June 11, 2009 Austin construction accident kills three www.privateofficer.com
Austin TX June 11 2009
statesman.com
Three people died Wednesday after falling from a high-rise condominium being built near the University of Texas.
Four construction workers, whose names were not released, were working on a scaffold outside the building at 21st and Rio Grande streets when part of it collapsed for unknown reasons about 2:30 p.m., said Harry Evans, a battalion chief with the Austin Fire Department.
Two men in their late 20s fell 11 to 13 stories to the ground, Evans said. They were pronounced dead soon after. A third man, who was about 40 years old, fell a few stories onto the roof of a seven-story parking garage, Evans said. The man died a few hours later at University Medical Center Brackenridge.
A fourth man who was on the scaffolding but did not fall received minor injuries and was not hospitalized, Evans said.
The exact height of the scaffolding when it fell was unknown, Evans said. He said the two men who fell to the ground plummeted about 100 feet.
The reason for the collapse was unclear, Evans said.
“We have conflicting stories,” he said. “What exactly happened, we’re still not sure.”
The workers’ deaths are being investigated as industrial accidents, said Austin Police Department spokeswoman Veneza Aguiñaga. The accident also is being investigated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
A representative from the company that makes and sells the scaffolding, American Mast Climbers of Whitney, north of Waco near Hillsboro, declined to comment Wednesday. The project’s developer, Cobalt Land Development Ltd., and the owner, MacArthur Management LLC, did not return calls for comment.
The building, 21 Rio, is a 158-unit, 236-foot-tall luxury high-rise residence at 2101 Rio Grande St. in West Campus. It is slated to open this summer, according to its Web site.
Terry Jackson, a consultant to MacArthur Management, did not know how many employees were working on the building.
“Our primary concern is to focus on the workers and their families,” Jackson said.
Cristina Tzintzún, the project director for the Austin-based Workers Defense Project, said that unlike in many states, Texas’ construction workers are not required to have training before working on a scaffold.
It was not known whether training was a factor in Wednesday’s incident.
“I’m tragically not surprised by what happened … considering we have some of the worst regulations to protect construction workers in the country,” Tzintzún said.
According to a report to be released by the group next week that cites federal data, 142 construction workers died in Texas in 2007, more than any other state.
statesman.com
Three people died Wednesday after falling from a high-rise condominium being built near the University of Texas.
Four construction workers, whose names were not released, were working on a scaffold outside the building at 21st and Rio Grande streets when part of it collapsed for unknown reasons about 2:30 p.m., said Harry Evans, a battalion chief with the Austin Fire Department.
Two men in their late 20s fell 11 to 13 stories to the ground, Evans said. They were pronounced dead soon after. A third man, who was about 40 years old, fell a few stories onto the roof of a seven-story parking garage, Evans said. The man died a few hours later at University Medical Center Brackenridge.
A fourth man who was on the scaffolding but did not fall received minor injuries and was not hospitalized, Evans said.
The exact height of the scaffolding when it fell was unknown, Evans said. He said the two men who fell to the ground plummeted about 100 feet.
The reason for the collapse was unclear, Evans said.
“We have conflicting stories,” he said. “What exactly happened, we’re still not sure.”
The workers’ deaths are being investigated as industrial accidents, said Austin Police Department spokeswoman Veneza Aguiñaga. The accident also is being investigated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
A representative from the company that makes and sells the scaffolding, American Mast Climbers of Whitney, north of Waco near Hillsboro, declined to comment Wednesday. The project’s developer, Cobalt Land Development Ltd., and the owner, MacArthur Management LLC, did not return calls for comment.
The building, 21 Rio, is a 158-unit, 236-foot-tall luxury high-rise residence at 2101 Rio Grande St. in West Campus. It is slated to open this summer, according to its Web site.
Terry Jackson, a consultant to MacArthur Management, did not know how many employees were working on the building.
“Our primary concern is to focus on the workers and their families,” Jackson said.
Cristina Tzintzún, the project director for the Austin-based Workers Defense Project, said that unlike in many states, Texas’ construction workers are not required to have training before working on a scaffold.
It was not known whether training was a factor in Wednesday’s incident.
“I’m tragically not surprised by what happened … considering we have some of the worst regulations to protect construction workers in the country,” Tzintzún said.
According to a report to be released by the group next week that cites federal data, 142 construction workers died in Texas in 2007, more than any other state.
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