Work was stopped at a construction site at the San Diego International Airport. According to officials, work will not resume until the cause of a recent fatal construction accident is determined. The incident occurred in the Midway area where a rental car facility is being built.
According to reports, crews were preparing to pour concrete at the site. As part of his preparation, a 29-year-old carpenter in fall protection gear was tethered to a column of rebar. The man was approximately 15 to 18 feet up on the column, which was two feet in diameter and 22 feet tall.
Somehow, the column fell with the man still attached to it. A call to 911 was made to report that the rebar column hit the worker and emergency services were needed. When emergency responders arrived, they did what they could to save the man’s life, but it was already too late. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The San Diego Regional Airport Authority and the California division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are working to determine what happened. It could be some time before a determination as to the cause of the accident is made. In the meantime, authorities are notifying the man’s family of his premature demise.
Many people are fortunate to never know what this man’s family is going through and how the victim’s loss will affect them. The workers’ compensation system can do nothing for the family’s grief, but it may help with the financial ramifications of his death in this tragic construction accident. Benefits are available to families to help cover the costs associated with a funeral and burial, along with compensation packages for the loss of the victim’s income.
Source: 10news.com, “Construction worker killed by falling rebar”, , May 20, 2014