Construction Site Injuries

Published on: September 13, 2012

1 Dead, 1 Injured After Roof Collapses In NYC

The roof of an under-construction building on Carlton Avenue in New York City collapsed earlier this week, leaving one worker dead and another seriously injured. Both men were on the roof around 9:15 a.m. working as cement mixers when the structure beneath them collapsed and they were sent plunging down three stories. According to one worker, the foreman on the street below “tried unsuccessfully to stop cinder blocks from being loaded onto the top of the planned four-story building.” The co-worker, Ignatius Regis, was also working on the roof at the time of the accident, but the portion of the roof where he was located did not crumble, and witnessed the fall. After the accident, Regis commented, “There’s a lot of risk in construction.”

According to the city building commissioner, the cinder blocks atop the roof caused the roof collapse. A sixty seven year old worker perished in the collapse and a forty three year old worker was severely injured and taken to Brooklyn Hospital Center. The names of the men were not released to the media.

After the accident, City Councilwoman Letitia James stated that the city needed to exercise stronger oversight of ongoing construction in the city. “This tragic incident raises serious concerns about the safety practices at this construction site, and whether there was proper oversight of this construction by both the Department of Buildings and the developer,” she stated. She continued on to say, “I believe this tragedy further underscores the need for greater safety precautions and worker safety training at major development sites throughout the city.”

Worker Killed in Carlton Avenue Building Collapse, www.newyorktimes.com September 10, 2012.

Published on: August 28, 2012

Roof Collapses At Medley Cement Plant, Rescuers Fight To Find Missing Worker

by Friedland | Carmona

Tropical storm Issac has made the recovery of an injured cement plant worker more difficult. Rescue workers are still attempting to find a worker who fell into a cement silo over a week ago when the roof of the silo gave way. The worker, Pierre Mezidor, was measuring the level of dry cement powder atop the roof of the silo when the roof simply collapsed underneath him. Mezidor disappeared into the silo.

For the past ten days, rescue workers have been pulling off the remnants of the roof of the 200 foot tall structure. Workers are only searching for Mezidor’s body. The silo was seventy perfect full with dry cement powder when Mezidor fell; now, because of the rescue efforts, the silo remains open and rain water from the tropical storm has created a compound that hinders rescue workers’ efforts to sift through the concrete and find the body.

The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue squad and the Mine Safety and Health Administration combined forces to remove debris from the silo and surrounding areas in attempt to find Mezidor’s body in the wreckage. Titan America, the owner of the silo and Mezidor’s employer, has hired “outside experts” to continue the search on site. Mezidor worked at the Tarmac Cement plant, which is owned by Titan America for almost twenty years. The Tarmac Cement plant has been home to three separate incidents that resulted in “permanent or partial disability” of injured workers, but Mezidor is the first to have died on the property. Mezidor’s family has filed an action to have engineers inspect the plant in an attempt to figure out how and why the roof collapsed. Mezidor’s family is expected to file a wrongful death suit.

Weather hinders effort to find worker who fell into cement silo, www.miamiherald.com August 27, 2012.

Published on: July 30, 2012

Crane Collapse At College Campus Kills Two

by Friedland | Carmona

Earlier this month, two workers were killed on the University of Texas-Dallas’s Richardson campus after a crane collapsed above them. The workers were dismantling a construction crane at Arts and Technology Building when powerful gusts of wind and rain rolled in. Around 3:00 p.m., the storm caused the crane to collapse, killing the workers.

The construction workers were part of a crew working to build a new 155,000 square foot art and technology center. The construction crew was scheduled to remove two of the cranes from the site on the day of the accident. The university stated that no other parties were injured in the crane crash.

2 dead in crane collapse on UT, www.miamiherald.com July 07, 2012.

Published on: July 26, 2012

Painters Fall Three Stories At Boca Raton Office Park

by Friedland | Carmona

Earlier this morning, three painters working on the third story of an office building fell from their perch and crashed into the ground at a Boca Raton office park. The painters, who were working at 4800 Conference Way South, were working from bucket trucks when one of the painters reached for something sitting atop the building’s ledge. Despite wearing harnesses, all three fell when the painter reached for the object. Witnesses were unable to determine whether the painters were connected to a bucket.

The men, who worked for Color Construction, were working as subcontractors for a technology center located near I-95. One of the painters was taken to a Boca Raton hospital with unspecified injuries. The other two painters remained at the scene and met with police and a city inspector following the incident.

Three painters fall from bucket trucks at Boca Raton office park, www.sun-sentinel.com July 26, 2012.

Published on: July 2, 2012

Man Suffers Fall At World Trade Center Reconstruction Site

by Friedland | Carmona

Earlier this week, a construction worker at the World Trade Center reconstruction project fell off some scaffolding and impaled himself on a piece of medal. The thirty-seven year old male was working on 4 World Trade Center when he suffered a puncture wound to his side after falling about five feet. Some workers stated that pieces of plywood fell on top of him after the fall. One of his co-workers commented on the accident, stating “I just saw him there lying in a pool of blood, he was bleeding from his head.” He remains in critical condition at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.

The building 4 World Trade Center is no stranger to construction accidents. Back in February of this year, steel beams fell forty stories before crashing into the ground. The building is almost 1,000 feet tall and is 72 stories tall. According to a World Trade Center crane operator, rebuilding the World Trade Center buildings is an extremely stressful job and “the dedication it takes to complete is mentally straining,” resulting in numerous injuries.

Construction Worker Impaled At 4 WTC, Says FDNY, www.huffingtonpost.com June 26, 2012