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Whit Johnson ReportingA construction accident trapped a man under hundreds of pounds of wooden planks; he's lucky to be in fair condition. Digging through our archives of past stories we noticed an increase in construction-related accidents. So we also checked with the state Labor Commission, and we are right.
Utah is growing by leaps and bounds. That means more construction and, for a number of reasons, more accidents. The one at a Nissan dealership is still under investigation, but it raises the question, are resources being stretched too thin?
Utah is booming -- the economy, housing, a low unemployment rate. One nail at a time increased construction, but not without problems.
Tori Burns, OSHA div. of Utah Labor Commission: "We're finding a lot of different types of accidents."
Accidents like this one.
Kevin Cameron, Construction Project Manager: "They realized something was going wrong. One employee went one direction and escaped injury. The other went directly under where the scaffold went down."
Construction today at a Salt Lake car dealership turned into a major rescue effort after levels of scaffolding collapsed. The victim, Jose Rodriguez, was flown to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Dennis McKone, Salt Lake City Fire Dept.: "He was alert and talking with them the whole time."
A similar accident happened last week in Alpine when a worker fell 12 feet and landed on his head. A little more than a week before that, a 30-foot fall in Saratoga Springs.
Tori Burns, OSHA div. of Utah Labor Commission: "There's greater probability just due to the increased activity, so we're seeing a lot more this year."
Tori Burns with the OSHA division of the Utah Labor Commission says they've had 11 accidents already this year. One was fatal. That's an increase of nearly two accidents a week.
Tori Burns, OSHA div. of Utah Labor Commission: "Take your time. Perform the work safely."
Burns says contractors are stretched thin. Low unemployment means fewer trained workers, more projects to finish, and Utah's demands are not letting up.
The exact cause of this accident is still unknown, but OSHA hopes workers can use it as a reminder to follow safety procedures and be careful.
