Construction Accidents Page 4

Construction Accidents Page #4

This page was last updated on  05/06/2010

UPDATE Work deaths result in fines
By Robert Boyer, STAFF WRITER April 05, 2003 
Three contractors have been cited for safety violations in connection with a High Point construction accident that killed a Randleman man six months ago. Charles Edward Weiss, 55, died Oct. 3 when he fell onto a concrete floor while installing corrugated metal decking onto the rafters of a building under construction in the 600 block of Pegg Road. Samet Corp., the Greensboro general contractor in charge, along with two Randleman subcontractors, Contract Erectors and W-3 Decking, Weiss’ company, were cited for “not utilizing fall-protection devices” that were on site, said N.C. Department of a Labor spokeswoman Dolores Quesenberry. Samet was fined $2,100, Contract Erectors $1,750 and W-3 $1,050, Quesenberry said. W-3 was fined an additional $1,050 because investigators determined that the company had a controlled decking installation area that was too large. Quesenberry said under state regulations, decking installers are allowed to work without wearing safety devices in such areas, provided the area is smaller than 90-by-90-feet. The rulings came after a nearly six-month state Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation. Two of the contractors said Friday they aren’t at fault. “The (safety) equipment was there and it was being utilized,” said Mark Stinson, Contract Erectors general manager. Weiss, said Stinson, was wearing a safety harness, but “didn’t have it tied on” when he fell from a height of 26 feet. Stinson said according to regulations that went into effect March 2002, workers less than 30 feet above ground don’t have to be secured to a safety line. Stinson said the secure decking area in use the day of the mishap wasn’t too large. “We don’t agree with it,” Stinson said of the ruling. “We did everything we were supposed to do.” “We still feel that at the time of the accident, we were in compliance with the regulations,” said Samet Vice President Marshall Tuck. Tuck and Stinson said they will talk with state labor officials in an effort to overturn the citations and fines. A W-3 official couldn’t be reached for comment. Quesenberry said companies have 15 days from the date of notification to request an “informal conference” with an area OSHA supervisor to appeal such rulings. Settlements are usually reached within several weeks of a conference, she said. Weiss’ death was the second in less than three weeks at the site. Juan Jose Mayo Uyoa, 30, of Randleman, died Sept. 16 when a crane boom lifting about 5 tons of rafters snapped and dropped the load, crushing Uyoa underneath. Investigators blamed his death on a broken piston rod that caused the boom to move downward and snap when it hit the wall. An investigation cleared the three contractors of any violations or responsibility in Uyoa’s death. 

Westminster garage collapse injures 3; Construction workers ‘rode down’ concrete; accident is investigated 
By Athima Chansanchai and Jennifer McMenamin Sun Staff Originally published April 4, 2003
A section of a parking garage under construction in Westminster collapsed yesterday morning, sending part of a 30-ton concrete deck crashing to the ground and injuring three workers. Authorities and workers at the site said that construction crews were installing a 60-foot- by-12-foot concrete section on the top tier of the three-level garage when something went wrong. “It was a piece of the flooring that you’d drive your car on. They were installing that, and it was not completely in place,” said Maj. Dean A. Brewer of the Westminster police. “It came down, and part of it caught the second level.” The concrete slab, known in the construction business as a “double-T beam,” was split lengthwise in the collapse. Parts of it remained hanging from a crane amid a pile of rubble. Two of the injured men apparently were working on the top deck at about 10:15 a.m. when the concrete gave way and the workers “rode it down,” a paramedic on the scene said. Terry Dee White, 40, a construction foreman from Bunker Hill, W.Va., and welder Serafin Louis Soto, 34, of Arlington, Va., were flown by helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Both men were released at 6:30 p.m., a nursing coordinator said last night. Tom Rio, 47, a Taneytown firefighter and emergency medical technician who helped Westminster paramedics attend to the injured men, said that both had bruises and that Soto complained of leg pain. The two were flown out because of concerns about possible internal bleeding and spinal injuries. A third worker, Herbas Pablo Cano, 42, was taken by ambulance to Carroll County General Hospital with minor injuries. He was treated and released by 12:30 p.m. All three men work for Baltimore-based E.E. Marr Erectors, Inc., the crane company working on the garage project, according to Kirk Edwards, the company’s vice president. Witnesses, police and construction workers at the site offered conflicting versions of what happened, alternately describing a cracking of the concrete or a snapping of the crane cable that was hoisting the large beam atop the garage. Brewer said that inspectors with Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Program told him there was “no breakage of the cable,” but that someone who specializes in cables will inspect them. Edwards declined to comment. Craig A. Musser, human resource manager and safety director with Nitterhouse Concrete Products Inc. of Chambersburg, Pa., was at the accident site yesterday afternoon but also would not discuss the collapse. Mangers with Kinsley Construction, the general contractor on the job, declined comment at the parking garage and did not return a call to their York County, Pa., office. Rio was volunteering at a downtown support center for the mentally ill when he heard the crash. He said he ran to the scene and found paramedics working on the injured men. Rio said the workers described the falling concrete and how they “rode it down.” Two MedEvac helicopters landed in the Westminster City Playground, just across the street from the $2.85 million parking garage going up in the Longwell parking lot between City Hall and Main Street. But White and Soto were flown out in the same chopper. The collapse left chunks of the concrete section dangling from two taut cables and a third slack wire. It created a backup of trucks waiting to deliver concrete slabs for installation in the parking decks. And it shook nearby houses and businesses, drawing out office workers, shoppers and motorists to gape and speculate. “Dust was flying, the sound was unbelievable and guys were running and calling, ‘It’s falling in,'” said Sharon Cornish of Westminster, who had just arrived at a nearby parking lot when she and her friends heard a loud boom. “I started praying right away.” Jaime Paz, 32, of Arlington, Va., who also works for the crane company, said he saw the concrete section “start to crack before it fell.” “I heard the noise, I ran and the floor caved in,” he added. Gerri Gartrell, 22, of Westminster, described seeing the concrete section jackknife either before or as it fell. “I looked up and the beam was straight across and then it was like the beam snapped in the middle,” Gartrell said. “All the workers on the roof came running down. If it breaks that easily now, how will it hold cars?” Karen Napolitano, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, said that MOSH is investigating the accident. Brewer said the construction project – which had been slated for completion in July – is on hold indefinitely. “Construction is at a standstill until [state inspectors] release the scene,” he said. “It could be a day. It could be a week.” Sun staff writers Mary Gail Hare and Ellie Baublitz contributed to this article. 

UPDATE State fines Grand Ledge company
Lansing State Journal
The state has ordered a Grand Ledge construction company to pay $5,100 in fines after a trench accident in January killed a Portland man. The state Department of Consumer and Industry Services’ Bureau of Safety and Regulation cited Precision Plumbing for four serious violations under construction safety standards. The company must pay and correct the problems. It can appeal within 15 days. Arthur Krass, 43, was trapped 15 feet below ground when a ditch’s dirt walls collapsed while he was installing plumbing at a home under construction in a Holt subdivision. Neither Krass’ family nor the company could be reached for comment Thursday. The violations are: No accident prevention program was developed, maintained or coordinated with employees. Fine: $1,050 No ladder or other type of proper access or egress was provided to employees. Fine: $1,050 The excavation was not properly sloped for safely making a sewer and water tap. Fine: $1,500 Precision failed to report the death of an employee within the required eight hours. Fine: $1,500 

Worker’s Leg Caught In Trenching Equipment 
Friday April 04, 2003 1:53pm 
Oklahoma City (AP) – A man suffered serious injuries this morning when his leg became caught in a trencher in Oklahoma City. The man’s name was not immediately released. Fire Major Brian Stanaland says the man was working to install a conduit for underground electrical lines at a construction site. Stanaland says the man’s leg became caught in the digging chain nearly up to his thigh. Stanaland says rescuers unbolted the belts to the chain and cut through a safety bar to free the man’s leg. 

Two injured in garage construction accident
Lisa Florkowskicavalier Daily
Yesterday’s accident at the Emmet Street parking garage site occured when a concrete slab attached to a crane fell from its fixture. The two workers who were riding on the beam at the time sustained injuries and were taken to the University Medical Center for treatment. Two workers sustained injuries and broken bones yesterday at the construction site of the new Emmet Street parking garage when a concrete slab fell, according to University Police Sgt. Melissa Fielding. “About 1:45 today there were two constructions workers on top of a concrete slab that was being lifted by a crane,” Fielding said. “The concrete slab holding the employees dropped 20 feet, injuring them.” The problem stemmed from a piece of metal that was already supposed to be welded to the slab, she said. Fielding could not detail the injuries sustained by the workers, whose names have not yet been released. Both were taken to the University Medical Center. “All I know about their injuries is that they were transported to the emergency room for treatment,” Fielding said. At the site of the accident, Kurt Gould, an employee with Donley’s Construction, Co., shed some light into the nature of the accident. “Basically, we had an erection error — very simple,” he said. University Spokesperson Carol Wood offered some details of the events that transpired. “At about two this afternoon a precast concrete T fell at the parking garage construction site,” she said. Wood added that one worker “immediately was taken to the hospital with back injuries. He was conscious and alert.” 

UPDATE Potentially Fatal Westwood, Mass., Construction Accident Results in OSHA Citations and $224,000 in Proposed Penalties for Employers
BOSTON — Exposing employees to potentially fatal safety hazards at a Westwood, Mass., construction site has resulted in two Massachusetts employers and one Vermont employer being cited and fined a total of $224,000 by the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA has cited Jan Five, doing business as Alexandra Construction, and Epernay Design and Construction, Inc., both of Newton, Mass., as well as Northern Construction Dynamics of Hyde Park, Vt., for alleged willful violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act after the agency investigated an Oct. 1, 2002, accident at the Westwood High School construction project. In the accident, a 55-foot steel column toppled over after it had been placed on its foundation as soon as the crane line holding it was released. “Fortunately, no one was injured in this incident, which could have had tragic consequences,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “These companies knew the safety standards they should have been following, and they all are being cited for willful violations of the law.” According to Brenda Gordon, OSHA’s area director for southeastern Massachusetts, Alexandra Construction, as the general contractor on the site, is being cited for three willful violations, including: allowing steel erection to begin before foundation material was sufficiently strong, and before giving written notification to the steel erector; allowing steel erection to begin before giving written notification to the steel erector that anchor bolts had been repaired; and modifying anchor bolts in an unsafe manner without the approval of the engineer of record. This company is also being cited for one other-than-serious violation for failing to secure a compressed gas cylinder. The total proposed penalty for this contractor is $126,000. Epernay Design and Construction is being cited for a willful violation, with a proposed penalty of $56,000, for modifying anchor bolts in an unsafe manner without the approval of the engineer of record. Epernay Design and Construction was in charge of preparing the foundation of the building prior to steel erection. Northern Construction Dynamics, the steel erection contractor, is being cited for one willful violation for beginning to erect steel before receiving written notification from the controlling contractor that foundation material had sufficient strength to support the steel. It is also cited for an other-than-serious violation for providing a discharged fire extinguisher for emergency use. The company’s total proposed penalty is $42,000. A willful violation is defined by OSHA as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations. OSHA’s area office in Braintree, Mass., conducted the inspection. Its telephone number is 617-565-6924. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is dedicated to saving lives, preventing injuries and illnesses, and protecting America’s workers. Safety and health add value to business, the workplace and life. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

Construction Accident Injures Workers In Westminster. 
Apr 3, 2003 1:02 pm US/Eastern
A crane operator says he was laying a concrete slab when it fell onto the top of the garage causing a partial collapse, which knocked 3 workers off the structure. Two of the workers were flown to Shock Trauma, a third worker was taken by ambulance. So far, there’s no word on the three workers conditions.

Cedartown man killed in construction accident 
04/03/03 By Matt Tuck, Copy Editor 
A 25-year-old Cedartown resident was fatally injured in a construction accident on Monday, March 31. The Cedartown Fire Department reported that the victim, Joaquin T. Domingo, was part of the construction crew charged with widening US 27. At approximately 2:27 p.m., members of Bruce Albea Contracting of Rockmart were burying what is being called “large water runoff pipes.” Fire Department officials said that normally when installing the pipes, one of the workers will stand inside the section as it is being placed into the ground. A Track Hoe is then used to position the pipe after the worker is at a safe distance. It is believed that Domingo was guiding the section of pipe as it was lowered, but was not out of harm’s way before the Track Hoe was used. “The Hitachi EX230LC operator was backing the machine after pipe alignment,” the report said. “He was given the ‘all clear.’” No one was aware that Domingo was still in the pipe when the “bucket” or “scoop” of the Track Hoe was lowered into the work site. The ictim was accidentally struck across the head and upper body. EMS and police officials were quickly on the scene. When they arrived, Domingo was lying unconscious in the trench with severe head injuries. Sgt. Joy Nolen said that the victim was breathing when EMS officials arrived. “We secured the area and directed traffic,” she said. “Pretty much, we got out of the way and allowed emergency personnel to work on [Domingo].” Initially, Nolen said, a helicopter was dispatched to the accident scene; emergency officials soon felt it was too late. “We secured the Kroger parking lot for a Life Flight, but it was cancelled,” the officer stated. Domingo was later pronounced dead. 

Worker killed at construction site 
A man was killed Wednesday morning when roofing beams fell onto him during construction of a house in Yorba Linda, police said. David Valdonivos, 26, of Santa Ana was standing near the truck from which bundles of six roof trusses each were being lifted by a forklift. Six or seven bundles fell nine feet, striking him on the head and pinning him. The bundles weigh about 300 pounds each. Workers quickly removed the trusses by hand and found Valdonivos dead. He was wearing a hard hat. Valdonivos was working for a plumbing subcontractor not associated with the operators of the forklift. The accident happened in the 17000 block of Coriander Street.

Man injured in fall from roof
By Dorrance Johnson, Staff Correspondent April 03, 2003 
BRANFORD – The State Labor Department’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating a local mishap in which a construction worker was injured last Wednesday morning when he fell from a scaffold that was erected for renovations on a house at 65 Summer Island Road. Fellow workers, who did not actually witness the fall, found the 36-year-old man apparently unconscious on the ground. The workers were last aware that the man had been working atop the scaffold, which was estimated to have been approximately 25 feet off the ground. Branford Fire Department Paramedics were summoned to the 10:34 a.m. incident and raced to aid the injured worker. When they arrived, they found him to be conscious and suffering from the effects of the fall. According to Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Mahoney, the worker was apparently involved in either “roofing” the house or performing other work in the roof area and may have been in the process of ascending a “catwalk” when he fell to the ground below. “His injuries appeared to be serious,” Mahoney said. The injured worker, who is employed by Beavis Roofing and Siding, was stabilized by paramedics at the scene and transported to Yale New Haven Hospital where, at last report, he was undergoing treatment for injuries to his head, chest and legs. Authorities withheld the injured worker’s name pending notification of his family. 

Wall crushes construction workers to death
A wall crashed on two construction workers as they were dismantling a Tokyo building on Thursday, crushing them to death, police said. Police said the workers were at the site in Tokyo’s Meguro-ku when an outer walling of the building suddenly collapsed at about 2:05 p.m., pinning them underneath. The men were rushed to hospital after the accident but had died by the time they arrived of heart and lung failure. Tokyo Fire Department officials said the wall that fell on the workers was about 3 meters tall, 5 meters wide, and 20 centimeters thick. The building from which the wall fell was three stories high, and the wall had fallen on the men from the second floor, officials said. (Mainichi Shimbun, April 3, 2003)

Concrete slab crushes, kills construction worker 
PHILIPSBURG–A construction worker was fatally injured when a slab of concrete fell on him, crushing him against a wall in Saunders Tuesday morning. Eyewitnesses said the man Dennis Ettenatte (29) from Dominica had been cutting the back part of a concrete slab housing GEBE’s fuse box and meters with a concrete cutting machine when the solid concrete panel started to fall backwards. As a result the victim was trapped between the slab and the wall of a house on Arbutus Road. The man apparently screamed, trying to alert people in nearby houses. The person living in the house in front of which the accident took place looked outside, but said he hadn’t seen anything unusual. Passersby stopped and managed to slightly move the heavy piece of concrete, freeing the trapped man. The victim slumped down in front of the wall and died a few minutes later. Police were called. Before the Ambulance Department arrived, officers had already determined that Ettenatte didn’t have a pulse. A sheet was placed to cover the body unt the funeral home employees came to take it away. A family member, presumed to be a sister of the deceased, could be heard wailing. The incident, which took place around 8:15am, drew a large crowd. Management of GEBE also came to the scene, later followed by the technical department TOD of police and head of the inspection department of ROB Henry Ellis. Witnesses were interviewed and with the help of a GEBE truck the incident was reenacted. The slab was placed back against the wall, to determine how the victim had been trapped. Ettenatte worked for Joe Construction, a subcontractor that has been working in the area for several weeks, putting in underground cabling for GEBE. The victim, who lived in Reward Estate, was preparing the slab to be placed in a nearby hole. The slab had been resting on a couple of rocks to stabilize it. The area where the slab was resting was uneven. Witnesses questioned safety conditions, saying that Ettenatte should not have been working alone when cutting the slab. The victim apparently died of internal injuries, stated Police Spokesman Inspector Geronimo Juliet. The body has been confiscated for an autopsy. 

Stairway collapse injures 2 workers 
Wednesday, April 2, 2003 By ASHANTI M. ALVAREZ STAFF WRITER 
PATERSON – Two construction workers were seriously hurt Wednesday morning when a staircase landing collapsed beneath them inside a building they were renovating at Passaic County Community College, authorities said. The workers – Edward Lock, 50, and Dan Fisher, 32 – were demolishing concrete stairs at 218 Memorial Drive and were between the first and second floors when the landing gave way at 11:30 a.m., said Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Murray. Other construction workers ran out to get help, and by happenstance, found police Sgt. Diane Hanley and Mark Veenema, chief of paramedics at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, nearby. Both men were taken to St. Joseph’s, where Lock, of Rockville Center, N.Y., was in critical but stable condition with head, back, and leg injuries; and Fisher, of Middle Island, N.Y., was stabilized with multiple fractures in one leg. The landing was left hanging by reinforcement bars in the middle of the concrete building, Murray said, preventing the massive block of cement from landing on top of the men. The city Building Department and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration were notified, Murray said. The building is the future site of a community technology center, PCCC President Steven Rose said. Rose said that OSHA officials suggested ways to make the work site safer, but said that the workers took proper precautions by wearing harnesses. The college leased the building from the city of Paterson in 2000, and has been using a $400,000 federal grant along with other funds to renovate the interior and exterior, Rose said. Tuesday’s accident did not impede the construction schedule, he said. 

UPDATE Bayview-Wellington Homes (Port Union) Inc. fined $400,000 for health and safety violations
TORONTO, April 1 /CNW/ – Bayview-Wellington Homes (Port Union) Inc., a Concord, Ont.-based residential construction company, was fined $400,000 on March 27, 2003 for two violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act that resulted in the death of a young worker at a townhouse development in Toronto’s east end. On November 23, 1999, a worker was moving a 7.3-metre-high (24-foot) aluminum extension ladder from one townhouse to another when the ladder came in contact with live 13,800-volt overhead power lines. The lowest of the power lines was 6.4 metres (21 feet) off the ground and about 4.9 metres (16 feet) away from the front of the two-storey townhouses. The worker received an electrical shock and died three days later at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. The incident occurred at a townhouse construction project in the 5400-block of Lawrence Avenue East in Scarborough. The townhouses were being developed by Bayview-Wellington Homes (Port Union) Inc., which had subcontracted the eavestrough work to an aluminum company, which, in turn, had subcontracted the work to another aluminum company, which employed the deceased worker. Following a trial, Bayview-Wellington Homes (Port Union) Inc. was found guilty, as a constructor, of: 1. Failing to ensure the ladder was not brought within three metres (9.8 feet) of an energized overhead electrical conductor rated between 750 to 150,000 volts, as required by Section 186(1) of the regulations for Construction Projects. This was contrary to Section 23(1)(a) of the act; and 2. Failing to ensure the worker was not endangered by electrical shock from overhead electrical conductors and that the conductors located adjacent to the construction project were covered or otherwise made safe for workers. This was contrary to Section 23(1)(c) of the act. Justice of the Peace Stephen Waisberg, of the Ontario Court of Justice at old City Hall in Toronto, fined the company $200,000 on each count. In addition, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act. 

UPDATE Silvercreek Commercial Interiors Inc. fined $87,500 for health and safety violations
BURLINGTON, ON, April 1 /CNW/ – Silvercreek Commercial Interiors Inc., a Georgetown Ontario-based company that provides commercial construction services, was fined $87,500 today for two separate violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act that resulted in the injury of two workers. Both incidents occurred during the renovation of a commercial building on Fairview Street in Burlington. On July 25, 2001, a worker, employed by a subcontractor, was removing a tarpaulin from the roof of the commercial building. The worker was walking backward while pulling the tarpaulin and tripped over a curb surrounding an opening in the roof and fell through the hole. The worker suffered a cracked vertebra, a laceration to the head and a bruised shoulder. A Ministry of Labour investigation determined that the opening in the roof was not protected by a guardrail or a protective covering. Silvercreek Commercial Interiors Inc. pleaded guilty, as a constructor, to failing to ensure that a worker was protected from falling through an opening on a work surface. This was contrary to Section 26.3(2) of the Regulations for Construction Projects and Section 23(1)(a) of the act. The court imposed a fine of $37,500. On August 29, 2001, a worker, employed by a subcontractor, was spraying fireproofing material to the ceiling of the same building from the top of a movable scaffold. The scaffold, on wheels, was positioned over a trench dug in the floor to install piping and supported by a metal plate. Before brakes could be applied, the scaffold rolled into the trench and toppled, causing the worker to fall. The worker was rendered unconscious, and suffered a fractured pelvis and multiple scrapes and bruises. A Ministry of Labour investigation determined that the worker was not protected by a fall arrest system. Silvercreek Commercial Interiors Inc. pleaded guilty to failing, as a constructor, to ensure that a scaffold mounted on castors or wheels is not moved while a worker is on it, unless the worker is protected by a fall arrest system, and the scaffold is being moved on a firm and level surface. This was contrary to Section 129(3) of the Regulations for Construction Projects and Section 23(1)(a) of the act. The court imposed a fine of $50,000. The fines were imposed by Justice of the Peace Barry Quinn of the Ontario court of Justice in Burlington. In addition, the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act.

2 workers crushed when guardrail falls; OSHA investigating deaths of men who were installing rail
ALICE GREGORY AND DÁNICA COTO Staff Writers
MOORESBORO – Two men died Monday afternoon after a guardrail they were going to install crushed them when it fell from a truck, Cleveland County sheriff officials said. Cipriano Cortez of Spartanburg died instantly. He was 33. Abelardo Ortiz Resendiz, whose age and address were unknown, was taken to Cleveland Regional Medical Center in Shelby and later transported to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where he died. Cortez’s family refused comment Monday night. The accident happened about 2 p.m. on U.S. 74 west of Mooresboro east of the N.C. 120 intersection. Both men worked for Bagwell Fence Co., a Spartanburg-based company that installed fences and guardrails for the N.C. Department of Transportation. This is the first fatal accident for the company of about 50 employees, said co-owner Bill Bagwell from his Spartanburg home Monday night. “One of them had only worked for us for three weeks,” Bagwell said. “The other had come in November. It is pretty upsetting.” The Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration was notified of the accident and is investigating.

Helicopter lands in local schoolyard 
03/30/03 00:00:00
An elementary schoolyard doubled as a helicopter-landing pad for an air ambulance Friday morning when a man severed a major artery in a construction accident in the northwest end of the city. The man fell from scaffolding at a construction site near Fletcher’s Creek Boulevard, in the area of Chinguacousy Road and Bovaird Drive, at 11:20 a.m. He cut his arm with a saw, severing a major artery, according to reports from Peel police. He was flown to a Toronto hospital and his condition was unknown at press time Friday. The Ministry of Labour is investigating.

Man crushed in wind farm accident
Tuesday, 1 April 2003
A 49-year-old man is believed to have sustained serious injuries in an accident at the Challicum Hills Wind Farm yesterday. It’s understood the man was crushed between two blades of a wind turbine. Rural Ambulance Victoria media officer Joanne Hill said paramedics who had treated the man at the scene reported that he had sustained internal chest injuries. “He was in a serious condition,” she said. The victim was taken from the scene by air ambulance and flown to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. Three road ambulances were also called to the Challicum Hills site following the accident which happened about 1.30pm. A spokesperson for Pacific Hydro, the company which owns the wind farm currently under construction, had no details available on the accident late yesterday.

Investigation under way after crane topples onto highway
Investigators are trying to determine the cause of an accident Saturday evening involving a hydraulic boom crane at the I-280/Maumee River bridge construction site. Luckily, the road was closed because of the construction and the accident did not hinder traffic. The stretch of the highway where the incident occurred was expected to open at 6 a.m. today. The crane was lifting a 58,000-pound concrete form when it tipped over into the northbound lane of I-280 about 5:30 p.m. The name of the operator, who was treated for a cut finger at a local hospital, was not released by the bridge contractor, Fru-Con, Inc., of Ballwin, Mo. The crane was working on a section of the bridge approach between Front Street and Starr Avenue. Joe Rutherford, an Ohio Department of Transportation spokesman, said the I-280 shutdown was the fourth of 10 planned weekend closings related to construction of five concrete piers that support the roadway leading onto the new bridge. “Anytime we’re going to be doing lifting of heavy equipment over traffic, we don’t want any traffic on the road at all. That’s the reason we close,” he said. Workers spent yesterday cleaning debris from the accident and removing the damaged crane and form, which fell from a height of about 60 feet. He said Fru-Con is looking for a new crane. The expressway is scheduled to be closed this weekend for additional pier construction if the company finds a replacement crane and form in time, he said. Such cranes can lift up to 250,000 pounds. Construction of the cable-stayed bridge began a year ago and is scheduled for completion in 2006. Additional I-280 closings for other bridge construction work also are scheduled. But Mr. Rutherford said during the heavy traffic period of Memorial Day through Labor Day, weekend closings will be dropped in favor of 7 p.m.-6 a.m. weekday closings. 

NEW: Construction worker falls four stories to his death 
By Sonja Garza Express-News Staff Writer Web Posted : 03/31/2003 5:30 PM 
A worker for a local plaster company died today after tumbling four stories from a hotel under construction just east of downtown. Martin Machado, 43, fell at about 2:15 p.m. while working on a new Holiday Inn Express at 1309 E. Commerce St. He was dead upon arrival at Brooke Army Medical Center, a hospital official said. San Antonio police officer K. Bender said the fall appears to be an accident, but police are investigating. Witnesses reported hearing a commotion immediately before Machado plunged about 40 feet to the pavement, police said. Eyewitness Dan Martin said the man tried to grasp a bar on the way down before he flipped, struck a stack of bricks and hit the street below. Clint Baker, construction project supervisor, said it was unclear whether the worker lost his balance while atop a ladder or fell from the scaffolding. Machado was employed by Arahed Lath & Plastering Corp.

A construction worker fell four floors
A construction worker fell four floors to his death while working inside a West Village building yesterday, police said. Cops said the man was working inside an unoccupied building at 600 Washington St. at 11:30 a.m. when he plunged from the fourth floor.

Carpenter injured in LBT fall
From Press staff reports
LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP – Long Beach Township Deputy Chief Leslie Houston said that a 46-year-old carpenter from Forked River fell 15-feet off a ladder while working outside the Haven Beach Yacht Club on Wednesday. The worker, who was airlifted from the scene by New Jersey State Police’s SouthStar helicopter, may have suffered “possible spinal injuries.” The accident took place at 112th Street and Long Beach Boulevard, where Houston believed renovations were being done. She could not confirm what hospital the man was taken to. The man’s name was not released. Four Long Beach Township officers responded to the scene as well as EMT workers from the Beach Haven First Aid Squad’s Ship Bottom division. Houston said that a call came in at 8:51 a.m. from Haven Beach Yacht Club employees who witnessed the fall.

Gas Fumes Float Into Local School, Students Hospitalized; Trench Collapse Damaged Gas Line Near Building
CINCINNATI — Several children were hospitalized after natural gas fumes wafted into a local school Thursday afternoon. Five students at White Oak Middle School on Jessup Road in Green Township were taken to local hospitals just after noon after complaining of illness, WLWT Eyewitness News 5 reported. The gas fumes were traced to a construction site near the school. A spokesman for Cinergy said that a trench collapsed at the site and damaged a gas main. The school’s principal said that the windy, warm weather prompted some teachers to open classroom windows Thursday afternoon, and the wind blew the fumes into the school. Cinergy shut off the gas flow to the line, leaving about nearby 15 homes without power. Crews from Cinergy checked out the school, but no leaks were found in the building. Additional details are not available. Stay tuned to WLWT Eyewitness News 5 and refresh your ChannelCincinnati.com page for updates.

UPDATE Manslaughter trial starts for contractor in building collapse
By SAMUEL MAULL Associated Press Writer March 26, 2003, 6:45 PM EST
NEW YORK — Recklessness and greed caused a Manhattan building collapse that killed one worker and severely injured three others last summer, a prosecutor charged Wednesday at the opening of a contractor’s manslaughter trial. Assistant District Attorney Daniel Cort said the tragic mishap occurred because Shunkun “Michael” Tam, owner of Tamco Corp., used inexperienced laborers and rushed or ignored some preparatory work so he could save money. The result of Tam’s reckless approach to renovating the townhouse on East 61st Street was the death of 41-year-old Antonio Romano on May 16, 2002, Cort said. Tam, of Brooklyn, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in Romano’s death. “This is the story of a homicide committed by the defendant (Tam) because he was greedy,” Cort told the State Supreme Court jury in opening remarks. Tam’s lawyer, Barry S. Turner, called the collapse a “tragic accident” for which his client was not responsible. Turner said Tam was rarely at the site _ two or three times a week _ and that his foreman, Cheung Keat “Ken” Ai, 33, caused the accident because he failed to follow instructions. Turner noted that Ai, who will testify for the prosecution, has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in exchange for minimum sentence of one to three years and a maximum of two to six years in prison. Tam faces up to seven years if convicted. Tam, 49, is also charged with assault and reckless endangerment because of injuries to Swee Kheong Tang, 37, Jian Zhang Zheng, 31, and Kok Choy Yeen, 41, in the collapse. The workers were hurt while renovating a five-story town house for Fabio Granato, owner of the Serafina restaurant. Granato said he planned to put in a Japanese eatery called Geisha and a triplex apartment for himself on the top floors. After the workers gutted the building and removed its roof and wooden support beams, they improperly installed steel beams _ called joists _ to support the remaining walls, Cort said. He said the workers then laid steel decking over those beams. Meanwhile, he said, the workers used pulleys to raise thousands of pounds of cinder blocks onto the unsecured steel decking. Soon, Cort said, the cinder blocks’ weight caused the improperly supported walls to collapse. Granato, the first witness, said he had stopped by to check the progress of the work when the collapse happened. “I was there having a meeting and then I hear a big noise,” he said. “Everybody ran out onto the street and I ran out onto the street.” The prosecutor said Tam had seen the dangerous condition created by the piles of cinder blocks. “But he didn’t stop the loading,” Cort said. “He didn’t do that because any delay might have cost him money.” More than a dozen $55-a-day workers were buried under debris, police said at the time. Most staggered out with minor injuries, but three were badly hurt and Romano, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was crushed under the cement and metal and killed. Cort said only two out of 20 workers had any safety equipment, and Tam had built no protective shed to protect passers-by from falling debris. 

Firefighters rescue man from 350-foot chimney
By Alicia A. Caldwell Sentinel Staff Writer Posted March 26 2003 
DEBARY — A worker helping to dismantle two smokestacks that tower over Interstate 4 in southwestern Volusia County was lowered to safety from the top of one of them in a dramatic rescue Tuesday morning. The Controlled Demolition Inc. worker, whose name was not released, began suffering severe abdominal pain shortly after 8 a.m. and could not climb down from the 350-foot smokestack on his own, Volusia County Fire Services spokeswoman Mary Dorn said. Firefighters from Seminole and Volusia counties scaled the tower at the Florida Power & Light Co. plant to reach him. About 50 firefighters helped in the dangerous rescue, Dorn said. Once rescuers determined the man was stable enough to be moved, they were faced with the tricky proposition of how to get him safely down. They initially planned to bring him down inside the smokestack but instead decided it was safer to lower him down the caged ladder outside the stack. It is just a straight drop inside and is riddled with jagged edges,” said Kathy Weaver, deputy chief of Volusia’s Fire Services. The man, who was estimated to weigh 225 pounds, was strapped to a rescue harness and basket and lowered feet-first via a rope-and-pulley system while Seminole firefighter Heath Gifford guided him down. Aaron Nix, from Volusia Fire Services, was below the man as Gifford eased him down the enclosed ladder. “He was kind of nervous,” Nix said of the construction worker. “But this is what you train for. We’ve practiced this time and time again.” Nix and other Volusia firefighters have practiced for this type of emergency several times during the past few years. Weaver said when demolition started on the smokestacks, fire officials contacted the demolition company to develop a response plan for just such an emergency. “It worked like clockwork,” Weaver said. The trio safely reached the bottom about 11:30 a.m., and the man was taken to Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City, where he was treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said. The red-and-white-striped towers near the t. Johns River, landmarks since the 1970s, are no longer needed because of the plant’s nearly completed switch from oil to natural gas. The towers are being brought down piece by piece, because they are too close to other plant structures, including natural-gas lines, to use explosives.

Three injured when scaffolding collapses 
Last updated: Mar 24, 11:26 PM 
ORMOND BEACH — Three construction workers were injured Monday when 15-foot-high scaffolding they were on collapsed, fire officials said. None of the injuries were life threatening following the 2 p.m. accident at the Discovery Professional Plaza construction site near the intersection of Granada Boulevard and Interstate 95, said Ormond Beach Fire Department Capt. Jim Shaw. The men were not wearing safety harnesses, and it’s not clear if there were any guardrails on the scaffold that crumpled into a twisted pile after it failed, officials said. The injured men were in a rear area of the office building they’re helping to construct. Two of the men did not appear to be seriously hurt, and one walked a short distance after the collapse, Shaw said. But the third man fell onto some 8-inch by 16-inch cement blocks and had some of the blocks on top of him when he was found laying face down, Shaw said. That third man was in stable condition when he was taken by EVAC ambulance to Halifax Medical Center, he said. One of the other men was also taken to the hospital, and the remaining worker refused treatment, Shaw said. Officials at the scene said they did not know the men’s names, but Shaw said one appeared to be in his 40s and the other two were in their 20s. Inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were notified and are expected to be on the site today. A city government inspector and fire inspector examined the scene Monday afternoon. 

Landslide kills road worker
HANAYAMA, Miyagi — A worker died and another was injured after being hit by a landslide during road repair works here Tuesday morning, police said. At around 9:50 a.m., a landslide occurred along the Honsawaaki Dori street in Hanayama where road repair works were under way and buried a man and a woman working at the site, police said. One of them, Mitsuo Honda, 56, died after being rushed to hospital with serious injuries. The other, 61-year-old Satako Sato, suffered serious injuries but her condition is not life threatening, police said. (Mainichi Shimbun, March 25, 2003) 

Lewiston police investigate elevator accident
Tuesday, March25, 2003, 1:59 PM By NewsRadio WMTW Staff 870/1470 AM and 106.7 FM
LEWISTON — Lewiston police are investigating a report of an elevator accident at 76 High St., a building of doctors’ offices adjacent to Central Maine Medical Center. Lt. Paul Harmon said they received a call around 12:45 from someone who said the elevator had fallen “some distance.” Lewiston police said a construction worker suffered minor injuries when he fell about 20 feet while working inside an elevator shaft. News 8 WMTW has a crew on the way to the scene and will bring you more details as they become available. 

UPDATE Trenching Fatality at a Denham Springs, La., Worksite Brings OSHA Citations Alleging Willful Violations Of Safety Standards 
DALLAS — A Watson, La., homebuilder’s alleged failure to protect employees from a trench cave-in that allegedly caused the death of one employee has resulted in proposed penalties of $76,750 from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor. Atlas Corp. was cited with two alleged willful and four alleged serious safety violations following an OSHA inspection that began Jan. 7 after a trenching fatality that occurred at the company’s worksite in Denham Springs, La. The company, which employs about 21 workers, was installing sewer pipes in a developing subdivision. The alleged willful violations were for failing to protect employees working inside trenches from cave-ins and failing to properly slope or shore trenches and take appropriate action when a cave-in hazard is recognized. A willful violation is defined as an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The alleged serious violations were issued for failure to perform daily excavation inspections, failure to provide trained personnel in first aid response, and failure to instruct employees on how to recognize and avoid unsafe conditions. A serious violation is one that could cause death or serious physical harm to employees from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. The company has 15 working days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with the Baton Rouge area director, or to contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Employers and employees with questions regarding workplace safety and health standards can call the Baton Rouge OSHA area office at (225) 298-5458. Or, OSHA’s toll-free hotline number may be used to report workplace accidents, fatalities, or situations posing imminent danger to workers. The number is 1-800-321-6742. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is dedicated to saving lives, preventing injuries and illnesses, and protecting America’s workers. Safety and health add value to business, the workplace and life. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

Big Dig worker killed in construction accident 
By Associated Press, 3/24/2003 17:18 
BOSTON (AP) A Big Dig construction worker was killed Monday after he was hit by a weight attached to a crane, authorities said. The accident happened at a Big Dig work site at D Street and Hall Road in South Boston at about 10 a.m., said Lt. Richard Powers of the Boston Fire Department. The victim, a 55-year-old Roxbury man, was apparently standing behind the crane while working on the Interstate 90 portion of the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project, said Big Dig spokesman Sean O’Neill. His name was not immediately released pending notification of relatives. He is the fourth worker killed while working on the Big Dig, which began in the late 1980s. Central Artery officials, OSHA, the Department of Public Safety and the Suffolk District Attorney’s office are investigating whether reckless conduct, mechanical issues or negligence may have contributed to the worker’s death. David Procopio, a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney’s office, said the crane operator was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he was treated for stress-related symptoms. The $14.6 billion Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project includes the Ted Williams Tunnel under Boston Harbor, an underground connection from Interstate 90 to the Williams tunnel, miles of underground highway in downtown Boston replacing the old elevated Interstate 93 Central Artery, and the new Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. 

UPDATE Contractor fined $50,000 for death of worker 
A CONTRACTOR has been fined the maximum $50,000 for causing the death of a worker through a worksite soil slide last December. Chinese national Tian Zhi Kuan, 35, was buried waist-deep in soil when the side of a 2.9m-deep excavation collapsed suddenly. He died in hospital from multiple injuries. Caravelle Construction and Development, the main contractor at the Jalan Bukit Merah worksite, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to failing to provide adequate piling and bracing against the side of an excavation that was more than 1.5m deep. The contractor was also fined $10,000 for failing to place excavated material at least 61cm away from the edge of the excavation. The court heard that Mr Tian and a co-worker were trimming the side of the excavation with shovels on Dec 4 last year, when the soil from the side slid down suddenly and trapped Mr Tian. Caravelle had been awarded a Housing Board contract for major upgrading works at the site, and it had sub-contracted the building of a multi-storey carpark to IRE Corporation, Mr Tian’s employer. Investigations showed that at the time of the accident, the sides of the excavation were not protected by shorings, bracings or pilings to prevent the soil from collapsing on the workers who were inside. Also, excavated soil was placed too close to the edge, which could have resulted in soil falling on the workers. The Ministry of Manpower yesterday reminded factory occupiers and contractors to ensure the safety of employees working inside an excavation. It added that it would take legal action against any factory occupier or contractor found flouting safety rules.

Aircraft lands on vehicle at Taiwan airport runway 
TAIPEI – A Taiwanese aircraft with 170 passengers squashed a utility vehicle on the runway as it landed at Tainan Airport in southern Taiwan, injuring two construction workers, an airline official has said. The utility vehicle was performing routine repair and cleaning work on the runway when the TransAsia Airways Corp passenger jet landed on top of it on Friday night, said Mr Cheng Yuan-chieh, head of the airline’s Tainan office. The two workers were hospitalised with injuries that were not life-threatening, he said. One man suffered slight concussion while the other was admitted to hospital with bone fractures. Pilot Liu Feng told local media that the control tower had given him the all-clear to land as he approached the airport. However, as the plane neared the runway, he was shocked to see the utility vehicle in his path. ‘I had to apply the emergency brakes,’ the China Times quoted him as saying. According to local reports, 170 passengers on board the flight were thrown into a panic after the plane hit the utility vehicle, but no-one was injured. Mr Cheng said the plane, an Airbus A321, suffered minor damage and is parked on the runway for a government investigation of the accident. TransAsia Airways, with headquarters in Taipei, transports passengers and cargo mainly on domestic flights in Taiwan, and serves some international routes in South-east Asia. A TransAsia Airways cargo jet crashed into the sea off Taiwan in bad weather last December while heading for Macau. The two pilots were killed. –Bloomberg News 

Contractor fined S$50,000 under Factories Act for death of worker 
A contractor, Caravelle Construction and Development Pte Ltd, pleaded guilty in court on March 18 for causing the death of a worker under the Factories Act. The Manpower Ministry says the contractor was fined the maximum penalty of S$50,000 for failing to provide adequate piling against the side of an excavation of more than 1.5m deep. Workers were exposed to the hazard of falling or sliding materials from the excavation’s side. The contractor was also fined a further S$10,000 for failing to place excavated material at least 610mm back from the edge of the excavation. The accident happened in December last year.

Man dies in fall; Anderson repairman was fixing roof top
By SEAN F. DRISCOLL
An Anderson man who was working to repair a roof damaged in a January fire at an automotive parts warehouse slipped and fell to his death early Saturday morning. John Schoettmer Jr., 44, was pronounced dead at the scene when firefighters and police arrived at Auto Tech, 695 N. Miller Ave., at about 8:18 a.m. Saturday. Marion Fire Department Capt. Brian Swanner said Schoettmer, 2118 Rosewood Drive, Anderson, was on the building’s roof doing repairs when he stepped backwards onto an unsecured piece of plastic that crews had left out to protect the building from rain. “He knew it was there, but took a couple of steps back and fell through the roof,” Swanner said. Schoettmer plummeted more than 20 feet to his death, landing on the warehouse’s concrete floor. Grant County Deputy Coroner Kevin Evans said the initial cause of death is listed as blunt force trauma to the head, but an autopsy will be performed today at St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne to confirm the findings. Schoettmer had been working for Weiland Inc., repairing the building’s roof after a Jan. 15 fire decimated the building’s southwest corner, Swanner said. He and another worker were on the roof but were not secured to the roof with any safety gear.

Worker electrocuted after hitting power line
Associated Press 
Published March 21, 2003 ELEC22 
KENOSHA, Wis. — A man was electrocuted and a co-worker was hurt when they hit a buried power line while sinking a well. The 20-year-old Union Grove man was operating equipment for Hoover Well Drilling Co. Inc. when the gear touched the 4,800-volt power line Thursday morning in Trevor, authorities said. His name was not released. A 28-year-old co-worker suffered a shock while trying to help the victim. The co-worker was hospitalized in satisfactory condition late Thursday.

Worker Injured As Downtown Crane Topples; Man’s Condition ‘Stable’ At Northwestern Hospital
March 20, 2003
CHICAGO — A construction worker was injured when a crane he was operating tipped over at a Loop work site Thursday morning. The worker was operating the crane at the site, the intersection of Franklin and Monroe streets, when the machine somehow tipped over, according to Central District Sgt. William Kelly. Emergency crews received a call about the pin-in accident at 8:29 a.m., according to First Battalion Chief James Mindak. ithin 15 minutes or so, crews were able to remove the operator, who appeared to be in his 30s, from the cab of the crane. The man was believed to be in “stable condition” and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital as of 9:05 a.m. Four to five firefighters helped removed the operator from the crane at about 8:55 a.m. The man appeared to be bleeding from the head, but was still conscious and alert, Mindak said. He added that crews had to negotiate “between machinery” to remove the man. A representative of Northwestern Memorial Hospital could not immediately say whether the hospital eceived the patient. As of 9 a.m., the crane still was tipped over on the south side of Franklin Street, which had been closed off from Madison to Monroe streets. The street has since been reopened to traffic. During the rescue process, four fire trucks and an ambulance lined the streets around the construction site. There were also two red sport utility vehicles commissioned to the Fire Department. A nursing supervisor at Northwestern confirmed that the construction worker was brought there, but could not immediately provide his condition or age. An Occupational Safety and Health Administration representative said they sent an investigator to the scene and could not immediately provide any more information. 

Worker dies in fall from roof of Lombard home
by Bonnie MacKay
A 30-year-old Elmwood Park man died after a fall from the roof of a Lombard home Thursday morning. Police and fire officials responded to a home in the 300 block of North Fairfield just before 9 a.m. on March 13. According to Lombard fire Battalion Chief Mike Kalina, paramedics found a man unconscious on a concrete surface. Kalina said the man apparently fell off the roof, 12 to 14 feet, to a concrete patio. “He was critical,” Kalina said, adding that Lombard Fire Department paramedics transported the man to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove for a severe head injury. Lombard police Deputy Chief Dane Cuny said Mariusz Lemanski, a contractor, was pronounced dead at the hospital. Lombard detectives responded to the accident scene to conduct an investigation. “Preliminary indications [show] it was a work-related accident,” Cuny said, adding that an autopsy and further forensics investigation is being conducted by the DuPage County Coroner’s Office.

Construction Worker Electrocuted
Lake Milton Gerry Ricciutti 
A North Lima man is dead, following an accident in a highway construction zone. State troopers say 37-year-old Peter DeLucia, Jr. was killed Wednesday morning along Interstate 76 near Lake Milton. Investigators say the victim was part of a construction crew working on a paving project on the interstate. He reportedly was moving concrete barricades with the help of a crane, when the crane came into contact with power lines overhead, electrocuting DeLucia.

Firefighters called to free man trapped by scaffolding
A DECORATOR was taken to the Great Western Hospital after he slipped and became trapped under scaffolding while working in a house in Old Town. The man, who has not been named, suffered concussion and minor injuries in the accident, which happened at a house in Quarry Road at 3.40pm yesterday. Ambulance staff were unable to reach him because the collapsed scaffolding was unsafe, so the fire brigade were called in. Station Officer, Bruce Weatherston, said: “There was a partial collapse of the scaffolding the man was working on while painting the wall. “The man slipped and fell and the ambulance crew were unable to get close to him safely so we used ropes and chopping equipment to move the scaffolding, releasing the man.” The man was freed from the scaffolding by 4pm and was today recovering in hospital.

Man unhurt after being struck by truck 
3/19 By TODD HARPER For The Lebanon Reporter 
WHITESTOWN — A man was unhurt after being struck by a pickup truck along County Road 650 East near Whitestown Tuesday morning. Wayne Flowers of Columbus, Ohio, was placing warning markers along C.R. 650 East just north of C.R. 400 South when he was struck by a silver pickup truck about 10 a.m. The driver of the pickup truck, Mark A. Boil, 39, Whitestown, fled the scene, but returned a few minutes after the accident. Flowers, who was driving a large flat-bed trailer, parked along the road after his vehicle broke down. He was attempting to make a delivery in Whitestown. “I could tell he wasn’t going to stop, and when he hit me I then kind of flew in the air,” Flowers said, adding that the pickup truck was “not going that fast.” According to Flowers, Boil’s truck was traveling south on C.R. 650 East when he came to Flowers disabled vehicle. He said because of a construction truck on the west side and his trailer parked in the east lane, Boil should have stopped and waited for a clear path. “I realized I was going to be hit and then was hit by the hood of his vehicle,” Flowers said. Indiana State Police Trooper Robert Trimp said, Flowers and Boil gave different accounts to the accident. According to Boil’s report, Flowers jumped into the path of his truck, and Boil had no time to stop to avoid hitting Flowers. Trimp said, Boil’s truck was traveling at around 10 mph when the accident occurred. Trimp said he will give his findings to the Boone County Prosecutor’s Office, but said he was unsure what action may or may not be taken. Flowers was examined by medics and released at the scene.

Surveyor killed on highway
The Edmonton Journal Tuesday, March 18, 2003
EDMONTON – A construction worker was struck and killed by a sport utility vehicle during a surveying operation Monday afternoon in Nisku. RCMP told Global Television that the construction worker doing survey work was hit when he tried to cross the road. Weather and road conditions were good at the time. The road was closed to traffic for several hours at Sparrow Drive just south of Highway 625 because of the accident. 

Man dies in accident with cement truck
March 18, 2003 
A worker preparing to clean a cement truck died when he fell and became pinned inside the vehicle’s spinning drum. Frank Wilson, 59, of Marienville, was on top of the front-load model truck when he fell for an unknown reason at the J.J. Kennedy Cement Co. in Paint Township. Wilson, who sustained injuries to his neck and upper and lower torso, became pinned between the spinning drum and stationary parts of the cement mixer, authorities said. Officials say Wilson had returned from his final trip of the day. He was pronounced dead at the scene Monday by Clarion County Coroner Roland Burns. 

Victim of Overland Park construction accident identified
The Kansas City Star
A worker who died Monday when a trench collapsed at 129th Place and Metcalf Avenue, Overland Park, was identified today as Samuel Mera, 29. Mera, who lived in Kansas City, Kan., was waterproofing the foundation of a town house that was under construction when a wall of earth caved in. Rescuers think the man died immediately when the earth slammed him against the concrete foundation. Two other workers who were in the trench escaped. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration began investigating the accident Tuesday. 

Fumes nearly claim contractor
Andrew Blejwas, Register Staff March 18, 2003 
SHELTON — A contractor overcome by carbon monoxide while working at a city home Monday owes his life to two men who helped shove his unconscious body through a basement window, fire officials said. Firefighters who responded to the scene credited homeowner Sante Faustini, of 23 Suren Lane, and contractor Steve Meehan with the quick thinking that brought Florentino Torres to safety Monday. “They definitely saved his life,” said Assistant Fire Chief Daryl Osiecki. “If the guy was alone he would probably be dead.” Osiecki said Torres, whose age and address were unavailable, and Meehan, both workers for Creative Contractors of Trumbull, were working in the basement of an addition at Faustini’s home shortly before 10 a.m. when Torres passed out from carbon monoxide poisoning. “They were cutting down some concrete walls in the basement with a cutting saw. The basement probably wasn’t very well ventilated and he was overcome by the fumes and passed out,” said Osiecki. Faustini said workers excavated room for the ba sement as they built the addition to his home, but did not immediately tear down a wall between the old and new portions because they did not want to let cold air into the house. Workers built the addition to the home on top of the basement and, as a result, a basement window, approximately 3 by 1.5 feet in size, was the only access to the new basement, he said. On Monday, with temperatures reaching the mid-60s, Faustini said, work on tearing down the wall began. To do that, Osiecki said, Torres and Meehan climbed into the new basement, with only the window as ventilation, and began to cut the wall with a gas-powered saw. Because of a lack of ventilation, carbon monoxide in the room quickly built up and Torres collapsed. “I heard (Meehan) yelling for help and I went to help,” said Faustini. “We had to pull the guy out through a little window. We tried to get him some fresh air and put some wet towels on his head, and my wife called 911, that’s about all we knew to do.” Osiecki said Torres had regained consciousness by the time firefighters arrived. Torres and Meehan both narrowly escaped a tragic accident. Officials said measurements taken in the room indicated carbon monoxide levels at around 500 parts per million. Osiecki said carbon monoxide levels in an average room typically range between 10 and 15 parts per million. Torres was taken to Bridgeport Hospital, where he was treated and released, a hospital spokesman said Monday. “He’s lucky to be alive,” said Fire Chief John Millo. “Those guys deserve a lot of credit; they saved his life.”

Trench Collapse Kills 1 Person; 2 Workers Taken To Hospital
5:18 p.m. CST March 17, 2003
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Emergency crews responded to a trench collapse that killed one person Monday. The collapse was reported around 2 p.m. near 129th Place and Metcalf Avenue. Crews were working on basement foundations for a new townhome in the Deer Creek Reserve subdivision, KMBC’s Bob Werly reported. Three workers were preparing to waterproof the foundation when one of the trench walls gave way. Crews immediately began working to shore up the collapsed wall, and the Overland Park Fire Department was called to the scene. Emergency crews found a worker who was buried in dirt up to his knees. The worker apparently died of a head injury, Werly said. “It appears that there was part of the shore, the ditch, approx 10 to 15 feet long gave way, and pretty much slammed him up against the concrete basement wall,” said chief Dennis Meyers of the Overland Park Fire Department. Two other workers were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Werly reported.

State investigation follows fire at downtown demolition site 
By Megan Woolhouse The Courier-Journal 
State safety officials have opened an investigation after Louisville firefighters said they had to make demolition workers leave a smoky building they were tearing down. But the company, CRS Demolition of Louisville, says workers evacuated the building and returned only after all danger had passed. Maj. John T. Lyons of Louisville Fire & Rescue said he was surprised to find employees of CRS Demolition still at work inside the building at Eighth Street and Broadway when firefighters arrived about 11:30 a.m. yesterday. ”We had to make them leave the building,” Lyons said. The workers had been using welding torches to dismantle portions of the former car dealership when they accidentally set a pile of rubber debris on fire. The fire was small but filled the air with dark smoke visible for several blocks, Lyons said. Jon Davies, president of CRS Demolition, 1547 S. Seventh St., said firefighters arrived after workers had put out the fire with fire extinguishers and evacuated the site. Workers stood outside the building while firefighters investigated, he said. A foreman ordered the men back to work, he said, because there was minimal smoke and the group was working on the second floor, not the first floor where the fire broke out. Davies said the company told workers to return to the job because the building was made mostly of concrete and there was little chance for the fire to spread. ”We knew it (the building) couldn’t burn,” he said. Lyons said he called the Kentucky Occupational Safety & Health Program to request the investigation. The agency’s spokesman, Eddie Jacobs, confirmed that an investigation had been opened but said he could not comment further. 

Fire destroys Harvey firms
BY PHIL ROCKROHR Times Staff Writer
HARVEY — More than 75 firefighters from throughout the South Suburbs and Northwest Indiana quelled a five-alarm blaze here Friday that gutted two neighboring construction companies worth more than $1 million. Both buildings collapsed, but no one was injured, Harvey Fire Chief Greg DeGroot said. Firefighters came from as far as Crete, Tinley Park, Calumet Park and Munster. Smoke clouds were visible 10 miles away. Harvey firefighters responded to an alarm at Prairie Brick Co., 1220 W. 171st St., at 11:35 a.m., but the fire may have started earlier and employees may have tried to quell the blaze before firefighters arrived, DeGroot said. “We believe they tried to fight it themselves, by the amount of fire here when we pulled up,” he said. “Dispatch said there were multiple calls. We believe there was a delay in the alarm.” The fire was started by a Prairie employee welding company equipment in a garage, Harvey officials said. “The worker said he turned around and the next thing he knew the whole place was on fire,” Harvey Mayor Nickolas Graves said. “There were propane tanks popping like mad.” The garage was filled with propane to operate fork lifts, diesel fuel, paint and cleaning solvents, DeGroot said. The solvents included paint thinner, Capt. Steven Ciecierski said. A witness said Prairie employees ran from the garage as explosions started inside. When Harvey firefighters arrived, all 20 employees had evacuated, Ciecierski said. “They were in no hurry to stay,” he said. A Prairie cement truck driver, who declined to identify himself, confirmed the fire started on the company’s property. The driver, who said all employees were sent home early Friday afternoon, said he was not certain how the fire started. The force of the propane explosions blew out the Prairie garage’s rear wall, which abuts the rear wall of Best Homes, Inc., 1230 W. 171st St., DeGroot said. Both buildings, which sit on the southern border of Harvey outside East Hazel Crest, were destroyed, Ciecierski said. He estimated the damage at more than 1 million. Scott Arquilla, vice president of Best Homes, estimated his company’s loss alone at $1 million. “We’ll have to totally rebuild,” Arquilla said. “It’s a total loss.” Best Homes, which has operated out of the Harvey location since 1962, did $6.5 million in business last year, he said. The company employs 30 to 55 employees depending on the time of year, Arquilla said. Best Homes employees tried to stay in the building and work after the fire started, Ciecierski said. “Those people, we had to evacuate,” he said. “They didn’t want to give it up.” “We wanted to (stay), but we didn’t think it was that serious,” said Arquilla, who was present when the fire started. “All our employees left quickly and safely.” Alan Haach of Portage, a carpenter for Best Homes, said firefighters were unable to use water until 25 minutes after they arrived. Firefighters used some 1,200 feet of hose to reach the buildings, which were set back almost that far from 171st Street, Ciecierski said. “It was very unwieldy,” he said. “It’s a pain to lay all that line.” Best Homes employees informed Arquilla at about 11:30 a.m. that a Prairie building had caught fire, Arquilla said. “The flames were quite high,” he said. “Five minutes later we started hearing explosions. The fire caught our building and spread through the whole building.” Firefighters were able to save more than $250,000 in lumber in a block-long yard on the Best Homes site and to prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring Alpha Construction, also owned by Arquilla’s family, he said. Some $65,000 in lumber burned inside the building, but most of the $1 million in damage was caused to the building and the company’s equipment, Arquilla said. Best Homes manufactures roof trusses, floor trusses and wall panels, he said. The fire spread very quickly because sawdust had collected on the wooden trusses, and the roofs of both building were made of wood, DeGroot said. “The fire just literally ran over their heads,” the chief said of people inside. “The explosions from the propane tanks spread the fire. There was a tremendous amount of fuel in the building.” The intense heat caused metal joists in both buildings to expand and knock down walls, including cinder-block walls in Best Homes, DeGroot said. A 100-foot antenna collapsed and narrowly missed firefighters as they sprayed about a dozen hoses on the blaze, he said. “There’s not too much you can really do on something like this, but pour water on it,” DeGroot said. “The main thing is to get the people out.” By 1:30 p.m. Friday, DeGroot said the blaze was 95 percent extinguished. By then, the once black cloud of smoke blowing northeast had transformed to gray. Since 1962, both Best Homes and Prairie Brick have maintained good safety records with Harvey officials, DeGroot said. Best Homes did not contain sprinklers because the structure was built before they were required, he said. “When they rebuild, they will be required,” DeGroot said. Haach said he was concerned about his and fellow employees’ future. “I’ve been working here for 17 years. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said. “We’re all family people here.” 

UPDATE Worker becomes 4th fatality in Shizuoka Pref. wall collapse 
Yomiuri Shimbun 
A demolition worker who was seriously injured when the exterior wall of a building in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, collapsed on Thursday, died Saturday morning at a hospital in the city, police said. Takakazu Sato, 27, was the fourth person to die of injuries suffered in the accident. A demolition crew had been cutting away the exterior wall when it fell 10 meters onto three vehicles in the street below. The collapsed wall killed two people and severely injured two others in the vehicles that had been stopped at a traffic light. The other person killed was the demolition crew chief, Hiroki Watanabe, 39, who died shortly after the accident. The police resumed their examination of the building’s interior at 10:20 a.m. Saturday and questioned those involved in the demolition work about how the fatal accident had occurred. Yoshiwara Honmachi-dori street in front of the building had been blocked after the accident, but was reopened Saturday after debris on the street was cleared. Cars were allowed to pass through on e side of the two lane road. 

Work falls three stories at White Plains City Center
By SUSAN ELAN AND RICHARD LIEBSON THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: March 15, 2003)
WHITE PLAINS — A construction worker fell three stories down an unfinished elevator shaft at developer Louis Cappelli’s $320 million City Center yesterday. Alvin Burgos, 38, of 1119 Mile Square Road in Yonkers, was removing wooden support beams from an elevator shaft shortly after 10:30 a.m. when he fell from the 16th floor to the 13th floor of a 35-story apartment tower currently under construction at 222 Main St. Burgos was taken by ambulance to the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where he was listed in critical condition. White Plains police Capt. Anne FitzSimmons called Burgos “very lucky. He landed on some plywood, which broke his fall. He was conscious and talking and didn’t appear to have life-threatening injuries. He said he just lost his balance.” Work at the site continued while city and federal inspections into the incident began. “No violation of city code has been issued at this time,” said Michael Gismondi, White Plains’ building commissioner. FitzSimmons said people were being interviewed to determine “whether it was anything other than an accident, and we’re looking to see whether safety regulations and procedures were being followed.” It has not been determined whether Burgos was wearing a harness or had taken other precautions for work at heights, Gismondi said. He said there was no indication that pressure to meet an October deadline set by Cappelli for completion of the project has resulted in unsafe work conditions. “We don’t believe safety has been compromised,” Gismondi said. “We would see more accidents or more of a trend.” Peter West, a spokesman for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Tarrytown, said Burgos “should have been protected from falling by something, whether it was a harness or guard rails.” Yesterday’s was the third accident at the City Center site. One worker was injured when he stepped into a hole and hurt his leg, Gismondi said. A second worker was hit by a pipe. There have been prior complaints about conditions at the site, West said. One of the complaints brought against George A. Fuller, a Cappelli company, resulted in fines, West said. Two other complaints are still under investigation. OSHA also is investigating a fatal accident in June at Main and Bank streets, where a $140 million luxury hotel-apartment complex is under construction, West said. Richard Ellis, 40, of Thornwood, died during surgery at the medical center after he was crushed by a bundle of steel rods that dropped more than 50 feet from a crane. Burgos was working at the City Center site as an employee of subcontractor Carlton Concrete of Floral Park, Queens. Officials from that company did not return calls for comment. Sal Fusaro, a spokesman for Laborers International Union of North America Local 1000 in Poughkeepsie, called Burgos “a good man and a good laborer.” Burgos has been a member of the local for five years and does concrete work, Fusaro said. 

Investigator describes Trefoil crash as tragic
An air safety investigator has described as tragic a light plane crash off North West Tasmania which killed four people. Investigations are continuing into Friday night’s crash on Trefoil Island. The Cessna four-seat plane was taking constructions workers on the short trip home after a month’s work on the island and crashed shortly after taking off. Killed were the 52-year-old pilot, a 25 year-old construction worker and two teenage apprentices, all from Tasmania’s north-west. Investigator Sam Webb, from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, says it is hoped findings from the investigation may help prevent similar accidents in the future. “It’s especially tragic and that’s why we are here to see if we can ascertain anything from the accident that we could use to enhance safety in the future, we feel sad for the sad and families and we’d just like to pass on our condolences.” 

Gas line rupture sickens 21 at Lemon Grove school
By Mark Arner UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER March 15, 2003
Nineteen children and two adult workers from a Catholic school in Lemon Grove suffered minor respiratory problems yesterday after construction workers severed a nearby natural gas line. The accident at 11:45 a.m. prompted evacuation of St. John of the Cross Catholic School on Lemon Grove Way, which has 422 students in preschool through eighth grade. It also halted natural gas service to 20 homes for an hour before it was restored by San Diego Gas and Electric, a utility spokeswoman said. Kaiser Zion and Alvarado hospitals in San Diego and Sharp Grossmont hospital in La Mesa treated 16 children and one adult for minor respiratory problems ranging from headaches and dizziness to nausea. Representatives of the hospitals said they expected to release all the patients last night in good condition. It was not known immediately where the other three children and adult received treatment. The accident was being investigated by SDG&E yesterday, and it was not clear if the gas line had been properly identified on a utility map. The line was severed by J. Fletcher Creamer and Sons, a contractor hired by Helix Water District to install a 10-inch water main near the school, said Helix General Manager Mark Weston. Sister Marilupe Mier-y-Teran, a school spokeswoman, praised adults from the school and neighborhood, who quickly moved students away from the gas leak. “Thank you to every single adult who helped,” Sister Marilupe said. “They all did an excellent job.” 

Accident traps man in mud two hours
By PEGGY O’HARE Houston Chronicle
A man was trapped chest-high in mud for more than two hours Friday before firefighters freed him. Robert Sauseda, 55, of Bryan was taken from the southeast Houston construction site where the accident occurred to Memorial Hermann Hospital. He was listed in good condition later Friday. Sauseda was trapped after the ground gave way while he and other workers were measuring grades and elevations for pipes to be installed around underground storage tanks at a new Shell station at Reed Road near the South Freeway. Despite his predicament, Sauseda remained calm throughout the ordeal. The accident happened at 1 p.m., when Sauseda stepped back and the ground caved in beneath him, trapping one of his legs. The situation soon became desperate as he continued sinking in the mud. “At first, it was just one leg stuck in sand. I ran to get some boards to help him out,” said Sauseda’s nephew Joe Samarrippas, 39, who was also working at the construction site. But Sauseda could not budge from the wet sand — then the underground tanks gave way and began to roll, his nephew said. Fortunately, the tanks rolled away from the trapped man. “If the tanks had rolled toward him, it probably would have sucked him under,” said Samarrippas. After calling 911, Samarrippas, also of Bryan, threw a chain down to his flailing uncle and hooked one end of it up to a truck so the man would not sink any farther. Because Sauseda was only 50 to 75 feet away from Reed Road, emergency officials diverted traffic to keep the ground from shifting even more. About 35 firefighters used ladders, ropes and a life preserver to free the man and gave him an oxygen mask to wear during the ordeal. They pulled him to safety around 3:15 p.m. and loaded him into an ambulance. Emergency personnel said Sauseda appeared to have suffered no major injuries, his nephew said. Sauseda was expected to be kept overnight at the hospital for observation.

Worker plunges 20 feet inside W. Side manhole
ROMANO CEDILLOS Tucson Citizen March 13, 2003
A pipeline construction worker was injured yesterday when he tripped and plunged 20 feet inside a manhole on the West Side, a firefighter said. The accident occurred about 3:30 p.m. at West Riverview Boulevard and North Dragoon Avenue. The area is near West Grant and North Silverbell roads. Francisco Montoya, 24, of Tucson, an employee of Spiniello Co., suffered hip and leg injuries in the fall, said Capt. Paul McDonough of the Tucson Fire Department. “Because of the confined space the man was in, it took rescue personnel an hour and a half to get him out,” McDonough said. “He was conscious the entire time.” Montoya was treated at University Medical Center. A report on his condition was not immediately available. Don Morrow, superintendent of the Morristown, N.J.-based company, said Montoya was unloading equipment from a company truck near the manhole when the accident occurred. “He had just taken the racks off the truck and was beginning to offload equipment to set up over the hole when he tripped,” Morrow said. “The (two) other guys with him had their backs to him and didn’t see him fall in, but they heard him yell.” Frank Torres of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said his office was investigating the accident. 

Three dead in Japan building fall 
March 13, 2003 
(12:58) Two motorists were crushed to death when a section of concrete wall of a building being demolished collapsed onto a shopping street in Japan. A construction worker was also killed in the accident, and at least three other people were injured. It happened around mid-afternoon in the shopping district of Yoshiwara in Fuji, 130 km southwest of Tokyo. The two drivers died in their cars, which appeared to have stopped at a traffic light. A 15-metre square concrete slab from the five-storey building suddenly fell on the street running alongside and completely flattened several cars at a crossroads. ‘One of the injured broke both of his legs, while we heard a small child was also among the injured,’ a police spokesman said. The rescue operation was continuing with police searching for any people still buried under the debris. 

UPDATE Cal-OSHA blames employer in bridge death; Contractor denies violating safety rules in Cotati man’s fall from Golden Gate span 
March 13, 2003 By JEREMY HAY THE PRESS DEMOCRAT 
A Cotati man killed in a construction accident on the Golden Gate Bridge last summer may have died because his employer didn’t have proper safeguards in place, authorities said. Shimmick/Obayashi Joint Venture, the lead contractor in the earthquake retrofit project on the bridge, also “put up roadblocks” that impeded the investigation into the death of Kevin Noah, a California Occupational Safety and Health Administration spokesman said. “They exercised their legal rights almost to the point of abusing them,” Dean Fryer, a Cal-OSHA spokesman, said. He said the company resisted the investigation from its outset, forcing investigators to issue repeated subpoenas to obtain interviews and documents. “That is simply not true,” said Scott Fairgrieve, chief financial officer of the Hayward-based contractor. He said the company’s attorney had “simply required that they follow their own rules to the letter and follow their investigation by the book.” Noah, 42, a veteran carpenter, fell about 50 feet to his death Aug. 13 while working in the south anchorage, a huge concrete structure that helps support the 66-year-old bridge. Early reports suggested Noah’s safety harness had failed and he fell from a mechanized basket used to lift workers and materials. But investigators concluded he “probably was standing on and tied off to rebar” embedded in the anchorage wall when he fell, Fryer said. There was no scaffolding in place in the area, the Cal-OSHA report says, and “as a result, an employee fell … and was fatally injured.” Shimmick/Obayashi was cited for three serious violations, the second-most severe level possible. Cal-OSHA levied $26,025 in fines for those violations and three that were classified as less serious. The company has appealed the penalty. “We have a very large disagreement between our interpretation and Cal-OSHA’s of safety rules in regards to scaffolding,” Fairgrieve said. He said other safety measures were in place and scaffolding wasn’t warranted at the time.

Johnson Police Officer Injured In Construction Mishap 
Wed, Mar 12, 2003 The Morning News/NWAonline.net 
SPRINGDALE — Johnson police officer C.B. Caya was injured Tuesday after being pinned between his vehicle and a dump truck. The accident occurred at the construction site of the Clear Creek Club development, at Great House Springs Road and Arkansas 112. Johnson police spokesman Eric Evans said Caya, 47, had gone to the construction site shortly before 8 a.m. to pick up donated construction material for use at the police firing range when he was injured. Evans said Johnson had gotten out of his pickup to help direct a construction truck that was backing up. As he went to re-enter his vehicle, it apparently popped out of gear and began to roll, pinning Caya between the door of his pickup and a parked dump truck. Evans said Caya apparently was bruised, but he did not break any bones. He was treated at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville and released by midafternoon Tuesday.

Fire guts house
Barrie Examiner Wednesday, March 12, 2003 – 07:00 
Local News – Bright red Christmas ribbons are practically all that is left of a home that was gutted by fire yesterday on 8 Maw Court in Barrie. A plumber’s soldering torch set off the blaze in the basement of the north-end home. Within seconds it got out of control and engulfed the entire home in flames at about 10 a.m. More than a dozen firefighters were called into action. A retired couple and their mother all got away safely when the plumber alerted them to the fire. “It really went up fast,” said the plumber, Jerry Johnson, who explained he was using a soldering torch when plastic insulation covering (vapor barrier) caught fire while he was doing some repairs. “When I realized I couldn’t control it, I got everybody out.” He said the mother, who was well into her eighties, did not want to leave the home. “She was sort of in shock and she just didn’t want to come out,” said Johnson. “I just grabbed her and took her out so that she was safe,” he said. “I can’t believe this,” said a grief-stricken home owner Linda Wozniak, as she walked away from her home that backs on to a quiet ravine. “I just want to get my mother to a safe place.” Her tiny mother, dressed in a skirt with pink-and-white sneakers and socks and bundled in a winter coat, clutched a plastic white shopping bag while fire fighter Tony Weir and the plumber gently held her elbows as they escorted her to a waiting car. “I just don’t know what will happen next” said Wozniak, in shock. “I can’t believe it. I don’t even know if my cat survived … I don’t know anything.” But a neighbour, who did not want to be named, said the little black and white calico cat was “safe and sound” after she brought it to her home. Several people witnessed the smoke billowing out of the bungalow that sits in an eight-year-old subdivision just off Ferndale Road in the north end of Barrie. “I just feel sick for those poor people,” said neighbour Arlene Lougheed as she clutched her hands to her chest and looked out her living room window, watching as flames licked through blackened windows of the home. “We didn’t know them well, but we often saw them out puttering in their beautiful garden.” Standing beside her, her husband Dan said he was shocked with how fast the home went up in smoke. “At first it looked like an innocent puff of smoke,” he said. “It spread so fast. Within minutes there were thick, black, dark clouds of smoke billowing out the windows in huge puffs.” While a bitter wind blew, it carried with it the acrid smell of smoke several blocks away from the scene, where walkers had to cover their noses and mouths with coat collars. Assistant fire chief Terry Dicks said it is undetermined whether the fire that started with the plastic insulation covering also ignited the underlying insulation. “In most cases the insulation is fairly fire retardant,” he said. “We are still investigating. Bottom line is … fire is unpredictable and any accident can happen in any house.” The owners did have home insurance and smoke detectors were installed in the house.

Labourer dies after treatment works fall 
AN investigation was under way today after a labourer plunged to his death at a sewage treatment works. Robert Murdoch, 57, of John Allan Drive, Cumnock, was working at Linwood Treatment Works in Middleton Road, Linwood, Renfrewshire. It’s thought he fell eight feet to his death as he put up scaffolding around 11am yesterday. He suffered serious injuries and was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, where he later died. The Health and Safety Executive is investigating but it’s believed to have been an industrial accident. A spokesman for Scottish Water, which owns the site, said: “The man was given first aid at the scene but he sadly died later in hospital. “He was working for Barrhead-based contractor George Leslie, a firm which has been working at the site on behalf of Scottish Water. “We will work closely with the Health and Safety Executive to establish the circumstances surrounding the man’s death.” A police spokesman said: “There would appear to be no suspicious circumstances and a report will be forwarded to the procurator-fiscal.” No-one at George Leslie was available for comment today. 

Construction Worker Dies as Roof Caves In
Javid Hassan, Arab News Staff
RIYADH, 13 March 2003 — One person was killed and five others were injured when a two-story building under construction collapsed on Tuesday night in the Mursalat area of northern Riyadh. Brig. Mesfer Al-Goayed, director-general of civil defense, said the workers were engaged in the construction of the roof when it came down “owing to bad execution”. He said the dead person’s nationality was not known. The injured were from Egypt, Pakistan and India. Speaking to Arab News on the phone, Dr. Mohammed Al-Mishary, vice president of Abdulrahman Al-Mishary Hospital and head of the emergency team, said 55 doctors and 100 nurses as well as paramedics were deployed for the treatment of patients under Code Yellow. He said one of the patients who had suffered a fracture in the skull and a broken spine had started to go into a state of paralysis. However, timely surgical intervention by a team of five doctors, two neurosurgeons, two orthopedists and one anesthetist helped him to recover. “He could have been paralyzed, as 80 percent of cases in such a situation end up in paralysis. “But, thank God, he’s recovering and has started moving his legs. It was a dangerous but successful operation that lasted seven hours.” In another case, Dr. Mishary said, the victim had fractured ribs and a tear in the lung. A team of surgeons attended on him. The patient, a Pakistani, is on the way to recovery. The third had concussion in the brain and lacerations in his face. Of the three, two may be discharged soon, while one is still in the intensive care unit. Dr. Mishary said coordination among the Red Crescent, the Ministry of Health and his own hospital was excellent. The other two patients are under treatment in the Al-Hammady Hospital. It is the second time in recent years that a building under construction in Riyadh had collapsed. Three years ago, an accident occurred in the Kingdom Tower when part of the scaffolding came down. However, the injured workers were given prompt first-aid and discharged.

Worker lucky to be alive after a fall at arena site
Brent Whiting The Arizona Republic Mar. 11, 2003 12:00 AM
GLENDALE – He fell more than 30 feet at the Phoenix Coyotes arena going up near 91st and Glendale avenues. And Richard Robinette, a Valley construction worker, said Monday that he considers himself lucky to be alive. Robinette, 59, of Surprise, said he could have plunged more than 100 feet to his death, but lower scaffolding broke the nearly three-story fall. His wife, Linda, 56, agreed, saying, “I’m glad to have him home. It was a very scary situation.” The accident happened about 10 p.m. Friday while Robinette, a carpenter for Phoenix-based Perini Building Co., was working on tall scaffolding at the job site. He fell more than 30 feet and landed on lower scaffolding only 30 inches wide and still about 65 feet above the ground, said Elio Pompa, a Glendale fire captain and spokesman. Robinette was flown to a Phoenix hospital after four members of a technical-rescue team used a basket to lower him to the ground, Pompa said. It was a daring rescue in which firefighters, using a construction crane, not only climbed the scaffolding but tended to Robinette from the lofty perch, Pompa said. Robinette was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, where his wife picked him up Sunday morning and took him home, where he remained on medication Monday. Firefighters said the mishap marked the first major construction accident at the site. Perini, Robinette’s employer, is the general contractor for the planned 17,500-seat hockey arena. 

Metro worker rescued
by Tyisha Manigo Staff Writer March 10, 2003 
An employee completing work a Metrorail tunnel in Seat Pleasant had to be rescued and transported to a local hospital after falling and sustaining serious injuries, according to the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS department. The 49-year-old contract employee was operating on scaffolding 15 feet to 20 feet high when he fell onto the concrete floor Friday around 8:30 p.m., said chief spokesman Mark E. Brady. The department’s Confined Space Team removed the victim—who was approximately one-quarter of a mile into the tunnel—and transported him to MedStar at the Washington Hospital Center. The worker sustained a possible concussion and internal injuries. His condition at the time of transport was considered serious but did not appear to be life threatening. 

UPDATE Contractor to pay for GG Bridge death
BY J.K. DINEEN Of The Examiner Staff
The lead contractor on the massive Golden Gate Bridge seismic retrofitting project has been slapped with a hefty fine in the case of a carpenter who fell to his death last summer while working in one of the bridge’s anchorage towers, according to a citation from the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. On Aug. 13, Kevin Noah, 42, was standing on a three-quarter-inch piece of rebar inside the south anchorage tower when he fell 50 feet to his death. The OSHA investigation fined contractor Shimmick/Obayashi $16,200 for failing to provide scaffolding for the tower workers and $5,850 for not having a proper failing arrest system. Noah’s harness was tied to an open-ended piece of rebar, and slipped off as he worked. The rebar should have been “crossed” off in order to prevent slippage, OSHA said. “It is definitely a serious case,” said OSHA spokeswoman Susan Gard. “The company was responsible for conducting the job in a way that protected employees properly, and that was not done in this instance.” Shimmick/Obayashi will appeal the citation, according to attorney Robert Peterson. The early-morning accident happened as Noah was strengthening concrete footings inside one of the bridge’s hollow concrete “anchorage houses.” Noah died when he hit the dirt floor at the bottom of the anchorage house, which is where the bridge cables are anchored. Mary Virenzi, Noah’s longtime girlfriend, said Noah was an adventuresome jack-of-all-trades who worked on projects big and small. He was as comfortable building a wooden house as working on the construction of 3Com Park. “Kevin was an everything guy — he knew how to do it all,” said Virenzi. “He’d leave a job and always be welcomed back on it no matter what.” Noah left behind three sons, whom he took motocross riding most weekends. The Novato resident would offer to take the family to a movie and surprise them by ending up at a drive-in in Sacramento, she added. Noah frequently complained about the lack of safety precautions on the job, according to Virenzi. At one point he turned down an offer of a foreman’s job because he didn’t want to be responsible for other workers in an unsafe environment. Virenzi said she recently visited the work site and found some of the safety problems persist. “I know they are never going to say they are sorry, but God, they should at least fix it,” she said. “He gave them his life and they should honor him.” 

Accident Shuts Down Portion Of Ridge Avenue 
Reported by: 9News Web produced by: Liz Foreman Last updated: 3/11/03 11:55:52 AM 
There’s a bit of a mess at the intersection of Ridge and Highland in Columbia Township Tuesday afternoon. The boom on a construction truck hit wires overhead Tuesday morning, leaving the power lines hanging only four feet off the ground. The truck is used to transport bricks. The owner’s name was not made available. Police are redirecting traffic in the area and Ridge Avenue is closed heading south at the intersection.

UPDATE Workers to face charges over theater blast
OSAKA (Kyodo) Police turned over to prosecutors Monday their case of suspected negligence against a demolition worker and a foreman regarding a fire that gutted the historic Nakaza theater in September. Osaka police, however, did not pursue charges against employees of Osaka Gas Co., which provided a map showing incorrect information on the gas main layout at the theater site — one of the causes of an explosion that led to the fire, in which four people were injured. They also did not pursue charges against Takenaka Corp., the contractor of the demolition work. The companies are not considered directly responsible, a police official said. The 26-year-old demolition worker used a lighter to look for a part to close off a gas valve, even though gas was spewing from the valve, causing the explosion at around 3 a.m. Sept. 9. His 27-year-old foreman is also being held accountable. The worker and his colleagues were extracting gas from pipes to be removed under work subcontracted by Osaka Gas as part of the demolition work. Police determined the worker was negligent because he was aware gas was leaking from the valve, which was supposed to be closed, but nonetheless proceeded to ignite his lighter. The worker, a 32-year-old colleague and two firefighters were injured. Osaka Gas in October acknowledged responsibility for the incident and reprimanded nine people, including its president. The fire destroyed the theater in the Dotonbori district in central Osaka and damaged 19 restaurants and bars along neighboring Hozenji Yokocho lane. The theater for kabuki and stage dramas was established in 1653 and the building that burned down was constructed in 1948. The theater’s operator, movie distributor Shochiku Co., closed it in 1999 as part of a streamlining effort. 

Scissor lift accident victims recovering
RANCHO CUCAMONGA — An electrical contractor and his female employee remained hospitalized Sunday, two days after they were injured in a fall from a scissor lift. The contractor, Juan Francisco Garcia, 29, of Pomona, and his employee, 25-year-old Zulema Olvera of Pomona, were in satisfactory condition at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, hospital nursing supervisor Joy Flint said Sunday. Garcia and Olvera suffered numerous broken bones and other injuries when a lift they were standing on at a business in the 11400 block of Sixth Street toppled over, sending them approximately 20 feet down to the ground, San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies. The pair were installing electrical conduit when the accident occurred. The accident is being investigated by Cal-OSHA, as well as by deputies from the Rancho Cucamonga Sheriff’s Station. 

UPDATE Fatal Manhattan Construction Accident Results in OSHA Citations & $60,000 in Proposed Penalties for New York City Employer
NEW YORK — Exposing employees to fatal safety hazards at a Manhattan construction site has resulted in a New York City employer being cited and fined $60,000 by the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA has cited DCM Erectors, of 110 East 42nd Street, New York, NY, for alleged serious and repeat violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act after the agency investigated an accident on Dec. 6, 2002, in which a company employee was killed in a fall at a construction site at 731 Lexington Ave. The most significant citation is an alleged “repeat” violation that directly relates to the accident, in which an employee fell through an unprotected floor opening and plunged to his death on a steel deck 35 feet below. The citation includes a proposed penalty of $50,000 and charges the employer with failing to provide proper fall protection for employees working next to an unguarded floor opening. DCM Erectors had been cited for a similar violation at the same site on Oct. 15, 2002. “This employer was cited previously for a similar violation on this same project, yet continued to expose employees to the same hazards knowing full well the potential for a serious accident,” said Richard Mendelson, OSHA’s area director in Manhattan. “This outrageous flaunting of the law had very tragic consequences.” OSHA is also citing DCM Erectors for two alleged “serious” violations, each carrying a proposed penalty of $5,000, for failing to train employees exposed to fall hazards in how to recognize and minimize those hazards and for failing to require employees to use eye protection in hazardous situations. A serious citation is issued when death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew, or should have known. A repeat violation occurs when a company has been cited for similar violations within the past three years and the citation has become a final order. DCM Erectors has 15 business days from receipt of their citations and proposed penalties to elect to comply with them, to request and participate in an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or to contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The OSHA area office in Manhattan conducted the inspection. Its telephone number is 212-620-3200. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is dedicated to saving lives, preventing injuries and illnesses, and protecting America’s workers. Safety and health add value to business, the workplace and life. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

UPDATE Orangeburg company fined for violations before death
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The company that employed a man who died after he fell while working on a bridge was fined for several safety violations in the 1990s, records show. Carolina Bridge Co. officials were questioned by an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigator Thursday after Jason Kinsey, 21, fell 80 feet into the Congaree River and died. Kinsey’s safety harness was hooked to the scaffolding that landed on top of him. It was the Orangeburg company’s first serious accident, OSHA documents show. But in June 1994, the company was fined $6,270 for six serious violations during construction on a bridge over the Broad River in Gaffney. Officials from Carolina Bridge Co. could not be reached Friday. The company failed to provide life jackets for employees working over water, ring buoys with at least 90 feet of line for rescues and a lifesaving boat, according to OSHA documents obtained by The State newspaper. The only other violation was in June 1991. Records show it also was serious and resulted in a $560 fine but didn’t specifically say what the violation was. Carolina Bridge was close to completing a $612,163 contract with the state to repair the two-lane, 54-year-old bridge at U.S. Highway 601 between the Congaree Swamp and the headwaters of Lake Marion. Kinsey and two other men, Dan Nickel and Randall Jepson, were working on the bridge when the scaffolding collapsed Wednesday. Kinsey and Nickel fell into the water, while Jepson dangled from a rope he was harnessed to and was rescued 40 minutes later. Divers pulled Kinsey’s body from the water Thursday. Nickel hit a barge that was floating near the bridge then fell into the river. He was taken to a hospital and released Thursday. Neither Kinsey nor Jepson was wearing a life jacket, officials said, and it was unclear whether Nickel was wearing one. The crew also had no OSHA-required lifeboat buoys in the water in case of emergency, rescuers said. OSHA’s investigation into the scaffolding collapse likely will take several weeks, said Jim Knight, spokesman for the state Labor, Licensing and Regulation Department. Information from: The State

Midlands excavation collapse kills worker
A construction worker employed by Westbury Homes on a housing development in Leicester Road, Brownsover near Rugby, has died as a result of an accident. The man was buried at the bottom of a four-metre deep drainage excavation. A fellow worker tried frantically to dig him free but to no avail, emergency services later recovered his body.

1 killed, two hurt in Q.C. building accident
Police are now investigating a tragic accident inside an abandoned building in Cubao, Quezon City, which led to the death of a 37-year-old construction worker, while two others were injured on Wednesday afternoon. Initial reports identified the fatality as Jobar Remedio Alfaro, a resident of barangay Alas Asim, Mariveles, Bataan. Two other construction workers, Wilson Tapat and Sammy Oliveros, were injured in the incident that happened at around 5:40 p.m. Police Officer 1 Joel Gazara of the Central Police District Homicide Unit said the accident occurred inside the abandoned building of the Uniwide Warehouse Club on Aurora Boulevard in Cubao. He said the victims were working on the second floor of the building when a concrete slab suddenly collapsed and fell directly on the victims. Alfaro sustained serious head and body injuries after falling concrete hit and covered him before he could leave the place. He and his coworkers were rushed to the nearest hospital for immediate medical attention, but Alfaro died while undergoing treatment. Gagaza said operatives of CPD Station 7 in Cubao conducted initial investigation before turning the case over to CPD homicide section at 11:30 p.m. Probers are now digging deep into the circumstances surrounding the incident to determine who should be held responsible. Gagaza said the police will have to refrain from making speculative remarks as to who will be held liable for the death and injuries. He admitted that such accidents usually happen because of neglect of safety measures and reckless imprudence on the part of the workers themselves. Gagaza assured that the CPD will file charges against the construction company if it is proven to have been negligent of safety standards. Probers said the building has long been abandoned and had no maintenance, which could have resulted in the deterioration of the structure and the collapse of a portion of the establishment. M. Punongbayan 

Bridge painter dies after scaffolding collapses
A worker painting the U.S. 601 bridge over the Congaree River has died after the scaffolding he was standing on collapsed, authorities say. Two other workers were injured in the incident Wednesday afternoon. Divers located the body of Jason Kinsey Wednesday evening, But he was still trapped in the scaffolding, and Natural Resources Department workers had to wait until Thursday morning to get the equipment needed to free his body, diver Anthony Walker said. An autopsy showed 21-year-old Kinsey, of Cordova, died from multiple trauma, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said Thursday. Rescue workers and police did not know why the scaffolding broke loose. The state Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate. One of the injured workers, Dan Nickel, fell 80 feet into the river, but was rescued by a fisherman who happened to be nearby. The second injured painter, Randall Jepson, dangled by a rope for 40 minutes before being rescued by Columbia firefighter Wayne Melton, who had to rappel about 15 feet under the bridge to reach him. Both are expected to recover. The bridge, which spans the border of Richland and Calhoun counties about 30 miles southeast of Columbia, is one of the highest in the state.