Miami Personal Injury Lawyer - Workplace Injuries

Construction Crane Kills Workers

Seth Miles — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:35:20 GMT

A 14,000 pound steel crane fell thirty-seven stories at a condominium construction site. Two workers, Terrance Hennessy, 59, and Jeremy Thornsbury, 21, were killed. Mark Simone; Emanoel Souza, 31; Theron Cook, 57, and Russell Dyer, 48 were injured. I have handled similar construction accidents in the past.

Sadly, despite a host of rules and regulations, these types of accidents are becoming more and more common, particularly in condo-crazy South Florida. Why? In no small part, because many of these contracts have liquidated damage provisions that costs contractors and subcontractors lots of money if there are any delays. This leads to rushed work and that leads to mistakes, accidents, and tragedies.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Seth Miles

Miami Crane Collpase Kills Two and Injures Five

Jenny Albano — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:55:17 GMT

A section of a crane fell at a downtown high-rise condominium construction site in Miami and killed two of the workers and injured another five. The crane fell onto a home that the contractor used for storage. At first another worker was thought to be missing, but was later identified as one of the inured workers.

Canine's surveyed the site and did not find any other trapped people. But rescue workers still worked on securing a severely damaged wall before checking the are again. One of the survivors was in critical condition, while the other four did not have life-threatening injuries. One of the workers that did not make it died on scene while the other died at the hospital.

The crane's main vertical section was intact, but the part that fell was a 20-foot section that workers were raising to extend the equipment's reach, Carroll said. It plummeted 30 floors and smashed through the home's Spanish-tiled roof.

Florida does not regulate or license tower cranes and crane operators, but bills moving through the Legislature would change that. The ordinance will increase inspections and safety measures for lifting cranes and goes into effect Friday.

The accident occurred when a subcontractor was attempting to raise the crane section and it accidentally came loose. The U.S. Office of Safety and Health Administration had two investigators at the site.

The accident came 10 days after a 20-story crane collapsed at a New York construction site, killing seven people. Since then, New York City officials have told contractors that they can't raise or lower large cranes at construction sites unless a buildings inspector is there.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

Crane probe puts blame on steel base, source says

Staff Writer — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 10:31:17 GMT

An unusual steel base probably caused a 210-foot tower crane to collapse in Bellevue last fall, killing a man, according to a source familiar with the state investigation. Investigators have determined that operator error was not a factor.

The Seatle Times reported today that the state Department of Labor and Industries examined several other possible factors in the Nov. 16 accident including high winds and ice, which were determined not to be primary factors.

"We looked at pretty much everything," the source said Monday. "Everything's coming back to the base."

The state will not release its final report for several weeks, but some department officials were briefed late last week about the preliminary findings.

The state's early conclusions came just as lawmakers in Olympia introduced legislation that would transform the state's crane-safety laws into some of the nation's strictest. The bills would require third-party certification for cranes and operators beginning in 2010.

Currently, the state relies largely on federal standards that allow companies to gauge the safety of their own equipment and employees.

The crane that collapsed in downtown Bellevue was secured to four steel beams, configured in an H-pattern and built above the ground in a parking garage. Most cranes are bolted to a concrete foundation, according to crane experts.

The steel base was not strong enough to support the crane, the source close to the investigation said.

L&I Department spokeswoman Elaine Fischer said the state would have no comment on the cause of the accident until the final report is released.

The crane collapsed at Tower 333, a 20-story office tower under construction at 108th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Fourth Street. It damaged three buildings and killed a Microsoft attorney in his apartment.

Lease Crutcher Lewis, the Seattle-based contractor, designed the steel base with the help of Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA), a Seattle structural-engineering firm. Northwest Tower Crane Service, based in Tukwila, erected the crane.

The operator of the fallen crane, Warren Taylor Yeakey, is an employee of Ness Crane Services. Yeakey was in the crane's cab the night it fell. As part of its standard procedures, the company gave Yeakey a drug test after the accident, and he passed.

Until last summer, construction at the site of the fallen crane had been on hold for a few years, with just the parking garage partially completed. Hines, an international real-estate firm, and Washington Capital Management restarted construction and renamed the project Tower 333.

The project had a concrete base left over from an earlier crane, but Lease Crutcher had the base with the steel-beam design installed elsewhere because the building's design had changed, said Mike Brennan, the city's deputy director of development services.

Bill Lewis, Lease Crutcher's president, said he doesn't know why his company decided on the steel-beam base design. "The property-management team made that decision, and I'm not part of that team," he said.

Lewis had no comment on the state's preliminary findings.

When Lease Crutcher installed a replacement tower crane at Tower 333 last month, it went with the more common concrete foundation. The new foundation was also designed by MKA.

"We thought everybody would be more comfortable with that new base," Lewis said.

MKA CEO Jon Magnusson did not return calls seeking comment.

Lease Crutcher and MKA have been involved in a long list of high-profile construction projects, both locally and nationally. Lease Crutcher built Pacific Place and the Second and Seneca building in downtown Seattle, as well as the new Bellevue and Redmond city halls.

MKA worked on Qwest Field, the Seattle Central Library and Seattle Justice Center, as well as large projects in China and Singapore.

The sponsor of the crane bill in Olympia, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, said the legislation takes aim at the apparent cause of the Bellevue collapse.

Tower cranes would require inspections before and after each setup and crane owners would need an engineer's approval before using nonstandard bases.

Some employers and unions already require operators to be certified, but the state does not.

To get certified under the bill, operators would have to take practical and written exams, pass drug tests and have at least 2,000 hours of experience.

Their equipment would also have to pass annual load tests and inspections and additional examinations after major repairs or modifications.

The bill already has strong support, with 30 sponsors in the Senate, 52 in the House and hearings scheduled in each.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer

Ohio Workers Slighted by Workers' Comp

Staff Writer — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 12:12:07 GMT

A recent Miami Herald article detailed a scandal in the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation. It is estimated that hundreds of workers in the state of Ohio who were injured on the job received fewer benefits than they had coming because of flaws in record-keeping and possible fraud.

Out of 8,900 cases that the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation reviewed, as many as 1,500 deserved additional benefits.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer