Construction Worker Injured, Pinned after Equipment Collapses in Miami
According to The Real Deal, a contractor is hospitalized following an equipment collapse at a construction site in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday morning.
Status on Worker’s Condition Unknown
The construction accident occurred at around 9:00 a.m. local time at the Midtown 29 construction site in Wynwood. The contracting company says the worker stood atop a stack of formation materials when it collapsed, throwing the man five feet to the ground on the 12th floor of the building.
The Real Deal reports that co-workers freed the injured contractor but were unable to bring him to the ground level due to the elevator only reaching the sixth floor. Rescue crews used a crane to load the man into a rescue basket.
The injured construction worker was taken to Ryder Trauma Center for treatment, reports The Real Deal, but the man’s condition is unknown. It is known that the worker did not lose consciousness, and emergency crews placed a boot on one of the man’s feet. The construction site is shut down and will remain closed until the investigation into the cause of the work accident is determined.
The injured worker was employed by Coastal Construction, the general contractor for the site.
On the Job Accident Statistics
The following information is provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA):
- 4,821 workers died on the job in 2014.
- Fatal falls accounted for 359 construction worker fatalities in 2014. The “Fatal Four” leading causes of private sector worker deaths are:
- Falls – 359 out of 899 total deaths in construction in 2014 (39.9%)
- Electrocutions – 74 (8.2%)
- Struck by Object – 73 (8.1%)
- Caught-in/between – 39 (4.3%)
- Fatal work injuries involving contractors accounted for 17 percent of all fatal work injuries in 2014.