One steel erector died and another injured when a boom lift tipped over in the early afternoon of Nov. 10 at the $405-million Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, under construction in downtown Kansas City, Mo. Employed by Midwest Steel, a subcontractor to locally based general contractor J.E. Dunn Construction Co., the workers were elevating the boom from the basket when the machine tipped, according to Darin Snapp, a spokesman for the Kansas City, Mo., Police Dept. The workers fell approximately 100 ft. Both were ejected from the platform and landed on the street. According to first responders, the machine
Five workers died and six more were injured when they fell 15 meters as bridge falsework they were working on collapsed around noon on Nov. 7 in the tiny Pyrenees principality of Andorra. Emergency teams on brought a large crane Nov. 9 from neighboring Spain to help remove bodies of four workers buried by construction debris. The accident occurred at the western portal of the recently completed Dos Valires tunnel, which is a few kilometers north east of the principality�s capital Andorra La Vella. The men were working on falsework of twin deck, partially cable-stayed bridge being built as access
Preliminary findings from a federal investigation into potential health problems from drywall imported from China are inconclusive, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Oct. 29. CPSC has received nearly 1,900 complaints from residents in 30 states about effects of Chinese-made wallboard. CPSC says preliminary tests found Chinese drywall has elemental sulfur and higher strontium concentrations than other types of drywall. But it says more studies are needed to show a link between the drywall and reported health problems. In the meantime, the commission is working with the Dept. of Homeland Security to identify and stop imports of drywall
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Oct. 30 levied the largest proposed fine in its history against oil company BP Products North America for failure to correct hazards associated with a 2005 explosion at its Texas City, Texas, refinery that killed 15 employees of its contractors, Fluor Corp. and Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. About 170 people were injured in the blast. OSHA seeks to fine BP $87.4 million for a total of 270 violations linked to the explosion, plus 439 new willful violations for failing to adopt effective controls on the refinery’s pressure-relief safety system. OSHA and BP
The construction industry's jobsite injury rate dipped in 2008, its fifth-consecutive annual decline, the Labor Dept.'s Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported. Construction's rate of nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses decreased last year to 4.7 cases per 100 full-time workers, from 5.4 in 2007. Related Links: BLS Press Release BLS's latest annual workplace injuries and illnesses report, released Oct. 29, also shows that the overall rate for U.S. private industry fell in 2008, to 3.9 cases per 100 workers, compared with a 4.2 rate the year before. Construction Industry Nonfatal Injury/Illness Rate(cases per 100 full-time workers) 2008 4.7 2007 5.4
Federal safety regulators in Philadelphia are eyeing a fiber-reinforced sidewalk vault cover as the smoking gun that caused an aerial work platform (AWP) to tip over, killing the operator and injuring three bystanders. The accident also is raising eyebrows over the proper use of AWPs and whether or not they are regulated vigorously enough. Photo: AP/Widewold Investigators are eyeing a Comcast vault cover as the smoking gun that caused a 20-ton aerial work platform in Philadelphia to tip over. On Oct. 12 in downtown Philadelphia, 41-year-old James Wilson was using the 125-ft-tall AWP to inspect the facade of the city’s
A 125-ft-tall boom lift tipped over in downtown Philadelphia on Oct. 12, killing the operator who was harnessed in the bucket. The worker, James Wilson of Glassboro, N.J., was inspecting exterior masonry of a church, according to Philadelphia Fire Dept. Commissioner Lloyd Ayers. Wilson may have driven the lift over a “manhole or grate” in the sidewalk that collapsed under the weight of the machine, Ayers said. The lift struck a neighboring five-story apartment building, sending debris to the street and injuring three bystanders. Ayers said the area is normally “bustling” with pedestrians, but the accident occurred during the Columbus
In a decision made public on Sept. 28, a U.S. Labor Dept. review board ruled a whistleblower was fired in retaliation for raising safety concerns at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry nuclear power complex in northern Alabama. In a 16-page decision, the panel overruled a department administrative law judge who had sided with Stone & Webster, the contractor working in 2004 to restart one of the generating station’s units. The firm fired James Speegle, a painter, when he raised concerns to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about protective coatings being used in the plant’s cooling systems. The firm, now
Design deficiencies draw the most fire in the government engineer’s report on the December 2007 fatal collapse of a parking garage under construction in Jacksonville, Fla. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration released a redacted version of the May 2008 report in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Florida Times-Union newspaper. Photo: Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Dept. Worker’s body was recovered after two days, but collapse’s cause remains unclear. One construction worker was killed and 23 others were injured on Dec. 6, 2007, when the six-level, 39,000-sq-ft, post-tensioned parking garage for the Berkman Plaza II
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Aug. 27 proposed fines of $72,000 fine against Sorbara Construction Corp., a Lynbrook, N.Y., concrete subcontractor, “for alleged repeat and serious” safety violations related to a March 20 accident in which a worker fell 10 ft on a Manhattan high-rise jobsite. The firm, which could not be reached for comment, has 15 days to appeal. OSHA says its jobsite inspection found “several fall-related hazards.” Sorbara’s clients include New York City’s largest building contractors. The firm was cited by OSHA last November for similar hazards at a separate Manhattan high-rise site, at which
RSS
