, 44, a self employed builder, witnessed the accident from a neighbouring house and rushed to the victim’s aid. “I saw him on the scaffolding and I kept watching him for some reason. He didn’t look safe up there and I had a premonition something was going to happen. “He was using a chainsaw to cut branches but fell and hit the scaffolding. The scaffolding went one way and the chainsaw went the other, he fell and landed on a spike which went through his chest.” Mr Wright rushed to help the man who had already pulled the piece of metal from his chest. Mr Wright continued: “He was making gurgling noises and I immediately went to call an ambulance.” During that time Mr Wright said the man disappeared from the scene of the accident and he later found him slumped in a chair in his house. On advice from ambulance staff Mr Wright tried to stop the flow of blood from the wound by holding a towel against his chest. “Thankfully the ambulance was here very quickly,” he said. Paramedics took the man by ambulance to the village green where the air ambulance was waiting for him and he was then airlifted to Ipswich Hospital. The accident happened just before 10am in Donkey Lane, Friston.

 

Kansas firefighter lucky to be alive after fall down slope 
TILLER — A 50-foot, head-first tumble off a steep mountainside in the Tiller Complex fires sent a firefighting soldier on a helicopter flight to a Medford-area hospital Tuesday. Sgt. Scott Urban, 25, with Battery A, 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery of Ft. Riley, Kan., abruptly ended a tour of duty in Douglas County with a slip and long fall that was stopped short of a potentially bad end by the trunk of a fallen tree, fire officials said. “His doctor says Sgt. Urban is one lucky guy,” said Capt. Sherri Reed, spokeswoman for Task Force Destroyer, the 540-soldier strong firefighting contingent. “He slipped in loose gravel and ash on a nearly 70-degree slope. He is in stable condition.” He suffered bumps, bruises and muscle strain, Reed said. Urban was part of mop-up operations on the Little Boy and Big Bend fires, located about 25 miles east of Tiller near the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness Area. The rest of Urban’s unit will ship out Friday, ending a 14-day assignment on the Tiller Complex. Despite the mishap, officers with Task Force Destroyer say it’s been a good experience. “The soldiers have gotten to see a different part of the country and learn about firefighting,” said Maj. John Cotton while on a fire line visit. “For a lot of them it is their first time in the mountains. Now, it’s back to training at Ft. Riley.”

 

UPDATE, GG Bridge Worker Identified 
San Francisco-AP- The construction worker who died while working on the Golden Gate Bridge has been identified as a 42-year-old Cotati man. Kevin Scott Noah fell about 60 feet yesterday while working on the bridge’s earthquake retrofit project. Officials say Noah’s safety harness failed and he fell to the ground at the south end of the bridge. Noah and a second man were working inside the South Anchorage House when Noah apparently slipped off scaffolding. The retrofit project was put on hold yesterday while the accident was investigated by the California Highway Patrol and the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Authorities say there have been no other deaths or serious injuries since the project began five years ago. 

Jay man dies in roofing accident
By ROBERT BLANKENSHIP – Managing Editor
A Jay man was pronounced dead Wednesday morning after falling from a rooftop where he was working. James Darrill Starling, 61, of Morristown Road, was pronounced dead on arrival by medical technicians who arrived on the scene at approximately 9:15 a.m. According to Escambia County Sheriff Tim Hawsey, deputies responded to 326 Stick City Road, near a landfill on Jay Road. Upon arriving on the scene, deputies and emergency personnel from the Dixonville Volunteer Fire Department and D.W. McMillan Ambulance Service found Starling laying on a concrete slab. “He was working on a new house that was under construction,” Hawsey said. “It looks like he was working on the roof when he lost his footing and fell.” Witnesses on the scene told investigating deputies that Starling landed head-first on the concrete slab. He was working on a tin roof that was about 11 feet from the ground. It is unknown whether Starling ever gained consciousness after the fall. Starling was transported to D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital by ambulance and later was moved to the Department of Forensics in Mobile for an autopsy. “There will be an autopsy performed,” Hawsey said. “In vocational deaths there needs to be an autopsy due to the number of agencies that could be involved.” Investigators feel the fall was most likely an accident. “We feel very strongly that this was an accident and all of facts and evidence of the preliminary investigation support that,” he said. “We will wait for the official results from the lab and continue with the investigation.”

 

Workers Sent Home After GG Bridge Fatal Accident 
SAN FRANCISCO — Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District officials say the fatal fall of a construction worker today has temporarily halted all work on the seismic retrofit project on the famous span. San Francisco police were notified that a 42-year-old worker had fallen to his death around 9:15 a.m. The accident happened toward the southern end of the bridge near Fort Point. A spokesman for the local engineering contractor involved — Shimmick Construction Co. of Hayward — said about 50 workers were sent home today and grief counselors have been called. He said work might resume as early as Wednesday, but no decision has yet been made. “We’re all devastated by this,” said Scott Fairgrieve, who serves as chief financial officer for Shimmick, adding that “nothing remotely like this” has ever happened at the company. Fairgrieve said the 42-year-old carpenter who died was a resident of the greater Bay Area. He had been employed just a short time by the joint venture Shimmick formed with giant Japanese company Obayashi Corp. to undertake the $160 million retrofit job. Construction began last summer and is expected to continue for another year and a half. The accident victim, whose name has not been released, was strapped into an upper torso harness while standing on some scaffolding, according to Fairgrieve, but the device apparently “did not operate properly.” He said the worker was inside a hollow, concrete anchor house where the job included adding structural steel and strengthening concrete footings. The enclosed structure rests on the land, where the bridge suspension cables from above feed down to connect with an anchor below. The man fell, reportedly some 60 feet, and landed inside the anchor house, Fairgrieve explained. Source: KTVU/Fox2 and Bay City News

 

Worker Crashes to Death At Aflao 
Aug 13, 2002 (Accra Mail/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) — Kojo Olu Papa Kuwornu, 32, died on arrival at the Aflao Central Hospital on Friday after crashing from a height of 35 metres following the collapse of a platform he and a colleague were standing on while working on a silo at the Diamond Cement Limited (DCL) at Aflao. Raymond Akakpo, 33, who was on the platform with Kuwornu, however, escaped death when his safety belt hook remained firm on an iron bar. He was suspended in the air until he was rescued with a crane. A source close to the company said Akakpo and Kuwornu; experts in constructing industrial infrastructure were erecting the platforms around the silo to serve as a support to enable them to lay beams to roof the silo. The source said though the deceased was also wearing a safety belt, his hook gave way and he crashed on the concrete floor of the silo. Akakpo, who was traumatised and is on admission at the Aflao Central Hospital from chest pains, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), on Saturday, that the platform collapsed under them when they tried to lift a board from a crane. He said they both wore safety belts hooked to pillars but said he could not explain how Kuwornu got detached and fell. Mr Chitti Babu, Managing Director of the DCL showed the safety devices the company has to police investigators and the press and stressed that it is the policy of the company to insist on their use. The body has been deposited at the Hospital Morgue for further investigations.

 

Injured construction worker rescued after fall
By ROMA KHANNA, Houston Chronicle
Emergency crews rescued a construction worker who fell and was knocked unconscious at a construction site at Bush Intercontinental Airport. The man was doing metal work on a platform about five feet off the ground when he fell and lost consciousness. “He only fell a few feet but he was unconscious,” said Ernie DeSoto, spokesman for the Houston Airport System. “At first the other workers thought it might be from the heat, but then they couldn’t revive him.” The man was taken by LifeFlight to Memorial Hermann Hospital. He was working on the federal inspection services building, which will house several federal agencies such as the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs, at North Terminal Road and John F. Kennedy.

 

OSHA investigating death of Keystone construction worker
Jane Reuter 
KEYSTONE – Investigators from the Denver office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Thursday began looking into circumstances surrounding the death of a man doing construction on a Keystone house Wednesday. Miguel Mota, 25, suffered chest and head injuries when he fell more than 30 feet from the roof of the home. He was pronounced dead at Keystone Medical Center about 3 p.m. Wednesday. Mota, of Commerce City, is survived by his wife and two children. Mota was a member of a construction crew working at the Elk Run Circle house on Keystone’s River Course. He was employed by Denver-based Fowler & Peth, according to OSHA officials. OSHA spokeswoman Chris Corrigan said it’s too soon to talk about the case. “We’re not at liberty to speak about the inspection until it is closed,” she said. “Normally, we have a six-month statute of limitations. I don’t believe it will take nearly that long, but it could. We know it’s residential construction related.” Fowler & Peth, in business since 1948, has no OSHA violations in Colorado, according to OSHA’s Web site. Nevertheless, Summit County Coroner Dave Joslin said, OSHA is requiring an autopsy. Joslin did not know if Mota was wearing a hard hat and safety harness but hinted the worker was lacking some required restraints. Workers at Fowler & Peth’s Denver offices said little. “We’re very upset about losing an employee and friend,” said a company employee who declined to give her name. “We’re shocked and grieving.”

 

Scaffolding Fall Injures Construction Worker
A construction worker was injured while working on scaffolding Thursday, according to Ann Arbor police. The incident reportedly happened around 10 a.m. in the 3000 block of Broadway Street. The scissor-scaffolding tipped over and the man fell 27 feet to the ground, police said. The man suffered a broken leg and bruised ribs. He was transported to the University of Michigan Hospital and is listed in fair condition. No other information was available.

 

UPDATE, Painter killed in deadly Capitol Hill accident 
By Tricia Manning-Smith, KING 5 News 
SEATTLE – A deadly accident on Seattle’s Capitol Hill leaves one man dead Sunday. A painter fell to his death, hitting power lines on the way down. “The right side of his hair was on fire, his foot was on fire, he wasn’t moving,” said Francis McGrody, witness. “We’re all standing going, ‘Holy crap. What are we going to do now?'” The painter from Seattle was apparently electrocuted as he fell four stories to his death. It appeared he wasn’t even ready to perform the job he was attempting. The worker’s boss told KING 5 News the man wasn’t even supposed to be on the boom. At the time the man was painting the side of a building. It was his first day on the job. Before chaos erupted on the scene, John McDaniel looked out his window from across the street. “It didn’t look good,” said McDaniel. “I was just looking up there. I was thinking, ‘Maybe they know what they’re doing. Oops. I guess not.'” Neighbors described hearing a loud hum then what sounded like a sonic boom. Mike Staczek looked out and saw billowing smoke. “I ran down with the only fire extinguisher I could find,” said Staczek. Witnesses said the boom lift was ablaze, its tires blown out. And on the ground lay a 48-year-old man. “He was just laying there,” described McGrody. “Part of you wants to be a spectator, the other part wants to go help the guy, but there’s a wire on the ground.” It all happened shortly before noon. The painter was up in the air more than 40-feet. Authorities said he was operating the boom by himself from the lift when his head came into contact with a 26,000-volt power line. Investigators are determining why the painter came so close. “The WAC code requires that you remain 10 feet away from high voltage, 600 volts or up,” said one city worker,” said Gene Brehmeyer, L & I Investigator. Investigators say the line may have jolted the painter several times before he plunged to the ground. L & I investigators say the investigation may take up to three weeks. If the painting company is found negligent, they could face a penalty. Power was knocked out to about 3,800 Seattle City Light customers. Power was expected to be fully restored Sunday evening.

 

Billboard Collapse Kills 3 in Ga. 
By Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press Writer
SNELLVILLE, Ga. –– A 35,000-pound billboard collapsed at a suburban Atlanta shopping center Thursday, killing three construction workers who were crushed by the falling steel. A fourth worker was pulled from the wreckage and hospitalized in good condition, authorities said. “We heard this big crash, so we looked over and we saw this huge sign just fall,” witness Truly Scott told WAGA-TV. “There was blood everywhere. It was awful to see.” The billboard, roughly 30 by 60 feet, was under construction when it collapsed just before noon at the shopping center. It crashed onto two cars and into the side of a one-story building below. No one else was hurt. The workers who died fell 40 feet as the sign buckled. They were identified as brothers Josh, 23, and Anthony Fowler, 21; and Lance Stofiel, 26. The injured worker was identified as electrician Clyde Elrod, 37. The billboard was designed to switch among three advertisements using rotating boards. Structural work on the billboard was complete, and the crew was doing electrical work, Gwinnett County fire Lt. David Dusik said. Dusik said authorities did not yet know why the structure collapsed. The city of Snellville, about 20 miles east of Atlanta, issued a statement blaming the accident on a federal court decision that threw out the city’s restrictions on tall billboards. Two advertising companies had sued to overturn the restrictions. 

Two companies involved in billboard’s construction were fined for pervious safety violations; Snellville mayor blames judge for OK’ing signs
By LARRY HARTSTEIN and ANDREA JONES, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writers 
Two companies involved in the construction of the billboard that collapsed Thursday in Snellville killing three workers — including two brothers — have been fined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the past. Buford-based Trinity Outdoor was fined more than $2,200 after a worker fell more than 20 feet from a billboard and broke both his ankles in April 2001, said OSHA spokeswoman Linda McClaughin. The fines stemmed from charges the company didn’t have gear to protect workers from falls or first aid available. They were classified by OSHA as serious violations. Phoenix Structures, of Athens, Tenn., was fined $600 for safety violations after an incident in March 1997. In related developments, the city of Snellville is blaming faulty manufacturing in Thursday’s billboard collapse. And the mayor is blaming a federal judge for forcing the city to allow billboards in the first place. Mayor Brett Harrell has called an emergency City Council meeting to seek backing for his efforts to remove the signs. He said he will demand that six billboards in Snellville similar to the 35,000-pound structure that collapsed be dismantled and that businesses underneath them be closed until that’s done. “I don’t see that I can allow them to stand,” he said amid the devastation. “We’ve got a public safety issue that, in my mind, takes priority. Hopefully, those other billboards can be brought down quickly so the businesses can reopen.” The collapse happened shortly before noon at a strip shopping center at Ga. 124 and Dogwood Road, near Ronald Reagan Parkway, as a work crew was doing finishing work on the newly erected sign. Josh Fowler, 23, of Loganville, his brother Anthony Fowler, 21, and Lance Stofiel, 26, of Buford were killed when the 60-foot sign gave way. Clyde Elrod, 37, of Athens was injured. He was taken to North Fulton Regional Hospital, where he was in satisfactory condition Friday morning. “It looks like it was a manufactured defect,” said Jeff Timler, Snellville’s director of planning and development. The welding on the side did not hold.” Harrell issued a blistering statement less than two hours after the accident. “This tragic loss of life was brought about as a result of a recent court decision based on a lawsuit filed against the city by Trinity Outdoor LLC and Advantage Advertising LLC,” the statement said. In that decision, written by District Judge Clarence Cooper, “the court threw out in its entirety the city’s prior sign ordinance as unconstitutional. The prior ordinance, with its appropriate restrictions, would have prevented this tragedy.” Snellville’s 1993 sign ordinance banned large roadside billboards. The two billboard companies filed suit last year, claiming the ordinance unfairly restricted free speech. Cooper struck down the city ordinance last November as unconstitutional and instructed Snellville officials to “negotiate in good faith” with the billboard companies. Under a settlement reached in December, the city allowed eight of the 13 proposed billboards, with a maximum height of 60 feet apiece. The city also adopted an ordinance limiting the height of other billboards to 15 feet. Cooper declined to comment Thursday afternoon. A member of his staff said Snellville officials had the option of waiting for a ruling on whether billboards could have been prohibited under the zoning ordinance. But instead the city negotiated a settlement. The billboard that fell was the sixth of seven Buford-based Trinity planned. Morgan Hudgens, Trinity president and co-owner, said company officials are “grieving really bad over these deaths.” “There is a full investigation, and we’re supporting it all the way,” he said. State Rep. Ralph Hudgens (R-Hull), who co-owns another billboard company with his son Morgan, said the accident was “an absolute tragedy” that likely resulted from a manufacturing flaw. “They are engineered to withstand up to 80-miles-an-hour wind,” he said. “The only other one that has ever fallen that I know of was in Tuscaloosa, [Ala.,] when a tornado hit it.” The president of Phoenix Structures, the Tennessee company that made the billboard, was in Florida for a meeting and flew to Atlanta when he heard about the accident. “We are just terribly stricken by this,” President David Kearsley said. “It’s too early to know why it happened. This is highly unusual. We’ve had signs fall before, but it was because of storms and other things.” The billboard’s electrical system was inspected Thursday morning, Timler said. The foundation was inspected last week, he said. Harrell’s proposal would likely close a few Snellville companies adjacent to these signs on U.S. 78, Ga. 124 and Ronald Reagan Parkway. Harrell couldn’t say how many businesses might be affected, but he wanted to limit it to just a few. Gwinnett Primary Care & Physical Medicine, which leased a corner of its property to Trinity for one of its billboards, is one such business. “We really hope they wouldn’t [shut us down] because we all have to have paychecks,” said Sandy Tolleson, the clinic’s office manager. “But if there’s a real safety issue, yeah, we’d be concerned about that. We don

 

2 workers injured in fall from scaffold
MILFORD — Two workers suffered shoulder and back injuries when they fell 12 feet from a scaffold that collapsed outside an Edgefield Avenue home Thursday, fire officials said. The scaffold set up at 5 Edgefield Ave. gave way at about 12:45 p.m., Fire Chief Louis LaVecchia said. It is not known what caused the scaffolding to collapse, and the incident is being investigated by police and fire officials. A worker still at the scene Wednesday declined to comment. The two men, ages 26 and 40, were treated at Bridgeport Hospital. Fire officials did not release their names. One man suffered mostly cuts and bruises, while the other suffered a broken shoulder, said John Cappiello, a spokesman for Bridgeport Hospital.

 

UPDATE, Lions Set Up Fund For Ford Field Worker
The Lions have established a memorial fund for the family of Gjon Gojcaj, the painter killed in an accident at Ford Field, the team said Wednesday. Gojcaj, 42, was a father of five from Macomb Township. Lions’ Chief Operating Officer Tom Lewand said that donations can be made at any Comerica Bank branch. Gojcaj was killed Tuesday inside Ford Field when the hydraulic lift he was working on at 150 feet in the air collapsed and crashed down. Gojcaj’s death was ruled an accident, according to preliminary police investigation. The team met with union leaders Wednesday morning to go over safety issues. Work resumed after being halted on Tuesday following the tragedy. The Lions said that the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) is leading an investigation that is expected to take several weeks. “The most important job that every man and woman working on Ford Field has is to go home at night. Nothing else comes close,” said Lewand. The Lions said that MIOSHA is leading an investigation that is expected to take several weeks. The team said that it will not comment on the probe as investigators look into the mishap, but will cooperate. Gojcaj’s co-workers at Ford Field said Wednesday that he died a hero. They said that even as the lift began to collapse, Gojcaj yelled out a warning so that nobody else would get hurt. Tradesmen took empty paint buckets and circulated them among themselves Wednesday, soliciting donations, according to Lewand. The construction workers set an undisclosed fundraising goal among themselves described as “substantial.” “He was a good son, a good father, a good husband, and a good person,” Kole Gojcaj said about his eldest son, Gojcaj. Gojcaj worked for Thomarios Painting, which is based in Akron, Ohio, but also reportedly had a Detroit address. Consumer and Industry Services spokeswoman Maura Campbell said that the state inspected Thomarios at Ford Field on July 2 and July 3, and issued two citations. Campbell said it’s not yet known whether those citations, which had to do with the way the company set up scaffolding, were related to Tuesday’s accident. The citations were mailed to the company on July 23. 

UPDATE, Lions suspend company after painter’s death
By David Shepardson / The Detroit News
DETROIT — The Detroit Lions suspended the use of a painting subcontractor at Ford Field Wednesday, one day after a painter died in a 150-foot fall. The team is re-evaluating whether it would continue to use Thomarios Painting Co. of Akron, Ohio, said Tom Leward, the team’s chief operating officer. He defended the team’s safety record in building the $315 million, 65,000-seat stadium, set to open on schedule Aug. 24 in an exhibition game against Pittsburgh. “Nothing is more important than safety,” Lewand said. The steel trusses near the roof that Gjon Gojcaj was painting may not be painted by the time of the Lions’ first game, as the Lions investigate the accident. A state construction safety officer also is conducting an investigation that is expected to last several months. Gojcaj, 42, a father of five from Macomb Township, had worked on the site for only a month when he plummeted to his death Tuesday morning. The hydraulic crane on which he was standing tipped over, sending him into a concrete section of the stadium that will house the first tier of seats. Gojcaj, an ethnic Albanian who emigrated from Yugoslavia, was eulogized Wednesday morning at a 20-minute memorial service attended by about 800 workers at Ford Field. Funeral arrangements are pending, said his cousin, Jason Gojcaj. On July 23, Thomarios Painting was issued two serious citations by the Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services for failing to take proper safety precautions involving painting at the site. The company was fined $1,750. Thomarios Painting hasn’t yet responded to the citations issued by the state, said Kalmin Smith, deputy director of the state agency. The company has three weeks from the date of the citation to contest or pay the fine, he said. Workers passed paint buckets during the memorial service and made donations to the fund. Donations may be made to the Gojcaj family fund at any Comerica bank branch in Metro Detroit.

 

UPDATE, Safety officials probe death at Ford Field
Painter falls 150 feet as crane tips, witnesses say
By David Shepardson / The Detroit News
DETROIT — State safety officials are investigating a dramatic accident Tuesday that killed a 42-year-old Macomb County painter at the Ford Field project. Gjon Gojcaj plummeted 150 feet to his death when a hydraulic crane apparently tipped over, sending him into the first tier of seats around 10 a.m. Tuesday, workers said. A cousin, Jason Gojcaj, said the victim was an Albanian immigrant and the father of five children, who had worked on the stadium project for a month for the subcontractor, Thomarios Painting of Akron, Ohio. “We want to know why this happened and whether the equipment was set up right,” said Gojcaj, who lives in Warren and is also a painter. “This shouldn’t have happened.” The Detroit Lions halted work on the project and late Tuesday couldn’t say whether the accident would push back the stadium’s opening, which is set for a exhibition game Aug. 24 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. “We are going to be working through the night on the investigation,” Lions spokeswoman Risa Balayem said. Work was to resume this morning, she said. She wouldn’t comment on whether the Lions were satisfied with the performance of the painting subcontractor or would continue to use the company to complete the job. The accident inquiry is being conducted by a construction specialist from the state Department of Consumer and Industry Services, which oversees workplace safety. He interviewed witnesses and inspected equipment Tuesday afternoon. Last week, that agency fined Thomarios Painting $1,750 and issued two serious citations for failing to maintain safety procedures for painters following a July 2-3 inspection at Ford Field. The company allegedly violated a fall-protection rule for employees performing touch-up painting of structural steel 150 feet above the stadium floor. Safety lifelines, harnesses designed to prevent injury in the case of a fall, were not up to state requirements. In the second violation, scaffolds also were not up to code because gear known as softeners or slings were not in place. Thomarios Painting executives didn’t return calls seeking comment. At the time of Tuesday’s accident, Gojcaj was painting metal trusses while he was harnessed to a steel basket, fellow workers said. That equipment was not directly related to the June 23 citations, said Kalmin Smith, deputy director of the Department of Consumer and Industry Services. The state’s investigation could take several months, Smith said. Officials will check whether the crane was set up correctly and whether it was stabilized properly with down-riggers, which prevent it from tipping. “It was a terrible sight. This is a terrible tragedy,” said Mark Mariani of Wyandotte, an iron worker. The Lions are returning from the Pontiac Silverdome after a 28-year absence from downtown Detroit. Before 1974, the Lions played at Tiger Stadium. The $315 million venue is being built behind the Tigers’ new home, Comerica Park. At Ford Field, there have been just three accidents among the hundreds of subcontractors working on the project, with only one involving an injury. A employee for Colosanti Inc. fell on Oct. 1. The company was fined $900 for one citation. Migard Corp. had an accident on March 16, 2000, that resulted in 11 citations and a $3,000 fine. Ferguson Enterprises had an accident on April 30 that resulted in 6 citations and a $2,100 fine. Ken Johnson of the general contractor, Hunt Jenkins, White/Olson LLC of Indianapolis, said the company had no comment.

 

Worker killed at Detroit Lions new stadium
ALEXANDRA R. MOSES, Associated Press Writer 
A painter at the Detroit Lions’ new stadium was killed Tuesday when a hydraulic lift he was on fell into the first tier of seats. Other details were not immediately released, but police Lt. Janice Butler confirmed the death of the worker at Ford Field. Brian Dye, another painter at the stadium, said the machinery tipped over and the basket the man was sitting in fell into the seats upside down. Construction was shut down for the day and was to resume Wednesday, said Tom Lewand, chief operating officer for the Lions. The 65,000-seat stadium is scheduled to open next month when the team plays host to the Pittsburgh Steelers in an exhibition game. The Lions are returning downtown — from the Pontiac Silverdome — for the first time since 1974 at the new $315 million venue. Ford Field includes a giant glass wall, revealing the Detroit skyline, and the old Hudson’s warehouse, built in 1920. The Super Bowl is scheduled for the stadium in 2006. High winds caused a crane to collapse during construction of Miller Park, the home of the Milwaukee Brewers, in 1999, killing three ironworkers. A 450-ton piece of roof dropped in that accident and caused $100 million in damage to the stadium. As a result, the park’s opening was delayed by a season.

 

Man impaled on ladder after it collapses under him
A 66-year-old man was undergoing surgery at an Athens hospital yesterday to remove a section of a metal ladder upon which he impaled himself while doing a household chore. Firemen had to remove a metal rod from the stomach of G. Matthaios after the ladder gave way and he fell onto the rod which was apparently supposed to have stabilized the ladder.

 

Worker falls from power station chimney
An employee of a contractor has fallen to his death from a chimney at Eggborough power station, Selby. David Jamieson, 56, was employed by the steeplejack company Pendric from Edinburgh who were contracted to install a lining to the tall gas flue. A spokesman for British Energy said: “It is impossible to say exactly what happened. But it would seem that the injuries are consistent with a fall.”

 

UPDATE, Stadium workers: Safety was ignored
By CINDY SWIRKO, Sun staff writer 
The son and several co-workers of construction employee James Sudak, who died in a Wednesday accident at the University of Florida football stadium, said safety standards were ignored by the project contractors. “Nobody on the job liked the way it was set up and the way things were being done,” said Victor Sudak, himself a construction worker on the project. “Instead of going our way, the safe way, we did it the way we were told by others and now my father is gone. Now we have this.” Sudak, 45, died Wednesday afternoon at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field, where a press box is being renovated and facilities expanded. Turner-PPI Joint Venture is the project contractor. Sudak was an ironworker for Summit Erectors Inc. of Jacksonville, a subcontractor on the stadium project. Police said Sudak was setting a concrete column when a steel brace hit him and knocked him off a ledge. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. Turner-PPI spokeswoman Terry Kuflik said Friday that “any statements relating to this will be made by OSHA.” She would not comment further. Turner-PPI project manager Tom Maurer did not return phone messages Friday. Maurer said Wednesday the accident was the first since construction began last year. A sign at the site said 46,324 man hours had been worked without an accident. James Sudak was working at a height of more than 95 feet and fell about 60 feet, landing on another ledge, said several co-workers who said they wanted anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. The co-workers said Sudak was plumbing the column when the brace – which weighs about 450 pounds – came loose from its bracket because it was not bolted to a specified torque. They added that a cable barrier along the ledge over which Sudak fell was not up at the time. Instead it was put up immediately after the accident. “The brace slid out from behind the bolt because the bolt was not secure or tight enough. It hit him in the back of the head,” said one worker. “There are precautions that could have been taken. This man doesn’t have to be dead.” Those precautions include safety walls, harnesses and secondary lifelines – anchored cables with a tether long enough to allow workers to move freely but short enough so they would not fall far in an accident. The workers said Turner-PPI is taking risks to meet the schedule. Not taking the time to fully secure materials and equipment, install lifelines and erect protective barriers everywhere they are needed is evidence of that, they said. Construction began about a year ago and is set to be completed in time for the first game of the 2003 season. OSHA officials said they would not comment on the case until the investigation is complete, which could take several months. Construction workers who spoke to The Sun about their safety concerns said they have voiced those concerns to OSHA investigators. Victor Sudak was working at the site when his father died. He returned to Gainesville briefly Friday for interviews with UPD investigators.

 

Worker Falls Off Roof To His Death; Occupational probe launched, police say
By John Moreno Gonzales and Keiko Morris, STAFF WRITERS
First he heard the “thump.” Seconds later he was peering through an open skylight at his brother’s body on the floor below, Selvin Orozco told Nassau police. He and his brother, Ronnie Orozco, 22, of Hempstead had been repairing the roof of a single-story building at Sen. John D. Caemmerer Park in Searingtown about 11 a.m. Thursday when Ronnie fell 15 feet to his death. Emergency workers rushed him to Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, but he was pronounced dead shortly afterward. Police said that Ronnie fell onto a tile floor, striking his head. The Nassau County medical examiner’s office concluded that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. The brothers had been working for Triple “A” Contracting, a roofing and siding business in Garden City Park that was hired by the Town of North Hempstead to fix the building’s roof. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident, police said. A woman with the company said that no one was available to discuss the accident, but Ronnie’s family said that he had been working at the company for about a year, doing mostly roofing jobs for $15 an hour. Ronnie Orozco was happy with his pay, though he had no health insurance, and felt that the job site was safe, said his cousin Roberto Orozco, 25. However, Roberto, who said he also had worked for Triple “A” on a regular basis, added that when roofing work was performed there were no harnesses or other equipment to prevent them from falling. Roberto said he now feared that he and Selvin have not only lost a loved one but also their jobs. The OSHA investigation, he said, meant that Triple “A” would likely not hire them again. “He [the employer] only tried to help us,” Roberto Orozco said. “It’s not his fault.” Ronnie felt his supervisors treated him fairly, his cousin said. His only complaint was that the work was outside and under the sun. The company has promised to help pay for Ronnie’s funeral expenses, Roberto said. Ronnie had a talent for soccer, his cousin said. On Sundays the brothers and other family members would go to a Hempstead park and play soccer until the sun fell. “He was the best soccer player of us all,” Roberto said. Ronnie worked hard, his family said, and sent money home to his parents, Hector and Olivia Orozco, who are in Guatemala. Another brother, Wilmer Orozco, said that it was Ronnie’s dream to return to his homeland someday.

 

Construction worker killed at Florida football stadium
A construction worker, helping to renovate the University of Florida’s football stadium, fell to his death Wednesday. James Joseph Sudak, 46, of Jacksonville, was working at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium when he was apparently hit by a piece of steel that knocked him to a platform 60 feet below, campus police said. Sudak died at the scene. Sudak’s son, Vic, was also working at the site when the accident occurred around 1:50 p.m. Work was immediately stopped and construction employees were sent home. Officials were not certain when work would resume. Occupational/Safety and Health Administration officials are investigating. The construction at Ben Hill Griffin is part of a $50-million project that is adding new skybox seats, a new press box and other facilities.

 

Factory worker dies after being submerged in chocolate vat 
HATFIELD, Pennsylvania – A candy factory worker died after being submerged in a 1,200-gallon (4,542 liters) vat of liquefied chocolate, police said. Yoni Cordon, 19, of Philadelphia, was discovered in the vat by co-workers at the Kargher Corp. on Tuesday, authorities said. Police said they believe Cordon had been working on a platform near the opening of the vat, which is used for mixing and melting chocolate. Nobody saw Cordon fall and it was unknown how long he was submerged before he was found, Hatfield Township police detective Patrick M. Hanrahan said. Hanrahan said foul play was not suspected and the death was being investigated as an accident.

 

Two seriously injured in workplace accidents
A teenager who started a new job as a refuse collector just four days ago, was last night in a critical condition in hospital after being crushed under the wheels of his truck. The 17-year-old from Siggiewi was standing on the platform at the rear of the rubbish lorry when he lost his balance. Police said he fell to the ground and tumbled into the path of the truck’s tyres as it turned a corner in Fgura. The accident happened shortly after midday during a rubbish collection round in Censu Busuttil Street. He was rushed to the casualty department at St Luke’s Hospital and was given life-saving treatment. Police said the teenager was then transferred to the Intensive Therapy Unit where he was under close observation by medical staff.  Meanwhile, in a separate incident, another Siggiewi man was seriously hurt after falling down a shaft in St Julian’s. The construction worker was carrying out maintenance work between the Hilton Hotel and the Portomaso Tower at 1.10pm yesterday. It is understood he lost his balance and fell from a height of around two storeys. He was rushed to St Luke’s Hospital by ambulance. Duty magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima appointed a number of court experts to assist in on-site inquiries.

 

Worker Rescued After Falling 10 Feet Into Sewage
Rescue Team Uses Ropes, Pulleys To Lift Employee
ALLIANCE, Ohio — A man who fell more than 10 feet to a sewage-covered floor lay motionless for an hour as firefighters worked to rescue him. Tim O’Neill was climbing a ladder inside a sludge tank when he slipped and fell. The 12-year worker at the Alliance Wastewater Plant had been cleaning the sides of the tank, used to stabilize bacteria in solid waste. Rescue workers had to use a system of ropes and pulleys to lift O’Neill through the 3-foot opening at the top. Rescue workers quickly rinsed him with a fire hose after he was pulled from the tank. Paramedics said the fall left him with possible ankle and back injuries. He was in satisfactory condition Tuesday at Aultman Hospital in Canton.

 

UPDATE, State investigates fall from roof at David Douglas High 
TRACY JAN 
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division is investigating a July 2 accident at David Douglas High School in which three workers were seriously injured after falling 30 feet through a roof. Three workers from McDonald & Wetle Inc., a Portland-based roofing contractor, were installing a new rubber covering on the slightly sloped gym roof when they fell. Alvaro Gutierrez-Olmos, Gerardo Abad and Richard Hooten were taken to OHSU Hospital. Gutierrez-Olmos, 40, was treated for back and neck injuries and a twisted knee; Abad, 42, sustained a punctured lung, fractured ribs and cuts on his head and lips; and Hooten, 42, had leg, arm and head injuries, according to the men’s employer and Don Berg, an OR-OSHA safety enforcement manager. The men, who have worked for McDonald & Wetle for more than a year, have been released from the hospital and are expected to recover fully. “We’re just happy they’re recovering well and getting healthy again,” said Gordon Childress, senior project manager for Baugh Construction, the re-roofing project’s general contractor. The roofing contractor had been working on the 40-year-old gym roof since school ended in mid-June, said Courtney Wilton, David Douglas director of administrative services. The re-roofing of the high school gym and north wing is among many remodeling projects being paid for with a bond passed by voters in 2000. The accident pushed the project’s completion back several weeks to the end of August, Wilton said. A volleyball camp scheduled in the gym starting in mid-August will be moved to another gym. Wilton said the men were standing atop a wood and concrete composite roof panel and pushing a roll of rubber roof covering up a slope when the accident occurred. Wilton speculated that at least one of the rectangular roof panels slipped off its support and fell. The cause of the accident is unclear, but state investigators expect to finish their examination of what went wrong in several weeks, said Kevin Weeks, OR-OSHA spokesman. “These types of accidents are extremely uncommon,” Weeks said. “We want to find answers as to why these gentlemen were hurt so seriously on the job.” Weeks said accidents of this magnitude, in which workers fall and are seriously injured during a roofing project, occur about once every four years in Oregon. In the past 12 years, the state has cited McDonald & Wetle on 19 serious violations where workers could be injured or killed as a result of a hazard, Weeks said. Until the investigation is complete, Weeks said he does not know who is responsible for the accident. In response to the accident, the David Douglas School Board last week approved the installation of metal scaffolding below the gym roof as a precaution to break any future falls. The scaffolding should be in place by the end of next week, Wilton said. 

Canonsburg ironworker dies in Lawrence Co. fall
BY MATT UMSTEAD, THE OBSERVER-REPORTER 
A 27-year-old Canonsburg man died Tuesday after a bridge beam dislodged and knocked him off construction scaffolding at a demolition project on Route 422 in Taylor Township, Lawrence County, state police in New Castle said. A fourth generation ironworker, Troy Lee Pedigo was pronounced dead at 1:52 p.m. at St. Francis Hospital in New Castle. An autopsy showed Pedigo died from respiratory paralysis caused by a cracked spine, police said. Pedigo had been wearing a safety harness but had disconnected the device to retrieve a tool when the beam hit him about 1 p.m., police said. His wife, Andrea, 25, said he had fallen about 80 feet. Pedigo, a son of Lee and Pam Smith Pedigo of Claysville, was employed by Alvarez Co., which is demolishing the Mahoningtown bridge on the Route 422 bypass, police said. He was a member of Ironworkers Local 3 in Pittsburgh. Andrea Pedigo, who is expecting a child in October, said her husband’s father was working on the job with him. “I just pretended he didn’t do that,” said Pedigo, explaining how she dealt with her husband’s dangerous occupation. Andrea Pedigo said she met her husband, a 1993 McGuffey High school graduate, at Fairmont State College. They had been married for three years.

 

Ladder plunge builder ‘died of head injuries’
by Jane Reader
TRAGIC builder Kenneth Roberts died of massive head injuries after plunging from an unsecured ladder, an inquest jury heard. The 41-year-old father-of-four fell head-first on to a concrete floor as he dealt with last-minute jobs on a Ferndown building site. District coroner Sheriff Payne heard that Mr Roberts had been discussing work with contracts director Phillip Rook just minutes before the fall. Mr Rook, who was responsible for health and safety at the site, denied witnessing the fall but Mr Roberts’ colleague, Neil Herbert, claimed that Mr Rook must have seen it happen. The Bournemouth inquest heard that health and safety regulations demand that ladders are “footed” by another person standing on the ground. They should also be tied. There was also evidence, from the Health and Safety Executive that the ladder, owned by self-employed Mr Roberts, had, at some time before the accident, lost its safety feet, which might have prevented it sliding across a concrete floor. Mr Herbert told Mr Payne he believed Mr Rook saw the fall. “To watch somebody go up a ladder without anybody holding it is not good. There should be somebody holding it so accidents like this don’t happen.” Mr Herbert added: “Mr Rook said he wasn’t there but he was. Why would somebody say that?” When asked if Mr Rook could have left the scene of the accident before it happened, he replied: “Not unless he was wearing a cape with an `S’ on the front of it.” Mr Rook told the inquest: “I left Ken to carry on and I stood outside the unit. I heard a crash and then I returned to the unit.” The inquest heard that Mr Roberts, of Phelipps Road, Corfe Mullen, and Mr Herbert had been sub-contracted to carry out roofing work at the site in Nimrod Way by Poole-based Stansmore Builders for whom Mr Rook is employed. The accident happened at 12.20pm on Friday March 8. Mr Roberts was rushed to Poole Hospital and then transferred to the neurological unit at Southampton. He died two days later. Mr Payne told jurors that the lack of safety feet on the bottom of the ladder was the most likely explanation for the ladder slipping across the concrete floor. They returned a verdict of accidental death.

 

UPDATE, Premier warns about safety after fourth construction worker killed at Olympic Village 
By LISA ORKIN, Associated Press Writer 
ATHENS, Greece – Premier Costas Simitis on Tuesday warned construction companies they could be expelled from the Olympic Village building site if they do not bolster safety measures following the death of four workers this year. Workplace safety at one of the few Olympic projects ahead of schedule was just one of the problems discussed at a Cabinet meeting, which focused on Athens’ efforts to make up for time lost to delays. Officials also confirmed the government will go ahead with plans to cancel or scale-back some sports venues. Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said Athens will not build a new Olympic boxing ( news – web sites) venue, but instead use an existing facility. Government spokesman Tilemahos Hitiris also confirmed a series of venue cuts were discussed — including one of two planned seaside beach volleyball courts, a hockey stadium, and a baseball diamond. Hitiris said Athens 2004 organizers and the International Olympic Committee ( news – web sites) had all agreed on such cuts. “Essentially the decisions have been made and all members agreed,” Hitiris said. According Hitiris, Simitis’ warning on workplace safety came after Olympic Village officials said they would take legal action against construction companies which do not follow regulations. Simitis also warned construction companies they could also face temporary suspensions for minor safety infractions, Hitiris said. The Olympic Village has been showcased by organizers as an example of how Athens has made up for delays that threatened to derail the Olympics. About 1,500 workers at the village called a 48-hour strike after a 32-year-old Romanian man was killed on Monday after falling off a crane. He was the fourth construction worker to die on the site this year. There have been complaints that construction companies have not been taking adequate safety measures in their effort to make up for construction delays at the village, to house 17,300 athletes and Olympic officials. Hitiris quoted Simitis as saying that when safety “measures are not upheld, then the contractor now and in the future will be expelled.” According to Hitiris, about 85 percent of the people helping build the village are unskilled foreign workers who have little experience in construction. “It is the fault of the contractors. They not carry out the measures of protection … that is why these accidents have occurred,” Hitiris said. Greece’s largest labor union, or GSEE, condemned what it described as the “indifference” to safety shown by contractors and said it was supporting the strike. “GSEE denounces this unacceptable situation that costs human lives, especially at a project that concerns the Olympic Games ( news – web sites),” the union said in an announcement. Four Greek construction consortia are building the village’s residential zone and they been promised bonuses of 14,673 euros (dlrs 14,810) for every section that is delivered ahead of schedule. A state-run company, Olympic Village 2004 AE, has oversight of its construction. Workers representatives have repeatedly complained of poor conditions, including a lack of drinking water, toilets and a general lack of oversight by officials. Some workers have complained they have no contracts, overtime pay or benefits.

 

Two men injured in scaffolding’s collapse at Winfield
By FOSS FARRAR, Traveler Staff Writer
WINFIELD — Two men working on metal scaffolding were seriously injured Sunday afternoon when the scaffolding collapsed, and they fell 30 to 35 feet to the ground. The accident occurred at a residence at 1502 East 11th, the Winfield Fire Department reported.Anton Busch III, 28, of Winfield, and his father, Anthony Busch II, 55, of Dodge City, were treated at William Newton Hospital before they were flown in separate Eagle Med helicopters to Via Christi Medical Center-St. Francis Campus in Wichita. Both were in serious condition this morning, a hospital spokesperson said.Both men suffered head injuries, cuts and bruises to the face, and injuries to the arms and extremities, the Winfield Area EMS reported.The accident occurred shortly before 3 p.m. Two fire units with five firefighters, one EMS unit with three medical workers, and four Winfield Police Department officers responded.”A family member, the wife of the older gentleman, was there and witnessed the (scaffolding) collapse and called 911,” said Capt. Darryl Littrell, of the Winfield Fire Department, one of those who went to the scene. Mrs. Busch and her husband Anthony had traveled from Dodge City to help their son put vinyl siding on the house, Littrell said. “We’re not sure exactly what failed or how (the scaffolding) went down, but both of the men fell with it,” Littrell said. There was a lot of scaffolding, and only one section collapsed, he added. Emergency personnel were on the scene about 10 minutes, Littrell said. They found the older man under a pile of scaffolding, and the younger man sitting on the back porch. “We had to remove scaffolding to gain access to the older man,” he said. “However, he wasn’t pinned down by scaffolding. None of it actually touched him. “When scaffolding collapses, typically you can get people wrapped up in it. Fortunately, in this case, he wasn’t actually entrapped.” Both men were alert and conscious at the scene, Littrell added. Within 20 minutes of being taken to William Newton Hospital, they were on their way in separ ate helicopters to Wichita.

 

Man falls to his death on construction site
An HSE investigation is underway after a man in his 30’s fell 12 metres to his death on Monday afternoon from the 3rd floor of a construction site at Auchterarder High School in Tayside Region.

Athens Olympic Village Worker Dies
By LISA ORKIN, Associated Press Writer 
ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Olympic Village officials demanded that construction companies bolster safety measures or face legal consequences after a fourth worker was killed in an accident on the building site. About 1,500 workers at the village called a 48-hour strike after a 32-year-old Romanian man was killed on Monday after falling off a crane. He was the fourth construction worker to die on the site this year. There have been complaints that construction companies have not been taking adequate safety measures in their effort to make up for construction delays at the village, to house 17,300 athletes and Olympic officials. The Olympic Village is one of the few construction projects for the 2004 Games that is ahead of schedule, and has been showcased by organizers as an example of how Athens has made up for years of lost time. The government has been working overtime to make up for delays that threatened to derail the Olympics. Greece’s largest labor union, or GSEE, condemned what it described as the “indifference” to safety shown by contractors and said it was supporting the strike. “GSEE denounces this unacceptable situation that costs human lives, especially at a project that concerns the Olympic Games ( news – web sites),” the union said in a statement. Four Greek construction companies are building the village’s residential area and they been promised bonuses of more than $12,000 for every section that is completed ahead of schedule. A state-run company, Olympic Village 2004 AE, is overseeing the construction. Representatives for workers have repeatedly complained of poor conditions, including a lack of drinking water, toilets and a general lack of oversight by officials. Some workers have complained they have no contracts, overtime pay or benefits. In a letter to company inspectors on the building site, the general manager of Olympic Village 2004 AE said there was “insufficient” implementation of safety measures. “An investigation of the serious accidents until now have shown that beyond the human factor they are particularly due to … insufficient application of the required measures and safety regulations,” Constantinos Lazarides said in his letter. He added that efforts by contractors to prevent such accidents are “deemed inadequate,” and authorized company inspectors to take action — including lawsuits — to ensure safety measures are implemented.

 

Dome worker falls, breaks leg
By Michael Bratcher, The Oklahoman
A construction worker installing molding Friday on the interior of the state Capitol dome fell from scaffolding, landing about 10 feet below on a wooden platform. Officials said David Holiday, 46, suffered a fractured leg and minor injuries. He was conscious and alert when the Oklahoma City Fire Department arrived. John Jamison, head of Capitol Dome Builders, said the dome’s interior or exterior did not sustain any structural collapse. “He is alive and well, and the good Lord has looked after him,” Jamison said after Holiday was taken by the Emergency Medical Services Authority to OU Medical Center. Holiday was installing decorative molding on the inside shell of the dome when he fell. Jamison said Holiday was part of the interior finishing crew from Nemecek Interior Construction of Edmond and had recently rejoined the project. Jamison said they do not know the cause of the accident. The area where Holiday was working was sealed off from weather elements, so Friday’s rain was not a factor. A team from Capitol Dome Builders is investigating the accident. Work ceased in that area for the rest of the day Friday. This was the first accident reported on the dome project site. As many as 45 workers are on site at one time. Jamison said the biggest problem emergency crews faced was getting the victim from the dome to the ambulance. Fire Capt. Richard Kelley said emergency workers could not find any stairs leading to Holiday. The crew was faced with a maze of scaffolding and wooden platforms. The workers used a stokes basket, a stretcher with short walls along all four sides, rope and the scaffolding to lower Holiday about 40 feet to an exit from the dome. He was strapped onto the basket; one firefighter rode with him to the exit. Fire Maj. Brian Stanaland said after Holiday was lowered, he was carried up a narrow construction stairway and out over the old Capitol roof. Workers placed him on an exterior construction elevator to get him to the ambulance. Stanaland said the call was received at 11:56 a.m. Stanaland said no one was concerned about Holiday falling to the Capitol floor. A wooden deck separates the dome from the structure’s old roof.

 

Worker dies in fall from roof

By Gordon Jackson, Times-Union staff writer

ST. MARYS — A construction worker was killed yesterday when he fell from the roof at Durango Georgia Paper Co. The victim, a 55-year-old man from Sanderson, Fla., was wearing a hard hat and safety harness before the 2 p.m. accident, said Camden Fire/Rescue Chief Mark Crews. The victim, whose name was not released yesterday because his next of kin had not been reached, apparently removed his safety harness while working on a building he was helping erect. He apparently stepped backward and plunged 25 feet to his death, Crews said. The man was declared dead at the scene, Crews said The man was employed by John Lloyd Construction Co. in Nassau County, said Lt. Roxana Bordenkircher, a detective with the St. Marys Police Department. The death was ruled accidental, she said. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate, Bordenkircher said. No one from John Lloyd Construction could be reached for comment. Jim Johnson, a spokesman with Durango Georgia Paper said the construction workers were building a new facility near the No. 3 paper machine warehouse when the accident happened.

 

Construction worker hurt in fall at Town Square site

A local construction worker suffered a broken leg in the second major accident at the Brentwood Town Square construction site in recent weeks. According to police, Michael J. Miller, 40, of Finleyville, underwent surgery yesterday at Mercy Hospital after falling approximately 30 feet from a beam. Police said Williams was positioned atop a beam around 7:20 a.m. yesterday when the accident occurred. “A bolt holding the beam fell out and the beam detached from the secured position,” Brentwood police Chief Robert Butelli explained. Yesterday’s accident comes just two weeks after three construction workers were seriously injured in an electrical accident at the same work site. On June 25, three workers suffered serious burns when a crane carrying a 40-foot piece of scaffolding collided with an electrical wire. Dale Haslett, 28, of West View, is currently recovering from second and third degree burns over 60 percent of his body at Mercy Hospital Burn Unit. Joseph Scott Taylor, 34, of Charleroi, and Chris Guty, 22, of Uniontown, were treated for burns and released shortly after the June 25 accident, reports stated. Miller was listed in serious condition following surgery, Mercy Hospital spokeswoman Linda Ross said, and is expected to make a full recovery. Butelli said police don’t suspect foul play in either accident, but the Brentwood chief said there will be an investigation of the site to prevent additional injuries to workers.

 

UPDATE, Authorities release details about accidental death

By CHRIS BENDER, Gazette staff writer

The death of a man at a construction site Monday on Burton Hill Road is being ruled an accident, but the Beaufort Police Department will conduct an investigation. Henry Martin, 41, of Gaston, was working on man-made scaffolding when he fell about 25 feet, according to Lt. Carol Smalls, police department spokeswoman. Smalls said Tuesday that police are in the process of doing a follow-up investigation, but there are no signs that foul play was involved. The building is planned to be the new Earl’s Body Shop, Smalls said. According to reports, Martin was standing on the scaffold made of plywood while installing insulation. Martin stepped on an unsecured piece of plywood and fell, Smalls said. Martin had been working at the site for more than a week, according to Millard Turner, general superintendent for Earl’s Body Shop. Turner said he’s worked with Martin on and off for the past 10 years. “He was a very hard worker,” Turner said. “If I asked him to get up on the roof, he’d do it without complaining.” Turner said he’d contacted Martin about coming down to work on the site because of his experience as a roofer. “His father was a roofer C and that’s where he learned it from,” Turner said. “He was an extremely good roofer, though he usually worked on residential buildings rather than commercial buildings.” Martin was extremely well mannered and easy to get along with, Turner said, and even agreed to work on July Fourth last week. When emergency responders reached the scene, they found the man unconscious and unresponsive. He was rushed to Beaufort Memorial Hospital then transported to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah.

 

El Dorado man dies in fall from roof

By JIM PATTERSON, News-Times Staff

SMACKOVER – A local construction worker was killed Wednesday afternoon when he fell from the roof of a house in a Smackover subdivision. According to Union County Coroner Kyla Scharbor, Kendall Stuart Ball, 35, was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:11 p.m. Wednesday. She said he had reportedly fallen approximately 30 minutes earlier. According to Scharbor, Ball, an employee of McKinnon and Ball Construction Company – which is partially owned by his father, Ricky Ball – was working on the decking of a new house in the Pleasant Oaks subdivision when he apparently lost his footing and fell backward from the roof. Scharbor said Ball’s death has been ruled accidental. “It was an accident,” she said. “Just a bad, bad accident.”

Worker dies after fall at St. Vincent construction site

Staff Report

A 47-year-old construction worker fell to his death Wednesday, while on the job building the new St. Vincent pediatric hospital. Robin Cleveland was working atop 30-foot-high scaffolding at the site on West 86th street, when the accident occurred. John McGoff, Marion County coroner, said Cleveland was taken to Methodist Hospital with traumatic chest injuries. Hospital officials said Cleveland died just before 11:30 a.m. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday morning, McGoff said. Gwynn Perlich, vice president of clinical and non-clinical services at St. Vincent, released a statement which said: “We at St. Vincent regret that the unfortunate incident occurred. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.” The new $24 million facility is expected to open at the end of this year.

 

Builder recovering after fall

A CONSTRUCTION worker who was injured after he fell from lifting equipment was last night said to be recovering well in hospital. The 54-year-old man was working on a barn at Upton Farms in Red Lodge, near Mildenhall, when the accident happened on Monday afternoon. He fell on to a concrete floor and it was feared he had suffered serious injuries to his head, a fractured pelvis, arm and leg, a possible punctured lung and internal abdominal bleeding. The East Anglian Air Ambulance was called and gave the man oxygen before flying him to West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds. Chris Mannion, who owns the firm contracted to build the metal-framed barn at the farm, said the victim – a sub-contractor – was recovering well in hospital and was expected to be allowed home in the next few days. He believed the extent of his injuries were not as serious as at first feared: “He has a broken wrist, broken ribs and a cut to his head. He seems to be very chirpy and I think he is mainly being kept in hospital for observation.” Mr Mannion said he understood the sub-contractor, who was leading the team of workmen building the barn, fell 10ft from a scissor lift but the reasons for the accident remained unclear. He said it had been reported to the Health and Safety Executive. A spokeswoman said the incident would be looked at and experts would then decide whether a full investigation was required. Monday’s accident on the farm at Red Lodge came only days after a farmworker suffered severe hip and leg fractures when a one-tonne straw bale fell on top of him from a fork-lift loader. Doctors gave the 66-year-old a general anaesthetic at the scene of the accident at Birds Farm, Thorpe Morieux, near Bury, on Friday, before he was airlifted to West Suffolk Hospital. He was yesterday transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, where he was believed to be in a stable condition. The accidents happened as the Health and Safety Executive launched a new television documentary series highlighting safety issues in the workplace.

 

Man fights for life after 35ft fall at homes site
By Geraldine Baybutt

A man was fighting for his life today after plunging 35ft off scaffolding.

The worker suffered massive back and chest injuries and possible broken ribs after the fall at a former hospital site near Preston. The accident happened shortly before 3.30pm yesterday when the workman fell off scaffolding at the former Whittingham Hospital. The man, who is believed to be in his 40s, was taken to the Royal Preston Hospital by ambulance where he is undergoing emergency treatment. It is believed the victim was working on a housing development at the site when he fell. A Lancashire Ambulance spokesman said the man, who has not been named, was treated by paramedics and then driven to hospital. Security staff refused to comment about the accident on site today. The Health and Safety Executive is expected to investigate the incident. Whittingham Hospital once catered for mental patients. However, the hospital has closed and the site now houses a number of specialist mental health units.

 

Sports Authority fined in falling death of employee

By Paul Ruppel, Staff Writer

Ray Campion, 18, of Ambler, died in an on-the-job accident in February of 2001 at the company’s Montgomery Township store. Attorneys from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and The Sports Authority recently agreed to a settlement on safety citations stemming from the falling death of an 18-year-old employee last year. The Florida-based company has already paid $18,010 in fines. On Feb. 18, 2001, Ray Campion Jr. of Ambler was elevated 12 feet atop a storage rack in the Montgomery Township store with the aid of a lift truck to retrieve an 87-pound weight bench for a customer. But he fell backward to the floor and died of his injuries later that night. George Tomchick, area director of OSHA’s Allentown office, explained that the agency’s investigation led to four “serious” safety citations against The Sports Authority, totaling $25,200 in fines, for: ( A hinged railing on the lift truck’s attached platform that would not lock into the designated place due to structural damage. ( Protective harnesses or belts not used when an employee was working on a platform more than 4 feet high. ( Operators of the lift truck not trained in the safe operation of powered industrial trucks. ( And leaving the lift truck unattended without the lifting mechanism lowered and the power shut off. The Sports Authority filed a formal contest to the citations, and attorneys for both sides settled before going to court. That agreement reduced the severity of the first citation, dropping its fine to $1,000, and slightly reduced fines for the last two, Tomchick said. The Sports Authority mailed the $18,010 check before an OSHA commission gave final approval June 17, he said. Frank Bubb, general counsel for The Sports Authority, said soon after the accident the company increased its focus on safety, instituted more staff training and stepped up measures of assessing compliance. In the company’s 15-year history, this was the only employee death Bubb could recall from accident or injury. “We obviously do everything we can to ensure the safety or our customers and employees,” he said. The Campion family did not return a phone call seeking comment on the outcome of OSHA’s investigation. When the fines were first announced last summer, Ray Campion Sr. said he thought The Sports Authority got a “slap on the wrist.” He did not indicate whether the family would pursue civil litigation, saying only, “What can I do? Nothing is going to bring my son back.” Tomchick said the outcome of OSHA’s investigation at no time precluded the family from suing on their own.

Coast Guard helicopter rescues two Punta Gorda workers who fell

A Coast Guard helicopter rescued two city utility workers Friday who fell from a dam and were kept from drowning in a raging creek by their safety cable. James A. Moss and Clarence W. Lehew dangled in Shell Creek for more than an hour after they fell from Hendrickson Dam, about 75 miles south of Tampa. They were removing a plywood extension on the 500-foot long, 4 1/2-foot high dam when Moss fell, officials said. Lehew tried to grab him and also fell. “Besides holding onto my tether, I was basically trying to grip the rock through my tennis shoes,” Moss told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He said he struggled to keep his head above water while he balanced on the jagged rock below. “It was very intense – the most intense thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said Moss, describing a “full column” of water pushing against him. Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Clement said the swift current and jagged rock made a boat rescue almost impossible. “We had only one option and that was to take them straight out in a helicopter,” Clement said. The Coast Guard helicopter arrived about 75 minutes after the men fell, and rescue swimmer John Rice was lowered by cable. “The current was just overwhelming,” Rice said. “To actually maneuver was a task in itself.” Rice fastened a rescue strap under Lehew’s arms and they were hoisted to the helicopter. By the time they had been reeled in, Moss had disappeared under the water. He said he was able to find a small air pocket, and Rice was able to find him. Rice grabbed Moss by his life jacket and pulled him out of the water, Moss taking a large breath when he reached the air. They were lifted to the helicopter. “He was pretty much on the brink,” Rice said. “He was on the last legs right there.” Both men were taken to a hospital and released. Information from: Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Three workers seriously injured by nearly 70-foot fall at Lincoln Square site

by Jeff Switzer, Journal Reporter

BELLEVUE — Three construction workers were in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center after a construction elevator they were working on plunged as far as 70 feet to the ground yesterday morning. The accident happened at Lincoln Square, a 41-floor hotel and 27-floor hotel-condominium tower being built on Bellevue Way across from Bellevue Square Mall. The three men were atop an exterior elevator — described as a four-man hoist — used for shuttling workers and small equipment to upper floors of the unfinished 27-story hotel-condominium tower. The men were dismantling the equipment on top of the elevator just before 8 a.m. as part of a project slowdown when something gave way, said Mary Costello, spokeswoman for Bellevue Master and Bovis Lend Lease, contractors for the project. The elevator crashed to the ground, causing serious injuries to the men: A Renton man, 30, was rushed to surgery for a broken back; a Seattle man, 28, had a broken pelvis; and a man from Frenchtown, Mont., had two broken legs. The injuries are not life threatening, but still required the men to be kept in the intensive care unit, said Harborview spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson. Bellevue Fire crews used the site’s 150-foot construction crane to gently lift the men from the elevator roof to the arms of paramedics below. “It was an awkward situation, and thankfully we had the crane operator to help out,” said Fire Department Spokesman Todd Dickerboom. “It made for a real smooth operation to get them out.” Without the crane, the rescue might have taken an additional 15 to 20 minutes, he said. State Labor and Industries officials are investigating five companies in connection with the accident: general contractors Bovis Lend Lease and Bellevue Master LLC; Northwest Tower Crane Service, employers of the injured men; Cupertino Electric, which was preparing to remove the hoist elevator power; and Champion Hoist, Houston-based owner of the hoist elevator. “It’s our responsibility to take the slice of time up to the accident — and work back to determine what happened and if any health and safety violations occurred,” said Steve Pierce, spokesman for Labor and Industries. The companies can face citations and fines if violations are discovered. The investigation can take up to six months. The state has no records of serious safety violations for any of the companies under investigation. Lincoln Square has been plagued by problems since the start. It made news this month when developers announced they would suspend work on the $360 million project for at least six months. The project has had three general contractors and four project managers. Also, there was a construction accident there in September when a concrete pour collapsed, though no one was injured.

Worker Falls To His Death On Decatur

A man working on a building fell to his death Thursday morning in the French Quarter. Police said the man, whose identity has not been released, was laying brick at about 9 a.m. at an empty building in the 300 block of Decatur Street, when he fell and was decapitated. Another worker called police when he found the man’s body. Investigators are trying to determine why the man wasn’t wearing a safety harness. “I spoke with a man who has worked with him for at least a year and he said he was very cautious and always wore safety equipment while he was working,” NOPD spokesman Sgt. Paul Accardo said. Police are classifying the death as an accident, but the investigation is ongoing.

UPDATE, OSHA investigating painter’s fall in water tower
By Tim Hrenchir, The Capital-Journal

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating an accident last week in which a painter fell inside a water tank at the top of a water tower southeast of Topeka. Judy Freeman, area director of OSHA’s Kansas office in Wichita, said Tuesday that the agency was looking into circumstances of the fall, which occurred June 18. Shawnee County Sheriff’s officials identified the man hurt as Larry Johnston, 26, of La Cygne, in Linn County. Johnston remained a patient Tuesday at St. Francis Health Center, where information about his condition wasn’t being released. Firefighters said the accident occurred as Johnston was among men painting inside the Shawnee County Rural Water District No. 8 tower at 3901 S.E. Stubbs Road. The men were employees of J.F. McGivern Inc., an independent contractor hired by the district. No one else was hurt. Firefighters said it appeared something broke or failed before Johnston fell about 45 feet from scaffolding where he was painting near the top of the water tank to the bottom of the tank, suffering injuries that included a broken left leg. Johnston wore a harness, which had been hooked to the scaffolding and apparently swung him into a pipe that runs upward in the middle of the tank. A firefighter said Johnston struck the pipe near the bottom of the tank. It wasn’t clear how long the OSHA probe would take. Freeman said the agency has a six-month statute of limitations. OSHA records available on the Internet show the agency fined J.F. McGivern Inc. $500 in 1993 and $175 in 1990 after finding violations during planned site inspections.

UPDATE, Pierce Wraps Up Report On Aerial Collapse

HEATHER CASPI, Firehouse.com News

Pierce Manufacturing officials have completed their follow-up measures regarding the aerial collapse in Cary, North Carolina earlier this month. Pierce spokeswoman Kirsten Skyba said they finished inspecting the 21 Pierce sky arms owned by fire departments nationwide, and found all of them in proper condition. “They all passed with flying colors and are in full operation,” she said. Skyba said this confirms that the defect on Cary’s 1999 Pierce 105′ aerial with a sky arm was an isolated case, caused by human error during manufacture. Pierce’s official report determined that a weak area near the base of the ladder was created during the vehicle’s welding and assembly process. On Tuesday, June 4, Cary firefighters were extending the ladder over a burning structure when it suddenly collapsed. The two firefighters in the basket dropped 8-12 feet down into the building’s parking lot and sustained minor injuries. Pierce dispatched a replacement for the Cary Fire Department to use while they replace the aerial on their original vehicle. Cary PIO Susan Moran said they expect to get their vehicle back in about two months, and they are pleased that Pierce took full responsibility for the collapse and the replacement of the ladder. “We continue to have confidence in Pierce,” she said. “They have moved quickly and comprehensively to solve this problem. We’re just very fortunate that no one was permanently injured.” Moran said the two injured firefighters are now ok and back at work.

Fall kills local worker

By Gleaner staff

A 51-year-old Henderson man died in an accident Friday afternoon at Taubensee Steel and Wire in Henderson. Larry Zollinger, a maintenance technician, suffered what Taubensee General Manager Todd Swanson called a “fatal fall” sometime between 1 and 2 p.m. at the plant, where Zollinger had worked for more than a year. “Our hearts go out to the family of Mr. Zollinger,” Swanson said. Details of the accident were not immediately known. Swanson said that the company was cooperating with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to fully investigate the accident. According to Swanson, there had been no lost time accidents at the plant in more than a year. Taubensee Steel and Wire, located on Ohio Drive, produces steel wire for the appliance industry.

UPDATE, Second man dies from fall

HARRODSBURG — A worksite accident has claimed a second life.

Jim Bob Horn, 20, of Mercer County died late Wednesday, apparently from injuries he suffered when he fell between 25 and 30 feet inside a water tank. David Ransdell of Ransdell Funeral Chapel said personnel at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington notified him about 4:30 a.m. Thursday. Ransdell said it was his understanding that Horn died before midnight. Co-worker Jessie B. Barnett, also 20 and a Mercer County resident, was declared dead at the scene of the accident by Deputy Hopkins County Coroner Dennis Mayfield. Horn was still alive and was flown to Owensboro Mercy Hospital Wednesday morning and then on to the Lexington Hospital Wednesday afternoon. Both men worked for Currens Construction Co. of Harrodsburg. The men were working inside a water tank in Morton’s Gap, a city in Hopkins County. They were standing on suspended scaffolding, the type often used to wash windows outside skyscrapers and unlike semi-permanent tubular scaffolding, said Hopkins County Coroner John Walters. He said a cable holding the scaffolding either broke or came loose and the men fell 25 or 30 feet to the bottom of the tank. They were not wearing safety harnesses. Ransdell Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Mercer man dies in fall inside water tank

By ANN R. HARNEY, Staff Writer

HARRODSBURG — A Harrodsburg man, Jessie B. Barnett, was killed Tuesday morning in an accident inside a water tank in Morton’s Gap. A co-worker, Jim Bob Horn, was seriously injured and he is listed in critical condition this morning at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center in Lexington. He was flown first to Owensboro Mercy Hospital Tuesday morning and on to the Lexington hospital Tuesday afternoon. Barnett was declared dead at the scene by Deputy Hopkins County Coroner Dennis Mayfield. The exact time of the accident is unknown, Hopkins County Coroner John Walters said today. They were last seen between 7 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. CST. They were working for Currens Construction Co., also of Harrodsburg. Walters said the job foreman was not at the site; he was moving a piece of equipment to another location. “When he came back, he looked in the tank to check on them and found them lying at the bottom of the tank.” The two men, both 20 years old, were standing on scaffolding, painting the inside of the water tank, Walters said. The scaffolding is the type often used to wash windows outside skyscrapers. It is not like semi-permanent tubular scaffolding. The only other person around was another worker who was outside sandblasting the exterior of the tank. A cable holding the scaffolding either broke or came loose and the two men fell 25 to 30 feet to the bottom of the tank. The accident is under investigation by Kentucky State Police, the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Hopkins County Coroner’s office. Walters said the men were not wearing their safety harnesses, which, he said, was unusual. “For some reason, they didn’t have them on,” Walters said. OSHA “will do an autopsy on the scaffolding,” Walters said. OSHA representatives were on the scene Tuesday and will be back Monday. “We should know something then. We will be on the scene with them and we will be finding out why (they weren’t wearing the harnesses).”

40 injured in a building collapse in Hyderabad

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

As many as 40 people were injured, eight of them grievously, when the roof of a building under construction at Bharat Dynamics Limited collapsed in Hyderabad on Monday night. Construction labourers were working at the site when a portion of a newly-laid roof slab and scaffolding came down. About 40 labourers were injured. They were immediately shifted to the nearby DRDO-Apollo Hospital, where the condition of two of them is stated to be serious. “There are no deaths. Most of the labourers sustained only minor injuries,” a police official said.

Firefighters rescue man after water tower fall
By Tim Hrenchir, The Capital-Journal

A painter was rescued by firefighters after he fell an estimated 45 feet Tuesday afternoon in a water tower southeast of Topeka. Topeka firefighters removed the man from the tower through a manhole in the side of the tower about 80 feet in the air, then lowered him to the ground in a platform atop a firetruck ladder. The condition of the victim, whose name wasn’t immediately released, was considered serious as he was taken by helicopter ambulance to St. Francis Health Center.

UPDATE, Failure to Protect Tower Construction Workers Brings New Braunfels, Texas, Firm $44,100 in OSHA Fines
DALLAS — The failure of a New Braunfels, Texas, communications tower erector firm to provide appropriate hoisting equipment and training for its employees has resulted in citations and proposed penalties of $44,100 from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA has cited The Waylon Group Ltd., doing business as Texcom Services with two alleged safety violations, following its investigation of a May accident in which two workers were killed and one was seriously injured. All three fell approximately 200 feet while being lowered from the tower by a single rope. The Labor Department agency cited the company for one alleged willful violation for failing to use appropriate equipment to hoist the workers, contrary to guidelines established by OSHA and the tower erection and servicing industry for personnel hoisting. A willful violation is defined as one committed with an intentional disregard of or plain indifference to the OSHA Act and regulations. An alleged serious violation was issued for failing to train employees to recognize jobsite hazards. A serious violation is one that could cause death or serious physical harm to employees when the employer knew or should have known of the hazard. Texcom Services employs about nine workers. The company was erecting a Verizon Wireless tower near the intersection of Highways 21 and 77 near Lincoln, Texas. Employers and employees with questions regarding workplace safety and health standards can call the nearest OSHA office. OSHA’s toll-free hotline may be used to report workplace accidents, fatalities, or situations posing imminent danger to workers. The number is 1-800-321-6742. The company has 15 working days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with the area director, or to contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Coroner’s inquest recommends more safety training for man-lift operators

SAINT JOHN, N.B. (CP) — A coroner’s inquest has recommended more safety training for man-lift operators, as well as improved sensors to help prevent deaths on the hydraulic lifts.  The inquest in Saint John was looking into the death of Richard Johnston, 22, who died while working at the Irving Oil refinery two years ago.  The Alberta man suffered fatal head injuries when he was thrown from the basket of the hydraulic man lift after the machine caught on a pipe. The inquest jury said late Monday there should be more training for man-lift operators.  It also said there should be sensors on the basket of the man lift to help prevent them from colliding with objects in the air. During the hearings, a safety officer with the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission, testified the incident resulted from the failure of the operator of the man lift to recognize what was happening and respond appropriately. The operator, who works on the ground, told the inquest he had received fewer than five minutes of hands-on training on the job site before he was given a certificate to run the machine. Dave Griessen, a spokesman for the provincial Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission, said the recommendations will be taken seriously. But he cautioned that sensor technology can’t necessarily solve all safety problems. “We’ll talk to the manufacturers about that. It can be complex because you don’t want to create unsafe situations if you have automatic shutdown devices when such sensors go off,” he said.

Company fined $8,300 after worker harmed

A Hawke’s Bay company was sentenced today after being prosecuted by the Occupational Safety and Health Service (OSH). Fruit Packers (HB) Cooperative Limited were sentenced to pay $8,300 after a worker sustained multiple fractures to both feet after falling over three metres on to a concrete floor. $7000 went to the victim. “In this case the worker lost his balance and fell off the unguarded edge of a mezzanine floor to the concrete ground below,” said Murray Thomson, Service Manager, Hawke’s Bay-East Coast, OSH. “The company failed to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of its employee. “There were no suitable means in place to prevent employees from falling onto the concrete floor. “Everyone has the right to go to work and be safe. Companies must ensure that workplace hazards are identified and controlled correctly, and that their safety systems are constantly reviewed and updated.”

VDOT investigates construction deaths at ‘mixing bowl’

By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press writer

SPRINGFIELD – For the first time in its history, the Virginia Department of Transportation suspended work on a construction project to investigate three deaths that have occurred on the Springfield Mixing Bowl project. “This is a time to regroup and find out the root cause of the accidents,” said Lynda South, VDOT spokeswoman, said Wednesday. The agency’s safety officers became particularly concerned when two fatalities occurred in the past two weeks, she said. The work stoppage, first reported in the Northern Virginia Journal, began Friday and ended Wednesday with the return of some crews. More were due back on the job Thursday. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Virginia Department of Labor also are investigating the accidents. The most recent fatality occurred last week when a 24-year-old North Carolina man working for Cress Welding, a subcontractor for Shirley Contracting, fell 100 feet into a drainage ditch when his safety harness snapped. On May 23, a Lane Construction worker fell to his death from a scaffold onto the CSX train tracks. And in October, a Shirley Contracting employee was crushed by a piece of heavy equipment. As many as 400 workers are at the project site at any given time, said Steve Titunik, VDOT’s spokesman on the Springfield Interchange Project. Titunik said VDOT never considers deaths on the job to be acceptable, but said the fatalities don’t necessarily indicate a systemic problem. “We don’t think we have a safety problem here,” he said. “You have 400 employees working in an environment that is inherently dangerous.” The $700 million Mixing Bowl project began in 1999 and is scheduled for completion in 2007. It includes 50 bridges and overpasses and is designed to untangle the congested intersection of Interstate highways 95, 395 and 495, which intersect at the Capital Beltway. It has been plagued by cost overruns _the original cost estimate when work began was $350 million and is the subject of a congressional audit and a Virginia State Police investigation. Mike Post, president and chief executive officer of Lorton-based Shirley Contracting, said VDOT’s decision to temporarily halt work was prudent. He said full-time safety managers meet daily on the project to ensure proper procedures are in place. “The safety program is aggressively enforced and employees can be terminated for safety infractions,” Post said. Lane Construction, the other major contractor on the project, referred questions to VDOT.

Ironworker killed in construction accident

David Peterson

An ironworker involved in a project to install a new burning unit at Xcel Energy’s Black Dog power plant in Burnsville died late Friday when he slipped from a beam. Patrick Collins, 48, of Bloomington, fell about 25 feet when he at the end of the workday, family members said. “His hard hat came off as he was falling, and it was a head injury,” said his daughter Erin, 21, of St. Paul. The company is removing the coal burning unit that has powered the plant and installing a natural gas burner to replace it, said company spokesman Paul Adelmann. Collins worked for an outside firm hired by Xcel, he said. “We are deeply saddened by this loss,” Adelmann said. “An investigation is underway to establish the exact sequence of events.” The accident occurred about 2:40 p.m., he said, and Burnsville police and firefighters responded. Collins was taken to a nearby hospital and died about 5 p.m., he said. Burnsville authorities said they couldn’t release information until next week. The plant is located along the Minnesota River. Collins was a graduate of Bloomington Jefferson High School and a volunteer firefighter in that city, his daughter said.

 

UPDATE, ‘Isolated’ Manufacturing Error Caused North Carolina Ladder Collapse

HEATHER CASPI, Firehouse.com News

Pierce Manufacturing officials have determined that Tuesday’s aerial collapse in North Carolina was caused by an isolated incident of human error during the vehicle’s manufacture. Officials said the unit was a 1999 Pierce 105′ aerial with a sky arm. Cary, NC firefighters were extending the ladder over a burning roof Tuesday afternoon when it suddenly collapsed and dropped two firefighters 8-12 feet down into the structure’s parking lot. The two firefighters who were in the bucket sustained only minor injuries. They have been released from Western Wake Medical Center and are doing well, according to a city press release. Pierce’s top engineers arrived in North Carolina Wednesday morning to assess the scene of the accident, and transported the damaged ladder truck back to Appleton, Wisconsin for further inspection. Pierce officials expect to complete their investigation within a few days but have already found most of their answers, said Kirsten Skyba, vice president of communications at Pierce. “First and foremost we’re very relieved and thankful no one was seriously injured,” she said. Skyba said the initial investigation indicates there was a failure near the base of the ladder due to human error during the vehicle’s welding and assembly process. She said this is the first time Pierce has encountered such an error, and they believe it is an isolated incident. However, they are notifying all sky arm owners nationwide of the potential defect and will be doing precautionary inspections on site. All owners will be contacted by Thursday afternoon to set up an inspection, Skyba said. “We’re taking our response very seriously,” she said. There are 21 Pierce sky arms owned by fire departments nationwide. Skyba added that Pierce is dispatching a replacement for the Cary Fire Department to use while the aerial is replaced on their own vehicle. Old Apex Road in Cary reopened Wednesday after the ladder truck was removed from the scene of the collapse. Investigation into the cause of the fire at Garden Supply Company is still underway.

 

UPDATE, Use of wrong nuts tied to truss collapse

Coroner holds inquest on accident that killed convention center worker

By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Construction workers at the convention center used the wrong type of nuts to fasten into place a huge steel truss, which later collapsed, killing one ironworker and injuring two others, according to testimony at a coroner’s inquest yesterday. Robert Elmendorf, a metallurgist hired after the collapse by the convention center general contractor, Turner-P.J. Dick-ATS, told the inquest that he thinks the use of the wrong nuts played a significant role in the Feb. 12 collapse at the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown. It created “a dangerous and threatening condition,” Elmendorf said in answer to a question from Deputy District Attorney Edward Borkowski. Two ironworkers who worked on the collapsed truss testified they were unaware they were using the wrong nuts. Paul Corsi, an ironworker from Moon, was killed when the four-story truss fell. The accident is under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is expected to issue a report in August. The truss that collapsed was the 13th in a series of 15 steel support trusses that run from Penn Avenue to the river and form the principal north-south support for the building. Elmendorf said each steel truss is connected to a concrete caisson or base by eight threaded rods — each one 18 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. Each of the eight rods is fastened to the truss and concrete caisson by two pairs of nuts, two at each end of the rod. One nut is 2 inches thick, made of hardened steel and is black in color. The other nut is a 3/4-inch locking nut, silver in color. But ironworkers who assembled the 13th truss testified yesterday that they were not supplied with the 2-inch-thick black nuts. Instead, they used 1-inch-thick nuts to fasten the rods in place. Use of the 2-inch, hardened-steel bolts provided a lot of locking power, Elmendorf said. Use of a 1-inch nut would not have provided as much strength to hold the truss in place, he said. Elmendorf said the 1-inch shiny nuts, which are not heat-treated, would have a “lower hardness” than the proper 2-inch-long nuts, which were strengthened and blackened by heat. He said the shorter nuts also would have “less thread engagement” with the rods and thus would provide less strength than the longer nuts. Asked directly by Borkowski about the cause of the collapse, Elmendorf said, “The most significant thing I have seen was that there were no 2-inch, heat-treated nuts found at the caisson joint at line 13.” One of the injured ironworkers, Matthew Abate, told a coroner’s inquest that he went into a Dick Corp. construction trailer at the work site and picked up what turned out to be the wrong type of nut. Abate, who was hired by the Dick Corp. out of the ironworkers union hall, said he’d never had any training by his employer on which nuts to use to attach to the threaded rods. He said the day of the collapse was the first time he had ever been told to go to the construction trailer to pick up the connecting rods and nuts. Borkowski asked if Dick Corp. had ever given him training on which type of nuts to use, and Abate said he had received no such training. Later at the hearing, another ironworker, Dorsey Morehead, also said the crew had been given no training. “I was never told what size nuts to use on the rods,” Morehead said, adding he had never been assigned to fetch the rods and nuts from the construction trailer. It wasn’t clear yesterday why the wrong-sized, 1-inch nuts had been placed in a bucket in the construction trailer instead of the proper 2-inch, blackened nuts. Lawyer Efrem M. Grail, representing Dick Corp., and lawyer Robert C. Klingensmith, representing Williams company, listened to the testimony but declined comment later. Abate said that when the giant beam fell, he was left dangling by a harness from a “manbucket” high above the construction site. Fortunately he managed to lower himself to the ground safety. Corsi was crushed by the falling beam, however, Borkowski asked several ironworkers who worked on the convention center job if they felt “pressured” to work fast and get the project done quickly. They said there is always some sort of pressure in construction projects, but no one felt pressure to work unsafely. Presiding at the coroner’s inquest is Pittsburgh lawyer Michael George. He said his job is to review the facts and circumstances surrounding the death of Corsi and then decide the cause and manner of the death, which for now is considered an accident. If the death were to be ruled a homicide, George said he would then have to determine “whether someone should be held responsible.” Present at yesterday’s inquest were the victim’s father, Paul Corsi Sr. of Aliquippa, and his sister, Christine Corsi. They said they wanted to learn more about the circumstances of Corsi Jr.’s death and to make sure that no effort was made to blame Paul Jr. for what had happened. They briefly addressed reporters, with Corsi Sr. saying “We miss our son and wish we could bring him back.” Greg Yesko, a spokesman for the Sports & Exhibition Authority, said after the hearing that the new convention center is safe and that all the truss-caisson connections were checked after the Feb. 12 collapse and “certified” as being done properly.

 

Mixing bowl worker dies, falls 100 feet from bridge

By Sarah Bruyn Jones

An unidentified construction worker fell to his death today while working on the Springfield Interchange. Preliminary reports reveal the worker may have fallen from as high as 100 feet while working on a new bridge that will connect traffic traveling from the inner loop of the Beltway to Interstate-95 south, officials said. The accident occurred around 2:30 p.m., causing investigators to remain on the scene into the evening rush hour. A Virginia Department of Transportation official said first reports indicate the worker was wearing a safety belt when he fell, but for an unknown reason the safety wire broke. Investigators from Fairfax County, VDOT and others continue to search for the cause of the fall and why the safety line failed, along with other clues about the accident. The bridge the worker was working on will reach heights up to 120 feet from the ground when it is completed. Reports indicate the worker was near the apex of the current structure. This bridge is part of phase four of the seven-phase project being built by VDOT. This is the third death since work began on the mixing bowl, and is the second in two weeks. On May 23, Paredes Portillo, 38, died after falling approximately 25 feet while working on scaffolding. Portillo was not wearing a safety belt when he fell. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is conducting an investigation into that incident, and will more than likely become involved in this most recent tragedy as well.

 

Worker Dies After Fall From Trash Truck

A sanitation worker died Wednesday morning after falling from a trash truck in Clay County. Danny Coleman, 28, of Middleburg died at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, where he was taken by air ambulance with injuries suffered when he fell while riding on the rear platform of a Southland Waste Systems Truck. It happened when the truck hit a bump on an unpaved road and Coleman was throw off. The truck was driven by an employee of Seaboard Waste Systems, which is described as a sister company of Southland. Clay County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident, trying to determine how fast the truck was going at the time. Last Friday, a Southland Waste Systems employee was killed in Jacksonville when a trash truck backed over him.

 

Firefighters Injured as Aerial Falls at North Carolina Fire Scene

HEATHER CASPI, Firehouse.com News

Two Cary, North Carolina firefighters sustained minor injuries Tuesday when their ladder truck suddenly collapsed at the scene of a structure fire. “We have a lot of confidence in the apparatus we purchase. We inspect it annually,” said Cary PIO Susan Moran. “Obviously everybody was shocked at what happened.” Firefighters had responded to a blaze at the Garden Supply Company on Old Apex Road at about 3 p.m. and found the roof heavily involved. They parked their ladder truck, a Pierce manufactured in August 1999, on the road in front of the burning building. The structure sat above them on a hill. “The ladder was being extended over the hill,” Moran said. “Just before it got over the building the ladder collapsed and fell to the ground.” The two firefighters in the basket were dropped 8-12 feet down to the parking lot. Officials said the unit was a 1999 Pierce 105′ aerial with a sky arm. They were conscious and alert after the accident, and walked over to the rescue squad on their own, Moran said. However, they were taken to Western Wake Medical Center for observation. Moran said other people had been standing under the ladder moments before it fell, but luckily moved just in time. No one else was injured. Officials have yet to determine the cause of the collapse. Two supports that that hold the ladder to the turret simply crumpled, Moran said. Pierce officials were flying out to investigate the scene early Wednesday, she said. Although the Cary Fire Department has another Pierce ladder truck, it has a different configuration so they aren’t going to pull it out of service, Moran said. She added that firefighting efforts were not hindered after the ladder truck collapse because of the strong mutual aid on scene from the Apex, Morrisville, Western Wake and Fairview Fire Departments. The fire was brought under control before 4 p.m. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

 

Mixing bowl worker falls to his death

By Sarah Bruyn Jones

A Vienna man was killed May 23 after he fell 25 feet while working on a section of the Springfield Interchange project. Paredes J. Portillo, 38, was working on scaffolding for a bridge on the Capital Beltway when he lost his balance after being struck by some materials that were being unloaded, officials said. He landed on the gravel just beside the Norfolk Rail railroad tracks. A railroad flag man and rescue personnel attempted to revive Portillo, but they were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple injuries, police said. The accident occurred about 2 p.m., approximately four miles west of the interchange of interstates 395, 495 and 95. Portillo was wearing a safety harness, but it was not secured to a cable. Investigations by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) are being conducted to determine why the belt was not secured to a steel cable, as required by state regulations. According to those regulations, a worker who is more than 6 feet off the ground must be attached to a tie line. Fairfax County rescue and police units also arrived on the scene and are investigating the incident. Normally, there are three measures to ensure safety regulations are followed during construction. The individual is trained in proper procedure, plus there is the contractor’s foreman and a VDOT safety inspector, said Steve Titunick, project communications director for VDOT. A VDOT safety inspector arrived at the scene just after Portillo’s fall, said Larry Cloyed, assistant resident engineer for VDOT. Inspectors travel between several sites throughout the day to make sure regulations are being properly enforced to prevent accidents. “We try to be very diligent in regards to safety, but you can’t be everywhere at every point on every site. We simply don’t have enough inspectors to have someone at every site,” Cloyed said. The scaffolding Portillo fell from was in the early stages of being built, according to a VDOT official. Portillo was putting wooden boards down to construct the scaffolding, which was being used to help construct the bridge over the railroad tracks. The bridge construction is part of phase five of the seven-phase Springfield Interchange project and is being completed by Lane Construction. Lane Construction officials spent most of Friday discussing the accident with workers, but Cloyed said the fatality should have minimal interference with the overall project. Portillo is the first construction worker to die working on phase five of the project, and is the second death to occur since construction began. In October 2001, a Shirley Construction worker was killed working on an aspect of phase four of the project. “This is a dangerous business we’re in, and we try to take every precaution to ensure the safety of our workers and the public,” Cloyed said.

 

Man Falls Off Scaffolding At Six Flags

AURORA, Ohio — A maintenance worker fell off a scaffolding Tuesday morning at Six Flags, NewsChannel5 reported. The worker was conducting routine maintenance in the loading area of the X-Flight rollercoaster when the accident happened at about 7 a.m. His identity has not been released. The man was LifeFlighted to MetroHealth Medical Center. His injuries do not appear to be life-threatening. Officials said the man was conscious and talking after the accident. His current condition is unknown. It’s also unknown what caused the accident. The amusement park and the ride are open. The ride was tested for safety before it reopened.

 

Worker falls to his death

By MICHELLE RHODES, Staff writer

An Arlington man was killed Monday morning, May 20, on a McKinney construction site after falling through the roof of the office complex he was helping to build. David Kelly, 41, was standing on the roof of the building in the 2000 block of Rosebud Boulevard and fell through a skylight, plummeting almost 30 feet onto a concrete slab. Kelly was taken to North Central Medical Center in McKinney where he was pronounced dead. Westcliffe Inc., a Carrollton construction company, is general contractor for the project. A company official said Kelly did not work for Westcliffe. She said there were several independent contractors working on the building, but she said she did not know the name of Kelly’s employer. The general superintendent at the site refused Wednesday to comment on the incident.

 

Safety investigated after tank fall death

RENTON — The state Department of Labor and Industries is investigating the death of a worker who fell from a water storage tank under construction at a residential development east of Renton . William Larry Ostler, 59, died after falling about 80 feet from the top of the tank. Ostler, a welder, was an employee of T. Bailey, Inc., an Anacortes-based contractor building the tank at Port Blakely Communities’ 500-home Woodside residential development. Ostler was a resident of Elma, Grays Harbor County ; not Renton , as had been previously reported. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death an accident, and King County Sheriff’s deputies are conducting an investigation. The state Department of Labor and Industries will try to determine if there were any workplace safety violations involved.

 

Leap to safety as scaffolding falls
By SAM HALSTEAD

A WORKER was hurt after leaping to safety when scaffolding surrounding an aircraft carrier collapsed around him at Rosyth dockyard. A second worker was also injured as the 30ft-high scaffolding around HMS Invincible fell. The Health and Safety Executive confirmed today it had launched an investigation into the accident at Rosyth’s number two dock. A dockyard spokesman said today the worker suffered ankle injuries after jumping six feet off the falling structure. Another worker on the ground was hit by equipment and taken to hospital for treatment for minor injuries, he said. The spokesman added: “The scaffolding came down as it was being dismantled. “They sustained minor injuries. They were treated at the scene. One worker was taken to hospital.” The HMS Invincible aircraft carrier was undergoing a refit in the dry dock at the time of the accident just before noon last Wednesday. The scaffolding – which can reach up to 50 feet high – was being brought down level by level when it fell. It was being dismantled ahead of the flooding of the dry dock in eight weeks. The spokesman refused to speculate on the cause of the collapse until the HSE had completed its report. Glasgow-based Pyeroy Limited, the scaffolding contractor, was unavailable for comment. HSE ordered work on the carrier to stop immediately after the accident, although it has since allowed work on the vessel to resume. An HSE spokesman said: “We are investigating the incident. An inspector was there on Wednesday and Thursday. “There were minor injuries. There was a partial collapse of scaffolding.” A Royal Navy spokesman was reluctant to comment on the accident. “This is a matter for the contractors,” he said. A Fife Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said today: “There was a person trapped, but he was released by the time we got there.” She said one worker was taken to Queen Margaret Hospital , with minor injuries. HMS Invincible is one of the Royal Navy’s flagship vessels. It is scheduled to leave Rosyth in January after the completion of further work when the dock is flooded. Built in 1973, the 210 metre-long carrier ship was launched four years later by Her Majesty the Queen. It is one of three Royal Navy aircraft carriers and the first of the “invincible class” of anti-submarine warfare carriers. The 20,000-tonne carrier served with distinction in the Falklands War in 1982 and was the launching pad for bombing raids during the Bosnian campaign in 1995. Her FA2 Harriers have also patrolled the no-fly zone in southern Iraq . When in action, HMS Invincible hosts a range of fighters and helicopters including the Sea Harrier, RAF Harrier GR7 and the Sea King AEW helicopter. Rosyth Dockyard has four docks for vessels undergoing refits. Number two dock is 260 metres long, 33 metres wide and around 13 metres deep. The scaffolding accident is not the first safety scare at Rosyth Dockyard. Workers demanded safety assurances after a nuclear submarine broke from its moorings during tests on its engine and propeller shaft, two years ago. A power surge during trials caused HMS Sceptre, a Swiftsure-class Fleet Type submarine, to break free and shunt 30ft in a refitting basin. Workers panicked as the 3500-tonne vessel powered into the dock at high speed during the testing of its main engines and prop shaft, tearing and bending steam pipes used in the generating system. In 1995, there was a sabotage attempt on the Royal Fleet auxiliary ship Bedivere at Rosyth. The saboteur opened a tank of inflammable gas and led a pipe down nine decks to a space between the double hull.

 

UPDATE, Building Owner Cited in Collapse

By William Murphy, STAFF WRITER

The owner of an East Side building where one worker was killed and six others injured in a collapse Thursday has been cited for failing to maintain a safe work site, the Department of Buildings said Friday. The summons was issued to NWE Corp., the owner of 33 E. 61st St., according to Ilyse Fink, a department spokeswoman. She said department records show the company owner is Pasquale Granato, who is better known in food circles as Fabio Granato, part owner of Serafini and several other Manhattan restaurants. There was no answer to several telephone calls to businesses and a home telephone number in Granato’s name. The Manhattan construction company doing the work, Tamco Corp., had the proper permits, Fink said. “The investigation is continuing. One preliminary area of inquiry is overloading of bricks. We’re looking at less than great construction practices,” Fink said. NWE was cited for “failure to safeguard public and property affected by construction operations, overloaded 4th floor front with concrete block causing a pancake collapse to cellar.” The Buildings Department issued an immediate stop-work order and directed the company to meet with the department’s Manhattan borough commissioner before entering the building or resuming work. Fink said the violations carry a fine of up to $5,000, but the typical fine is $1,500. Antonio Roman, 41, of East Harlem, who worked for Tamco, died about 90 minutes after the collapse. Two of the injured remained in critical condition Friday night; the others were still in serious but stable condition.

 

Workers saved after platform collapse at Lesner Bridge

By STEVE STONE AND MATTHEW ROY, The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA BEACH — Five workmen were rescued Friday after a platform under the Lesner Bridge collapsed, spilling two of them into the water and leaving the others dangling in harnesses. All were rescued in under an hour and reported to be well. “It was 49 minutes from the first 911 call to getting the last guy on the boat,” said Ed Brazle, a spokesman for emergency medical services. “That’s pretty good. We’re happy with that.” The accident happened about 4:30 p.m. while the men, employees of Megaco Inc. in Lorton, were doing bridge maintenance for the Virginia Department of Transportation. The crew was using a platform attached to a hydraulic lift, extended from a truck parked on the bridge, Brazle said. What caused the platform to break from the lift was unclear. The two men who fell into the water were recovered by passing boaters. The other three men were left hanging from safety harnesses and ropes. One was able to lower himself to a concrete platform along a set of bridge pilings, where he waited for rescue. “I was hanging from a rope,” said Kevin Collins of Virginia Beach. “It hurt so bad.” The other two men — one on each side of the span — were stuck swaying in the air. Police closed all lanes of the busy span, creating lengthy traffic snarls while fire crews and a technical rescue team moved in. Firefighters first maneuvered a rescue boat against the currents to rescue Collins from the piling platform. Other firefighters then were lowered from the bridge on safety lines. They then lowered the dangling workers, one at a time, to the fire boat. “It was difficult only because of the winds and the unusual location,” Brazle said. The five men were taken to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital for checkups, and Brazle said all appeared fine except for scrapes and bruises. The crew had been at work on the bridge for about three weeks, Brazle said. They were sandblasting and resurfacing the bridge structure. Megaco specializes in lead paint abatement, painting, sandblasting and masonry restoration. The platform the men had been on was left underwater. Crews located it and were trying to recover it to make certain it did not pose a hazard to boats.

 

UPDATE, Worker’s deadly fall still under investigation

By DENES HUSTY III
Co-workers and loved ones remained in shock over the death of a worker Monday who plunged 18 stories to his death inside a Naples condominium garbage chute. Police said the man’s name was Daniel Hincapie, 29, of Naples . “It’s a tragedy,” said John Schallert, vice president of Spectrum Painting & Restoration Co. Schallert said Hincapie’s co-workers were still in shock over his death. He declined further comment, saying the accident still is being investigated. An investigator from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was on the scene Tuesday. Hincapie and a crew from the company were on the roof of the Esplanade condominium pressure cleaning the roof Monday afternoon when the accident happened. Hincapie fell through the roof covering the garbage chute that runs the height of the 18-story condominium, Sgt. Neal Schaefer said. The man plummeted about 180 feet into an open trash container on the first floor of the condominium. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Hincapie’s co-workers didn’t immediately notice what happened because the noise made by the pressure cleaning equipment. After a few minutes, they noticed he was missing and saw the hole in the chute cover, investigators said. The workers called the condominium manager. He and the workers searched the building and found Hincapie’s body in the trash room, investigators said. A crisis and grief counselor was called to the scene to console Hincapie’s co-workers and his girlfriend, who was notified of his death. “Sudden death is especially traumatic. You don’t get a chance to say a last ‘I love you,’ a last chance to say ‘goodbye,’ ” said Beth Knake, who counseled Hincapie’s fellow workers and his girlfriend. The accident investigation could take anywhere from a few weeks to six months to complete, said Roger Alcorn, assistant area director for the federal worker safety agency. Anyone found to be violating federal safety regulations in the case could face fines ranging from $7,000 to $70,000, he said.

UPDATE, Russian Space Accident Probably Caused by Blast
May 15, 2002 08:00 CDT

The roof collapse that killed eight people at Russia ‘s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was probably caused by a blast from an air tank, an investigator said Tuesday. Interfax quoted Gennady Migmetov saying that an object probably fell on a tank of compressed air in a rocket stored at the site, which then exploded and set off the collapse on Sunday. A government commission investigating the causes of the accident at the Russian cosmodrome should make its final conclusions public late Tuesday, Migmetov said. Seven Kazakh repairmen and a Belarus colleague were killed in the accident. Constructed in the 1950s, Baikonur served as the launch site for Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth. Russia and Kazakhstan signed a 1994 agreement which recognizes the Central Asian republic’s territorial claim on Baikonur but leases the cosmodrome to Moscow for 115 million dollars (132 million euros) a year. Last month, a top Russian general said the military would continue using the Baikonur cosmodrome as a satellite launch site until at least 2011 before switching operations to Russia .

Steel workers trapped under scaffolding

May 16 2002 at 01:48PM , By Lauren Kansley and Steven Otter
Three Saldanha Steel workers are trapped in shallow water under tons of scaffolding and construction rubble after a filtration system collapsed on Thursday. It is understood five people were working in the filtration pit, with another 10 on the scaffolding above the hole, when the scaffolding came down, trapping five workers. Some of those who had been on the scaffolding were able to free themselves, leaving five people trapped. Rescue workers then pulled another two from the pit. Immediately workers began pumping ankle-deep water from the pit. Wilderness Search and Rescue and police sniffer dog teams were sent from Cape Town in a bid to find people under the rubble. Johan Benders of the police dog unit said a border collie rescue dog called Sparkie had picked up a faint scent in one part of the pit and rescue workers were desperately trying to clear rubble from that area. Wayne Smith of Metro Rescue said: “The area had to be cleared before rescue workers could begin searching for the men”. The head of corporate affairs for Iscor, Phaldie Kalam, said the 15 involved were casual workers doing general maintenance. The entire plant was closed for a routine maintenance check at the time. Kalam said the two rescued workers had been pulled out by an on-site team equipped to handle emergencies. A worker at the West Coast steel mill said the plant was now in chaos, as various rescue teams co-ordinated their efforts.

Man Dies After Falling Into Machinery

Accident Happened At Cargill Plant

UPDATED: 9:03 a.m. EDT May 16, 2002

AKRON , Ohio — A man was killed Thursday in an accident at an industrial plant in Akron . Police said the victim apparently fell into some machinery overnight at the Cargill Plant at 2065 Manchester Road on Akron ‘s southwest side. Officials are looking into the incident. The identity of the man is not being released yet.

UPDATE, Worker cheats death
A small noise, then a 70-foot plunge

By CRAIG SCHNEIDER and DOUG PAYNE, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writers

Moments before plummeting 70 feet inside a massive sewer shaft Tuesday, Bwyangi Means heard a noise. It wasn’t that loud. But it was a bad sign. He was pouring concrete inside the shaft about 6:30 p.m. , doing what he had done many times before. Suddenly the wall holding his platform made that noise. Then it collapsed. Means was hurled downward, along with a shower of concrete, wood and steel. During a three- to four-second plunge he sensed the end of his life speeding toward him. Somewhere along the way, the 28-year-old construction worker separated from the wood-and-steel platform, which had been bolted to the shaft wall. Not only was the concrete bottom of the 200-foot shaft frightening, but there also were heavy timbers, concrete and steel crashing down around him. Means remained conscious even after the tremendous thud of striking bottom. Two of his fallen co-workers lay not far from him. Means couldn’t tell from his vantage point, but his friends weren’t moving. From the bottom of the shaft, Means, also unable to move, heard his supervisor calling down to him.”He kept saying they’re going to get me out. They’re going to get me out. Hang in there,” Means said. He blacked out, only to be awakened to the thwup-twhup-thwup sound of whirling helicopter blades. He had been hoisted to the surface. A helicopter was airlifting him from the south Cobb County construction site to Atlanta Medical Center . His two friends remained at the bottom of the cavernous pit. They were dead.

The rescue

Inside the shaft it was hot, humid and dark. The rescue and recovery effort was gruesome and frustrating. Members of the Heavy Rescue Unit, a specially trained squad created to deal with emergencies involving this massive underground sewage project, arrived about 6:45 p.m. and plunged again and again into the hole.For the next three hours, members of the rescue unit and Cobb firefighters — working an hour on, an hour off — swapped shovels, crowbars and other equipment as they strained to free the bodies of Reginald Washington and Jose Enrique Lezama from the rubble on the floor of the shaft. “Even when you’re told you’ve got people buried in concrete, the magnitude of what you’re going to see doesn’t quite hit you,” said Lt. Chris Sobieski, a member of the Heavy Rescue Unit. Riding a yellow gondola down into the damaged shaft Tuesday night, “I was trying to look at the walls to get a visual picture in my mind of what had fallen and what we had.” He did not expect what they found. “There was no sure footing,” he said. “Everything — all the beams, all the concrete — was kind of askew. There was rebar sticking up. You had to be careful where you stepped. You didn’t want to step and fall on a piece of rebar.” Rebar is the steel reinforcing rods buried in concrete to increase its strength. The bottom of the shaft was littered with the rods, pieces of the collapsed platform and piles of hardening concrete. “That’s what made the process so hard,” he said. “We weren’t just chipping concrete, we’d be chipping and would come across something else and have to cut through that.” For wood, they used chain saws. For steel, they used an “exothermic torch.” For concrete, they used jackhammers and special concrete saws. Rescuers spotted the two still bodies, sticking out of a pile of debris that had fallen from the walls of the shaft. They had to dig through a wide pile of hardening concrete, a foot thick and weighing 180,000 pounds, said Fire Department spokesman Lt. Dan Dupree. Progress in removing the bodies was slow. Every few minutes the crews tangled with some new obstacle, a huge piece of timber or more metal. Closer to the bodies, they used small trowels and their bare hands “out of respect” for the victims. Lezama’s body was brought to the surface at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday; Washington ‘s body was recovered at 8:05 a.m. Wednesday.

The aftermath

By Wednesday afternoon, Means, the injured worker, and Sobieski, the fatigued rescuer, were both doing better. Means was awake but foggy as his brother visited his hospital room, where his recovery time was marked by the rhythm of a morphine drip. His mother and father, Stella and Otis Means, sat in the waiting room greeting visitors, several of them from the construction site. Work has stopped on the massive 9.5-mile sewer tunnel, which runs perpendicular to the 200-foot-high shaft. The other hospitalized worker, Raul Gomez, 23, of Norcross was released Wednesday. “You look good,” said Means’ brother, Kimany Means, 29. “A lot better than yesterday.” Kimany Means touched his brother’s left leg, making sure the feeling was still there. Bwyangi Means suffered a separated shoulder, several broken vertebrae and cuts and bruises, his brother said. Sobieski knows he’ll be ready to go again if his specialized rescue unit is called upon. “Everybody deals with it individually and in their own way,” he said. “I try to become very focused. You can get distracted, overwhelmed, if you just sit there and concentrate on that. I tell myself, ‘My main job is to get down here and get this person out as quickly as I can.’ “You can’t carry the tragedy of every body you see or you just wouldn’t be able to do the job. “Means isn’t so sure whether he could return to the shaft. “I don’t know if I can ever trust a wall like that again,” he said. Everyone seems amazed he’s alive, even Means himself. He doesn’t recall anything in the shaft that might have slowed his 70-foot fall. Only one thing explains it, he said. “God had me.”

Scaffold collapse in sewer shaft kills 2, hurts 6 in Cobb

By SAEED AHMED and LATEEF MUNGIN, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writers

A scaffolding collapse threw a crew of eight workers into a tangle of steel and setting concrete Tuesday at a south Cobb County sewage treatment plant. Two were killed and six injured. The men were building the concrete walls of a circular 200-foot-deep shaft, working 130 feet below the surface, when the scaffolding failed shortly before 6:30 p.m. , sending all eight workers to the bottom, according to Cobb County Fire Lt. Dan Dupree. The bodies of the two dead men were buried in the hardening mixture, and emergency workers rushed to bring in 300 pounds of sugar to counteract the setting of the wet concrete. Heavy timbers, steel and other dismantled material also clogged the shaft, which is 110 feet in diameter. One body — that of an Atlanta man — was recovered at 10:20 p.m. Rescuers were trying to remove the second man from hardened concrete early this morning. Neither of the dead men had been identified late Tuesday night. Both were 38 years old. One is from Newnan and the other from Atlanta . Both were employed by Archer Western Contractors Ltd. The six workers who survived the accident were removed from the bottom of the shaft by crane. Of the survivors, one was rushed by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center with a head injury and was listed in critical condition early Wednesday morning. Another was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance with an injured shoulder and was listed in stable condition. The four other workers were injured but didn’t require hospital treatment. Gwinnett County Fire Chief Randy Robinson, who was on the scene helping with the rescue, said, “It’s a mess down there. One of the worst I’ve seen.” Robinson, a 28-year veteran, said the debris in the shaft hampered efforts to reach the second body. The workers were helping build a $128 million project known as the Chattahoochee Interceptor, begun last summer and expected to be completed over the next two years. The 9.5-mile-long tunnel goes underneath east Cobb and will carry sewage to an expanded treatment center on South Atlanta Road at the Chattahoochee River , said Robert Quigley, spokesman for the Cobb County government. The accident Tuesday occurred at the R.L. Sutton treatment center. “Right now we’re treating it as a structural collapse situation rather than a cave-in,” Dupree said. The men were working in a shaft perpendicular to what will be the end point of the main tunnel. Sewage is to be pumped up from the tunnel through the shaft, then treated. Archer Western Contractors Ltd. is responsible for the construction of the shaft where the accident occurred, county officials said. Quigley said it was too early to tell what caused the scaffolding to collapse. Federal investigators were to examine the site after both bodies were recovered. Firefighters from Gwinnett County were brought in to assist. “It’s going to be a long, drawn-out affair,” Quigley said. Police had set up an area on the site for family members to congregate. About a dozen people had arrived by 9:30 p.m. to see whether their kin were among the injured or dead. Carlos Martinez, 29, hurried to the scene as soon as he heard. His brother had been working on the project. “I’d like to know if he’s all right. I’d like to know if my brother is dead or alive,” said Martinez , of Forest Park . Minutes later, he spotted his 27-year-old brother Francisco, through a chain link fence. He was safe. He later learned that Francisco was on the scaffold that collapsed, but stepped off it just moments before it collapsed. “This was my brother’s second day on the job, and trust me, he’s not coming back to work tomorrow,” Carlos Martinez said later. Monday night, the brothers had talked about how deep the hole was and that Francisco was scared to work inside it. Dock Putnam, 43, of Smyrna , a contract worker who knew some of the men in the crew, also rushed in after hearing about the accident on television. He knows that tunnel engineering by definition is a risky business. “I work with these men. I want to find out what happened,” Putnam said. The men, who earn an average of $15 a hour, are contract workers from around the Atlanta area, he said. Putnam was carrying a white hard hat caked with concrete Tuesday night. He said once workers descend into the tunnels, they almost always come out covered with concrete. He also said he wasn’t surprised by the accident because he believed it was only “a matter of time” before something like this happened. “Normally, when you have a project so big in scope, some type of accident is bound to happen,” Putnam said. The Cobb County Water System started construction of the tunnel in September 2000 to relieve some of the strain from two other sewer lines that are near capacity. The deep tunnel method is being used to minimize disruptions to the community and the environment, according to the project’s Web site. What would have been 15 miles of traditional sewer lines have been reduced to a 9.5-mile direct path between the Indian Hills subdivision drop shaft and the R.L. Sutton Water Reclamation Facility. The 18-foot-diameter rock tunnel is about 49,600 feet long and runs at depths of 110 feet to 350 feet below ground. Staff writers Jim Galloway, Doug Payne and Bryan Long contributed to this article.

Jury awards man $6.1 million for factory accident
By EMILY KERN, Westside bureau

PORT ALLEN — A West Baton Rouge Parish jury awarded $6.1 million to a man who fell into a pit of boiling acid water while on the job at Cinclare Central Factory. Judge Sharah Harris of 18th Judicial District Court presided over the trial. Robert Lewis Jr., 32, had been employed at Cinclare’s for only a few days when, on Nov. 1, 1999 , he went to get a drink of water from a fountain near the factory’s back door, the lawsuit contends. After getting the drink, he walked through the back door and slipped into the pit, Lewis claimed in his lawsuit. Lewis “struggled to keep his head above water” and “furiously dog paddled to the bank,” the suit says. He “crawled onto the side of the pit and ran back into the factory,” where a co-worker took him up to the fourth floor to get first aid, the petition said. He later was taken to the Baton Rouge General Medical Center emergency room and transferred to the burn unit. Lewis suffered severe burns on 85 percent of his body and now is unable to care for himself, the lawsuit says. According to the suit, the day after Lewis was injured someone erected a fence around the pit and a warning sign. The jury found that Cinclare Central Factory was 50 percent liable for Lewis’ injuries, Louisiana Safety Consultants Inc. was 40 percent liable, and Lewis was 10 percent liable, said attorney Rick Stolzle, who represented Lewis. But because the state’s worker’s compensation law does not allow an employee to sue an employer, Lewis will receive only 40 percent of the money awarded, Stolzle said. Stolzle said his client had already settled with Cinclare for an undisclosed amount of money. The verdict form shows that the jury awarded Lewis approximately $566,000 for past medical expenses, $2 million for future medical expenses, $250,000 for past mental anguish and distress, $750,000 for future mental anguish and distress, $800,000 for past physical pain and suffering, and $500,000 for future pain and suffering. The jury also awarded Lewis approximately $33,000 for past loss of earnings and income earning capacity, $230,000 for future loss of earnings and income earning capacity, $50,000 for past loss of enjoyment of life, and $1 million for future loss of enjoyment of life and scarring and disfigurement. Stolzle said this case was the worst burn case he had seen in 25 years of practice. “It was a complicated case,” he said, but the jury listened intently during the weeklong trial. Local attorney Tony Clayton assisted in the trial, Stolzle said. Ronald G. Olivier of Louisiana Safety Consultants in New Iberia referred all questions to his attorney, Kevin Landreneau of Baton Rouge . The consulting company’s role was to “advise, plan, consult and monitor” the factory’s owners and employers regarding safety procedures and practices, the lawsuit says. According to the petition, “Olivier failed to use reasonable care to warn employees of the danger and to take reasonable action to protect against the danger.” Landreneau said he thought the case was well litigated on both sides, but he said he was disappointed with the verdict. He said the jury did not get its instructions until midnight Friday, which he said is unusual, and reached its verdict shortly after 4 a.m. “I believe there are numerous appealable issues in this case,” Landreneau said.

Man dies after falling into machinery

It is reported that a man in his 50’s has died after falling into machinery at the Stowe Woodward factory in Glenrothes, Fife, which produces roll coverings for the papermaking industry. It has yet to be established whether he died from head injuries in the fall or from a sudden illness at that time.

Window cleaner dies in fall
It is reported that a window cleaner has died after falling 25 metres while working on an office building at the weekend. The accident occurred at the Pennine House block in Bradford on Saturday morning.