Articles Posted in Construction Accidents

On Tuesday, a worker died when the cable of a hydraulic boom snapped, pinning him against the vehicle. William Barnes, 48, was operating the hydraulic boom on Throgs Neck Bridge in New York. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. According to authorities, the electrical worker did have a commercial driver’s license, which was required to operate the equipment.

The original emergency call, around 10:25am said the worker had fallen, but later reports stated that he had been pinned against the vehicle. Lanes on the bridge were temporarily shut down for emergency rescue workers, and the contract employees directly involved in the construction accident have been removed from the project.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the bridge accident.

Electrical Worker Killed by Crane Boom on Throgs Neck Bridge, New York Times, August 25, 2009 Continue reading

A subcontractor in Holly Springs, North Carolina was working on the electrical system at the Utley Wastewater Treatment Plant when he was shocked and knocked unconscious. The electrical accident occurred just before 11am.

A town employee reportedly administrated CPR after the worker, age 34, stopped breathing and appeared to have no pulse. The injured worker is apparently an employee of Via Electric Co., but his name had not been released as of late Thursday afternoon. Paramedics were able to revive the injured worker before taking him to WakeMed.

The man was later flown to the Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Hospitals where he was listed in critical but stable condition.

Worker is critically hurt at sewage plant, NewsObserver.com, August 14, 2009 Continue reading

Last Wednesday, two workers in Boston’s Financial District clung to a safety line in panic for 20 minutes after the engine let go of a window-washing platform 37 stories above the street. According to one official, who spoke to the Boston Globe on condition of anonymity, officials believe the scaffolding accident was a freak accident rather than human error.

Massachusetts does not regulate window-washing scaffolding, which means that enforcement of safety regulations may have fallen into a void between state and federal authorities. The state inspects elevators and other hoisting equipment but it does not certify scaffolding. Firefighters broke the glass of the Exchange Place tower and rescued the two traumatized workers.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the scaffolding accident.

Questions raised on scaffold regulation, Boston Globe, August 7, 2009 Continue reading

In Springfield, Massachusetts, construction crews laying a fiber optic cable along I-91 reportedly severed an underground electrical line, causing a power outage that impacted almost a fifth of the city at its peak.

The accident occurred around 1pm last Thursday. According to Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO) officials, service would be restored to most customers by 6pm.

Twenty-four hours later, thousands of residents were still without power. WMECO placed automated calls to its customers on Friday afternoon asking them to conserve power and report any new outages. As a result of the accident, traffic lights were out, and businesses were forced to close.

Damaged line cuts out power in Springfield, MassLive.com, July 31, 2009
24 Hours On, Power Still Out for Thousands, CBS3Springfield.com, July 31, 2009 Continue reading

According to a recent editorial on Impre.com, deaths of Hispanic workers have increased 76% since 1992 despite the fact that the overall workplace death rate has decreased.

Latinos are becoming a larger segment of the United States workforce, but they also represent a disproportionate number of deaths. Five out of every 100,000 Hispanics die at work. For Caucasians, that number is 4.0 and for African-Americans, 3.7.

Latino immigrants also have 70% more fatal workplace accidents than non-immigrant Latinos, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Researchers attribute this statistic to possible language and cultural barriers, as well as a lack of training and supervision.

Another factor is that undocumented immigrants tend to work in construction, which has a higher accident rate than other industries, and tend not to report unsafe conditions because they fear the repercussions.

Death in the workplace, Impre.com, July 21, 2009 Continue reading

Last week in Boston, cement trim fell five stories from the roof on a Northeastern University dorm building that was being replaced as part of summer maintenance. The collapse occurred around 8:30am and the site’s foreman and a police officer immediately began searching the rubble for any injured persons. Miraculously, there were no injuries or casualties in this apparent construction accident.

Officials at Northeastern University said they planned to relocate approximately 60 students who were living in the building for the summer, even though Boston structural engineers deemed the building sound. City officials closed a portion of Huntington Avenue for part of the day as a precaution. The E Line was also shut down for approximately three hours so that passing trains would not shake the building.

A spokesman for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said they are already investigating the scene of the accident to see if any safety regulations were violated.

Cement trim falls from NU dorm roof, Boston Globe, July 14, 2009 Continue reading