A 32-year-old union laborer from Dunbarton, N.H., was killed while working on a foundation as part of the $31.5-million renovation of the Woburn, Mass., Public Library, officials said.
Mark Camire, 32, was found dead on July 11, the Middlesex District Attorney said in a statement. He “had been working alongside the foundation of the building when he was apparently struck by a piece of rock that had broken free,” according to the statement.
Camire was pronounced dead on the scene. The case has been referred to the Office of the Medical Examiner who will determine the cause of death.
All construction activities were halted for two days following the accident.
W.L. French Excavating Corp. said in a statement that "at the time of the accident, Schnabel Foundation Co. was working on the underpinning of the library and the worker was working under [its] direction.” French added that its crews were working on parking lot renovations when the accident occurred, and that the firm's equipment "was involved only in the rescue and recovery effort."
Schnabel Foundation was working as a subcontractor to French, which itself was a subcontractor of Consigli Construction, the general contractor for the renovation project that broke ground in late May and is expected to be completed by September 2018.
“This is an open investigation being conducted by the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s office, the Woburn Police and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),” the statement noted. “As this death is not considered suspicious ,no additional information will be released by this office.”
An OSHA spokesman says the agency has begun a probe of Camire’s death that will iinclude Schnabel and Consigli. “The inspectors have six months to complete an inspection,” he says.
Camire, a native of Manchester N.H., was a 13-year veteran of both Schnabel and of laborers' union Local 151 in Cambridge, Mass.
Allen Boyer, the local's business manager said Camire "was an outstanding worker in good standing.”
Matt Consigli, president of Consigli Construction, said in a statement the firm is "saddened ... by the death of a worker in a tragic accident at the Woburn Public Library construction project" and confirmed that "the authorities and OSHA are working to determine the cause of the accident."